SAMUEL PALMER 

VALLEY OF VISION  

 

21, 22, 23  JULY  2005

ON THE BI CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH
A CELEBRATION IN WORDS AND MUSIC OF THE LIFE OF
SAMUEL PALMER written by KATIE KINGSHILL

BY THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU "LARKRISE TO CANDELFORD"

WITH THE NEW SHOREHAM ELECTRIC BAND

IN THE BEAUTIFUL SETTING OF THE
VICTORIAN BARN AT THE QUADRANGLE
HOME FARM  SHOREHAM
BY KIND PERMISSION OF MARK LINTELL

GATES OPEN 6pm BRING A PICNIC
PLAY STARTS 8.00pm FREE CAR PARK

BARN DANCE AFTER SHOW

CAST

 

Samuel Palmer

Mike Bates

Frederick Tatham

Edd Couchman

Nat Barham

Martin Finch

Bessy Booker

Maggie Triggs

Sarah Barham

Jennifer Burraston

Arthur Tooth

Ray Cornwell

George Richmond

Matt Lucas

Clarissa Tooth

Bethany Richmond

Lizzie Blundell

Harriet Finch

Carrie Saker

Jessica Mew

Sally Tooth

Mary Anderson

Meg Russell

Iona Freeman

Tom Blundell

George Rivett

Robert Saker

Nicholas Heuston

Mrs Love

Jane Stevens

Lydia Love

Hannah Beard

Mary Ward

Katie Fischel

Willaim Blake

David Nash

John Linnell

Ken Fowler

Hannah (Anny) Linell

Antonia Christophers

Narrator

Liz Nash

Directors

Kate Britten

Richard Burraston

Props

Joan & Ray Cornwell

Lighting

Ben Lyle

Wardrobe

Sheila Wilson with

Diane Harling, Janet Heuston, Ann Hilton,

 Sarah Parkes, Lesley Spence

Front of House

Ann Ball

Box Office

Shoreham Village Stores

      NEW SHOREHAM ELECTRIC BAND 

Mick Lynn

Button Accordian & Anglo Concertina

Liz Randall

Vocals

Chris Burraston

Keyboard

Mark Hodges

Bass Guitar

Matthew Stevens

Drums

Richard Burraston

Electric Guitar

                           

Review by Griselda Barton

Inspired by an earlier play by her grandmother, Katharine Moore, Katie Kingshill's authoritative script transformed today's villagers - The Shoreham Village Players - into the 19th century visionary painter's Shoreham idyll.

The impact of the arrival of Palmer and his artistic friends "The Ancients" on the bemused villagers was vividly portrayed, especially their nocturnal excursions and re-enactments of popular "gothic" novels.

The action was illuminated by projections of Palmer's lovely Shoreham paintings. Played out in the Lintell's spectacular Quadrangle barn, the evening was much inhanced, too, by an inspired selection of contemporary songs, folk songs and children's singing games, accompanied by the New Shoreham Electric Band, with delightful vocalist, Liz Randall.

The haunting ditty "Van Diemens Land" pointed up the sharp contrast between the idyll and the harsh reality of 1830s rural life, graphically shown in the dramatic rick-burning scene. But all ended in jollity with the audience drawn into a boisterous barn dance.

All the cast, children, villagers and "Ancients", performed with great verve. Special mention must be made of Mike Bates' sensitive Samuel Palmer, Katie Fischel as his old nurse, Mary Ward, and Maggie Triggs, as the Wise Woman, Bessie Booker.

Some members of the original 1981 cast were involved as well, including David Nash (an impressive William Blake), Liz Nash (the excellent narrator) and Kate Britten who, with Richard Burraston, directed the enchanted evening. This celebration of his bicentenary would have been loved by Palmer, who until his death had Shoreham in his heart and "dreamed of that village where I mused away some of my best years"  28 July

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