Community play triumph

WALDRON is celebrating the success of its community play, The Smuggler's Tale, which was performed 'promenade' style at locations around the village last week.

The community has only 307 households, yet 130 local people took part in, or contributed a behind-the-scenes role in the play.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, enthusiastic audiences were encouraged to move with the action and take an active part in the play which was written by Valerie Chidson as a mix of fiction and local historical fact.

Valerie used some incidents from Thomas Turner's famous diaries, written between 1754 and 1765 as a basis for the story.

With 50 actors, a pony and trap, WW2 jeep and some dead rabbits as well as a different child cast every night, the production presented a major challenge. But, said Valerie, the village managed it in spectacular fashion.

She said: 'The whole atmosphere was fantastic. We found so much talent within the village and the fact that there are only 307 households and we had 130 people take part is incredible. That includes the actors, stagehands and sound engineers as well as marshals and ticket sellers. It was a real community project.'

'People talk about community spirit not existing but it's not true. The whole community got involved. We found a range of talents and it was brilliant. Everyone is saying how fantastic the play was and they keep asking "what next?" I'm going to take a break for a month and then we shall see, but it will take a lot to follow it up!'

Valerie added: 'I think it was so successful because it was a real spectacle to watch. The play was constantly changing and the audience were keen to see what was going to happen next.'

The play used different locations in the village including the Star Inn, the parish church and the public roads which were closed off from 5.30pm-10.30pm on the evenings of the performances so the audience could freely follow the play.