Sward! The Story of a Meadow
SWARD
A new play by Simon Corble*
Toured April and May 2011
The play included songs by Jim Woodland, was directed by Mike Bettison and the set was designed by Simon Pell. It was accompanied by a photographic exhibition by Neville Turner.
Sward! is a magical tale, drawing on ancient myth, oral history and modern science to reveal the complex web of life woven into the fabric of an upland hay meadow.
Blaize, in collaboration with Highlights (the North Pennine Rural Touring Scheme), commissioned Simon Corble to write a play about the threatened habitat of hay meadows. The story has a magical, fairy tale feel to it, complete with happy ending - the rusting tractor is now a Sleeping Giant and the Hidden Treasure is the bank of seeds waiting to explode into dazzling colour. The story takes in a massive sweep of time, starting in the prehistoric era. The complex web of life is also a living tapestry, preserving within it our cultural history and our connection as a people, to the land.
http://www.blaize.uk.net
*Simon is perhaps best known for his adaptation and co-writing of John Buchan's 'The 39 Steps'. Originally performed in village halls with just stepladders, planks and a big sheet, it won a host of awards: an Olivier Award in 2007 (and is still running in the West End), and took New York by storm, being nominated for six Tony Awards, including best play.
Evaluation
The performance toured to 34 community venues in 7 northern counties. To view production pictures of Sward go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/highlightsnorth
Audiences were asked for their views and comments. The results can be seen on a compilation DVD - please follow this link to view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tStubiK8cx0&feature=email
Additional Media Interest
The BBC picked up on the tour. They were particularly interested in the subject matter and the production was included in 2 programmes. These were BBC Radio 4's 'Open Country' - to hear the programme please follow this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0128fk5/Open_Country_Hay_Meadows/
and BBC TV's Countryfile. We understand from the BBC that both of the programmes attracted around 2 million listeners of viewers each!
Script Development event
The Script Development evening took place at Bowes & Gilmonby Village Hall in Teesdale on Friday 24th September 2010, when a cast of professional actors performed a rehearsed “read-through” of the first draft of the play. 42 people were there, including the five readers. The invited audience who listened with a critical ear, included upland farmers, botanists, conservationists, members of staff and volunteers from the Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS), Hay Time project staff from the North Pennines AONB partnership, Education and events officers from Beamish Museum and members of the North Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. The feedback from the Script Development evening will be invaluable in shaping the final version of the production; and everyone there enjoyed the experience of being involved in the interesting process of developing the touring play.
The Photographic Project
Photographer Neville Turner spent 12 months capturing fixed point images from 7 or 8 locations in Upper Teesdale. He started in March 2010 with snowy scenes and taking us through Hay Time and beyond into te following winter of Dec 2010 / Jan 2011. During July, the he was "on call" for several weeks. As soon as one of his chosen upland farmer "collaborators" phoned to say that they were about to start hay making, he was in the car with his camera, ready to capture the moment(s) for the fixed point, time lapse elements of the project.
Neville says “ The year was not typical. The spring was cold and dry. A cold spring is not unusual up here. A dry one is almost unknown. This resulted in a very slow start. The lifeless brown sward emerged from snow cover in early March after 3 months of sub zero temperatures. It was May before the fields attained an even shade of green, and early June before Buttercups injected the first hint of colour. But then Mother Nature did her great “catching up” trick. In June the meadows exploded in a riot of colour for a six-week extravaganza. I needed to spend huge amounts of time, visiting the upper dale two or three times a week to record the changes. In one meadow there was an explosion of pink from a stand of Bistort. But after a week or so it was gone, to be replaced by the next generation of meadow plants. By mid-July the panoply of colour had disappeared. Most of the flowers had faded, and the grasses had begun to seed. A grey-brown haze of seeded grasses topped the meadows. It was time to harvest the hay. My friends, the hill farmers, were brilliant.”
An exhibition of the fixed-point, time lapse photography, along with images of archive hay making and photos, flora and fauna of the upland Hay Meadows, will accompanied the touring play. The exhibition was presented digitally on 3 screens, mounted in 'stone walls' matching the set of 'Sward: The Story of a Meadow'.
Education Progamme
Highlights & Blaize consulted with Neil Diment, the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Beauty Partnership's Hay Time Community Officer, and Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust representative Tanya St Pierre, (Flowers fo the Dale Project Officer), on dramatisation, structure and timings of linked workshops. Neil & Tanya delivered the linked workshops into schools prior to the performances in nearby villages. These bespoke workshops introduced the use of dramatic techniques to facilitate the learning ntended by the AONB partnership, in a fun and interesting way. The North Pennines AONB delivered workshops in 7 schools to 210 children and facilitated 7 meadow visits; and YDMT delivered workshops in 9 schools to 400 children and facilitated 7 meadow visits.