Lark Rise to Candleford

"Lark Rise to Candleford" is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, written by Flora Thompson, and first published in that form in 1945. The trilogy includes the previously published stories "Lark Rise" (1939), "Over to Candleford" (1941) and "Candleford Green" (1943).

The stories relate to three communities, a hamlet, the nearby village and the nearest town, in north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England at the start of the 20th century. The stories are loosely based around Flora's childhood experiences. There is a permanent exhibition about her work in the Old Gaol, Buckingham, the town that was used as the basis for Candleford.

She wrote a sequel "Heatherley" (c.1944) which was published posthumously.

The plays

The television scriptwriter and playwright Keith Dewhurst adapted Thompson’s trilogy into two plays, "Lark Rise" and "Candleford", which were performed in the Cottesloe auditorium of London’s National Theatre in 1978–9. Dewhurst’s concept was to reflect the familiarity, one for another, of the village inhabitants by staging the plays as a promenade, with the theatre seats removed and the actors, musicians and audience intermingling.

The books describe village life through the seasons of the year, but for the plays Dewhurst selected just two days: the first day of harvest for "Lark Rise" and the first hunt meet of the new year, a winter’s day in January, for "Candleford". For both plays he drew on Thompson’s own introductions to set the scene and, movingly, her reflections on the fates of her characters from the perspective of the future – a future in which many of the boys just depicted had died in war – as a coda. As the plays ended the audience, suddenly torn from their participation in the re-created world, recognised the value of a way of life, close to the land and countryside, that they could never know for themselves. “It will send most spectators out wiser and happier human beings...one of those rare theatrical occasions with a genuine healing quality”, wrote theatre critic Michael Billington of "The Guardian".

In the same way as Dewhurst was able to draw on Thompson’s words for his text, the musical directors for the productions, John Tams and Ashley Hutchings, made use of traditional songs as the basis for the score. [Citation
last =Zierke
first = Reinhard
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title =Keith Dewhurst & The Albion Band: Lark Rise to Candleford
date =2007-04-14
year =
url =http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/guvnor/records/larkrisetocandleford.html
accessdate = 2007-09-03 ] In their arrangements the tunes, by turns stirring, atmospheric and poignant, allowed the audience to move (both literally and figuratively) between scenes. The performers were the Albion Band. A cast recording was released in 1980 and such is its enduring appeal that it was re-released on 17 July 2006 – catalogue number TECD097 on the "Talking Elephant" label.

The joint directors of the productions were Bill Bryden and Sebastian Graham-Jones and Flora Thompson (“Laura” in the plays) was played by Valerie Whittington. In the 1978 Olivier Awards "Lark Rise" was nominated for “Best Play” and “Best Director”, but won in neither category. [cite web
last =
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title =The Nominees and Winners of The Laurence Olivier Awards for 1978
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publisher =Official London Theatre Guide
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url =http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/awards/winners/display?contentId=72667
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accessdate = 2007-12-04 ]

In October 2005 the plays were revived by the Shapeshifter company at the Finborough Theatre in London, directed by Mike Bartlett and John Terry. [cite news|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/10017/candleford|title=Reviews: Candleford|last=Vale|first=Paul|date=2005-10-13|work=The Stage|accessdate=2008-06-26]

Television

A ten-part BBC adaptation, starring Julia Sawalha, Olivia Hallinan, Brendan Coyle and Dawn French, began on BBC One in the UK on 13 January 2008. The series was adapted by screenwriter Bill Gallagher and directed by Charles Palmer. [" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077744/ Lark Rise to Candleford (2008)] " on IMDB]

References

External links

* [http://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/titles/title.php?Title_Ref=22916&Genre_id=all&Artist_Ref=22438 Lark Rise Visited ] The Soundtrack from the TV show.
* [http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/lark-rise-to-candleford/ Great War Fiction] Commentary from a resident of Juniper Hill—the real village of “Lark Rise”.