Although our 2011 theatre tour has finished - AsOne Theatre was invited in association with the West Dorset National Trust to perform in the real setting of the play in the Garden of Hardy's Max Gate House in Dorchester on Sunday 21 August - it was a triumph!
There were only 120 tickets available for this very special, intimate performance and we sold out! The reaction was fantastic, and the National Trust were brilliant partners, hardworking, professional and a huge help.
Read on by scrolling down for more information about this wonderful play - a powder keg ready to blow in the world of Thomas Hardy!
(..a play that is certain to become a theatrical treasure!) - Marion Cox Dorset Echo 2010
Award
winning AsOne Theatre Company's premier tour of the play opened
at the prestigious International Hardy Festival at Dorchester's Corn Exchange
on Sunday August 1st 2010 with a full house and rave reviews; ('...I am sure
the audience tonight will spread the word like wild-fire!' - Mike Nixon, Sec. Thomas Hardy Society.
Cast and Crew:
Actors: Dani Bright (The Ruined Maid), Julia Savill (The Mother), Jane McKell (The Wife ) & Trisha Lewis (The Other Woman)
Some two years ago I had the idea to produce a new piece of theatre about the real and fictional women surrounding Thomas Hardy at the height of his fame. I wanted to take a fresh look at the world of Hardy; pose questions about what happens to the women in orbit around a starry charismatic. Very relevant today. One day - when talking to both Jeremy Pope, and the Thomas Hardy Society Secretary, Mike Nixon about promoting Dorset - it occurred to me this piece of theatre was a great way to indulge in my passions of Hardy and Dorset. So I commissioned our 2010/11 touring play from the wonderful Peter John Cooper - who already has had some 50 plays staged, and had adapted Thomas Hardy's writing in the past. He loved the idea of researching and writing about the world surrounding the man himself. Peter had directed AsOne's very successful touring production Hey Baby! in 2009, and so I controversially asked him to direct as well as write She Opened the Door. He made himself a promise - and left the writer 'in the pub on the corner when the director was in the rehearsal room. Peter revelled in working on the text as a director with the AsOne cast in the best of creative processes. It was a industriously wonderful experience.
The addition of Roderick Skeaping to our creative team was a privilege; this internationally renowned composer - with theatre, film and television as well as concert platform under his bulging belt of world-wide experience - agreed to compose the music and songs for She Opened the Door. Roddy has written for Peter J Cooper's lyrics before and they make a formidably imaginative team. Once the play was cast Roddy had a session with each performer and carefully crafted the arrangements to suit both character and performer. The songs in four distict styles of the period (1895) ranging from Quadrille, through Music Hall and Parlour songs to Lieder (romantic lyrical); these are all as soliloquys; the audience overhearing the inner most thoughts of the characters. The dramatic and beautiful lighting and projected image design are by John Newton of Lymelight and Kevin Butcher respectively.
The set design is by the talented and lovely, Annette Sumption who - with utter simplicity required by a company, touring varied venues from the ballroom of an hotel to small village hall and art centre up to large theatre - creates magic giving the performers a wonderful space to inhabit who in turn with their crafted characters bring alive the story. The talented AsOne performers (listed under the photo earlier) are all experienced professionals from Dorset, as are the dedicated technicians and stage crew; proving this county is full of artistic brilliance that never ceases to amaze. Who says you have to live in a big city to enjoy a cultural working and leisure experience. AsOne Theatre is dedicated to creating theatre out of unique yet universal Dorset stories with excellent production values, and bringing it to the doorstep of people in Wider Wessex and beyond. 'Projecting the Future; Remembering the Past'.
Jane McKell (Artistic Director - AsOne)
Tour completed
Autumn 2010 Tour Dates:
*The Corn Exchange, Dorchester - Sunday 1 August, 3 pm
Lyme Regis,
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