Present AsOne Productions

  PROBABLY YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SEE

'SHE OPENED THE DOOR' THIS YEAR! 

Thursday 29th September 

She Opened the Door at The Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis

(Church Street, Lyme Regis, Dorset. DT7 3QA)

 Get your tickets now -  Lyme Regis TIC - Tel: 01297 442138 

 A TRIUMPH!

Hardy's Max Gate Dorchester! Sunday 21 August 2011 (2pm for 3pm)

 

MAXGATENT9.jpg

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. 

Photograph: Ian Brooke

 

 

 

 

Cast and Crew:

Actors: Dani Bright (The Ruined Maid), Julia Savill (The Mother), Jane McKell (The Wife ) & Trisha Lewis (The Other Woman)

Producer & Director - Peter J Cooper, Composer - Roderick Skeaping, Designer - Annette Sumption, Costume maker - Emily Smith, Lighting - John Newton, Audio Visual - Kevin Butcher, Stage Management - Ian Rixon, Set building & making - Brendan Gregg assisted by AsOne trainee Sarah Warren

 Premiere performance was at the Thomas Hardy International Festival Corn Exchange, Dorchester 1st August  (The original actress playing The Mother was Mary Lou Delaplanque - after she left her role was taken over by Julia Savill)

The Play

Cleverly interweaving some of Hardy's characterful dialogue, this play with music takes a fresh look at Thomas hardy's first wife Emma and her relationship with Dorset's literary genius at the height of his fame. It takes place in the garden of the couple's home, Max Gate in Dorchester. Hardy's possessive mother, Jemima comes to visit for the first and only time and Mrs Florence Henniker arrives on the new fangled ladies safety bicycle, add a feisty (ruined) house-maid, some skeletons and a ghost or two to Emma's already tangled nerves, and you have a powder keg ready to blow! With music by world renowned composer Roderick Skeaping, design by the talented Annette Sumption, beautiful projected imagary and costumes expect an evening of quality and surprise. Be prepared to be touched, laugh and learn something. Although full of fresh ideas for Hardy enthusiasts - this is above all an entertaining, topical story of what fame and notoriety can do to relationships.

Artistic Director Jane McKell says:

 

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 

* The Playhouse, Weston Super Mare - Friday 24th September, 7.30pm -0193 4645 544

* Backwell Playhouse, Bristol -14th October, 7.30pm - 01305 835 541

* Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth -24th October, 2.30pm - 01305 835 541

* The Mowlem Theatre, Swanage - 6th November, 7.30pm - 01929 422 239 (These are now in the past)

 Spring 2011 Tour dates

*The Athenaeum Theatre, Warminster - 5th February, 7.30 pm - TEL: 01985 213891

*The Arts Centre, Wellington - 11th February, 7.30 pm - TEL: 01823 667 774

*The Rondo Arts Centre, Bath - 17th February, 8.00 pm - TEL: 01225 453 362

*The Lighthouse Studio, Poole - 18th February, 7.30 pm - TEL: 0844 406 86 66

*The Exchange, Sturminster Newton - Saturday 26th February, 7.30 pm - TEL: 01258 475 137

*Swindon Arts Centre - Friday 11 March, 7.30 pm - TEL: 01793 614 837

*Weymouth Pavilion Theatre - Friday 25th March - TEL: 01305 783 225

*The Arts Centre, Bridport - Friday 8 April 7.30 p.m. - TEL: 01308 424 204

* Max Gate House Garden, Alington Ave., Dorchester DT1 2AB - TEL: 01304 835541

* The Marine Theatre,  Church Street, Lyme Regis, Dorset, DT7 3QA - LR TIC Tel: 01297 442138

 


Lyme Regis,
 

Dorset

DT7 3QA

   

 

 

 

 
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