L to R: Helen Coyte, Patrick Packenham-Keady, Mel White, John McGregor, Rod Sharp, Stan Sharp, Barbara Netherwood, Janet Cockerill, Theresa Sharland, Richard Allen, Dawn Wolverson, Pam Ridgwell
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"Do you have any more deliveries to make after this one?" |
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"Do you know how much training it takes to be a postmaster these days, master Leggett?" |
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"When this war's over we'll get a little cottage the other end of the village. Then you can be a housewife, not a post office clerk." |
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"You are not paid to think, Miss Woods. You are paid to obey the rules as laid down by His Majesty's Post Office." |
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"Your magistrates and lords of the manor can't go against the law of the land. It's in violet." |
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"Don't worry, Louie. I know you did your best." |
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"I sometimes think the people who make these regulations have never stepped foot outside London. Would you like a cup of coffee?" |
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"We'll soak him in salt water twelve hours to get the mud out of him, then steam him and serve him with parsley sauce – he'll make a good dish." |
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"Found you, in your new abode at last." |
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"I am a bird of passage, thank you Mr Thompson." |
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"One good grind on Mr Tidy's wheel and it'd be gone." |
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"We've all got rights. Them's with money thinks different, but they'd better watch out." |
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"Your round's stacked over there. And there was a letter for you – I've put it on top of the pile." |
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"Come on, look lively. Don't just stan' there – git fell in! You don't fink Fritz is goin' to let yer spend all day sortin' yerselves out do yer?" |
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"You've shown me where the wood-sage grows – I can tell you that you're goin' to be loved." |
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"I knows you likes flowers. I told the lady you likes flowers." |
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"I'm fine thank you. We had some unexpected news yesterday, Mr Thompson and I, that's all." |
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"She's so much to tell you about how she's getting on, our daughter Elsie" |
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"Our orders have come through. We're moving out tomorrow." |
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"Well, he's remembered enough to send a letter at least. How is he?" |
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"Should be a good day for tench if this weather holds. Nice warm, still weather – just what they like." |
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"When I was your age, Peter, there was none of this turning a tap indoors to get water – we had to go outside and get it from a well or a pump." |
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"Nothing wrong with my eyes, young lady. Can't be a shepherd 'less you can spot yer critters when they're well away." |
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"The postmaster and his family? I hope you've not been going poking your nose in there, Joe Leggett." |
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"Eileen, are you there? Fetch the eggs in from the hens would you please. And when you've collected them, take half a dozen round next door – I promised Mrs Thompson she could have some more." |
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"You'll be glad to know the post office is fine, and I've handed the switchboard over to father for the night." |
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"Can I have a ride up the hill on your mule and cart?" |
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"Di, you and I can relax for a while and listen to the new wireless set." |
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"When you can hear the trains rush out o' Buriton tunnel, you know it means a wet 'un's on the way." |
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"I'm so grateful to you and your mother, Di, for getting me this job." |
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"I dunno who's the biggest fool, Bill Tidy – you or the donkey. Least the donkey was sober last night." |
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"Come on, let's be off up to your Peverel. We'll give your mother a few hours peace and quiet from you." |
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"Well, Thompson, we're all sorry to see you leave, of course, after - what - eleven years among us now." |
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"I had the man from the estate agent round today. They've advertised the house at £750." |
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"I ought to be getting Peter's tea ready before he gets home from school." |
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"Peter, will you please be careful with that – it's breakable." |
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"Let's hope the weather's better when we get to Dartmouth." |
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"Richard Brownlow, you have had a remarkable career of over 40 years with our company. " |
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"The uncle Edwin you never knew. The Mrs Brownlow I never was. I wonder if Richard would have been just another dodder person." |
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"The gypsy was right. She'll be loved by people she's never seen and never will see. And I shall miss her! " |
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Flora Thompson's book 'Lark Rise to Candleford' and her connection with Liphook are now well known, but it was not always so. The book was not published until 10 years after Flora had left the Liphook area and, as she used pseudonyms for the places she wrote about, the connection was little known. It was not until 1970 that Selborne historian and writer Anne Mallinson, uncovered the East Hampshire connection and Flora's 'Peverel', for that was what she called the area; was revealed as the countryside around Liphook.
Jo Smith's play to mark the 50th annivesary of Flora's death is also called 'Flora's Peverel'. It offers a glimpse of Flora's life through her own eyes and has a fascination in much the same way as her written works.
Through its episodic structure, Jo Smith builds a picture of a woman torn between living within the constraints imposed by her husband and family and her wish to spend time experiencing and recording the life she sees around her.
The first act is set in the period 1916 to 1918 and Flora's struggle takes place against the greater battle of the First World War.
Jo Smith peoples the stage with snapshots of characters from Flora's writings interlaced with memories of the Canadian troops who were stationed in the area. They form a counter-point to the life of the post office bounded by rules and run by the clock.
Postmaster, John Thompson, Flora's husband, is seen as a fair but essentially unimaginative man. Flora has to school herself to accept his outlook. She has much more in common with Dr Macfie who writes poetry - but his visits are not welcomed by John Thompson.
Flora is keen to learn from anyone including the tinkers Bill Tidy and his wife Maggie, for Bill's knowledge of plants is enormous. But tinkers are not the sort of people John Thompson, or Liphook society in general, find acceptable. The Tidys' lives are in every way totally irregular.
The second act covers the years 1926 to 1928 when life is easier for the Thompsons and at last they move into a house of their own, Woolmer Gate at Griggs Green. In the intervening years Flora has taken a writing course, published a book of poems and short stories and written regular nature notes.
Jo Smith shows her as at her happiest. She is living in her beloved countryside and she is writing with a postal writers group called 'The Peverel Society'. But life is changing - mains water and electricity make their presence felt. The telephone has made an impact too and there is an exchange at the post office. Girls, it seems, prefer to work as telephonists rather than milkmaids. In fact, work of any kind is hard to come by.
Flora's son and her daughter's fiancé go to Australia. Then Flora's world collapses. John was born on the Isle of Wight. He wants to return to live by the sea so he applies and gets a job as postmaster in Dartmouth. Flora, now 52, must follow. She leaves her beloved 'Peverel' never to return.
Artistic director Derek Watts has chosen to date the episodic structure of the play by back projection and sound montage. Sometimes this worked well but at other times it seemed intrusive. The Bedales Olivier Theatre offered different stage levels for indoors and outdoors and characters made the most of these and the many entrances to give a sense of the open air. The setting, costumes and lighting were simple but effective. However, it might have been easier to maintain the momentum between episodes if some of the furniture could have remained on stage.
The style of production relied heavily on the expertise of the actors and
in spite of the fragmentary nature of the play they created several very atmospheric
moments.
Barbara Netherwood managed to combine both the ordinary and extraordinary sides
of Flora Thompson into a believable and vulnerable woman. She was well supported
by Rod Sharp as John Thompson. His inflexibility was understated but all-pervasive.
His touching soliloquy at the end showed a man still puzzled by his continuing
inability to ever see anything more than the facts.
The tinkers, Bill and Maggie, played by Tony Grant and Dawn Wolverson, provided a thread of comedy. They kept up a good natured bickering in well sustained accents. Their disagreement after the camp burns down was particularly enjoyable.
The whole cast, whose ages ranged from teens to past retirement, worked hard
to sustain their characters and blend them into the structure.
This is an interesting play, imaginatively staged and well worth seeing for
the light it sheds on Flora Thompson's background.
Linda Daubney