A Touch of the Doones
To mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lorna Doone, last week Dovery Manor Museum’s celebrated Players performed a splendid new play by Christine de Vere Hunt. The drama introduced some of the characters who excited R.D. Blackmore’s imagination in the writing of his best-known book.
Guests were welcomed with wine and canapés in the Great Hall before gathering in the museum’s atmospheric solar, to enjoy an evening of tales, poetry and music.
Chris de Vere Hunt welcomed everyone and introduced the play with a short musical interlude. Penny Kelham set the scene; the audience were then transported to the 1940s where a young Laura, skilfully played by Tamra Bruce, was visiting her Aunt Aggie on Exmoor, charmingly brought to life by Christine Greenwood. Laura began to read Lorna Doone.
Bill Ball, a splendid R D Blackmore, gave the audience insight into the writing of his novel; his inspirations, choosing to set his tale in a time of great political unrest in the late 1600s, and his frustration with the book’s failure to sell well, especially at first. Although Lorna Doone is a work of fiction, much of the history that inspired it is well-documented and characters of national and local fame appear. Mark Palmer convinced as Tom Faggus, a highwayman with a reputation for roguish derring-do, sharing a drink with a mysterious man in black (Eric Nichols) and telling of his career in highway robbery, only to be arrested by the mystery man! Penny Kelham’s dramatic reading of ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes heightened the atmosphere of the scene.
Everyone was enthralled as Aggie Norman, the folk healer or witch, another well-known local character brilliantly played by Stephanie Blake, told of her life in the Valley of Rocks. It is thought that Aggie was the inspiration for Blackmore’s Mother Melldrum. John Hill was a dynamic Duke of Monmouth, lamenting his failure to inherit the throne of England from his father, Charles II; telling of his rebellion and the Rye House Plot.
Nigel Greenwood excelled as the much-feared Judge Jeffreys; he had the audience booing with grisly tales of the Bloody Assizes and his reputation as a money-grabbing drunk! Although Blackmore did portray him as dealing fairly with Spank and being appointed legal guardian to the Lady Lorna Dugal.
Jane Hill was a marvellous Mother Eyebright recounting the sorrowful tale of Jennifrid de Wichehalse, her desertion by the faithless Lord Aubyn Auberley and the terrible end which befell her. The real tragedy of the de Wichehalse family, connected to the capture of Major Nathaniel Wade, was not quite such a romantic story but nonetheless almost certainly provided a canvas on which R D Blackmore could weave his powerful tale of unrequited love and tragedy!
Penny Kelham read passages from the novel, describing the life of Mother Melldrum, and the appallingly cold winter of 1683- 1684. Throughout the evening Stephanie Blake (flute) and Chris de Vere Hunt (guitar) accompanied the cast and audience in some delightful singing; the entertainment was brought to a close as everyone joined in a fine rendition of ‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’.
The audience and cast then exchanged reminiscences over coffee and chocolates, ably provided by Fiona Plumstead, John Blake and Rosalinde Haw.
The drama was compiled, written and directed by Chris de Vere Hunt and produced by Dovery Manor Museum’s curator Dr Lita Strampp. The wardrobe manager was Mij Kay.
Guests were welcomed with wine and canapés in the Great Hall before gathering in the museum’s atmospheric solar, to enjoy an evening of tales, poetry and music.
Chris de Vere Hunt welcomed everyone and introduced the play with a short musical interlude. Penny Kelham set the scene; the audience were then transported to the 1940s where a young Laura, skilfully played by Tamra Bruce, was visiting her Aunt Aggie on Exmoor, charmingly brought to life by Christine Greenwood. Laura began to read Lorna Doone.
Bill Ball, a splendid R D Blackmore, gave the audience insight into the writing of his novel; his inspirations, choosing to set his tale in a time of great political unrest in the late 1600s, and his frustration with the book’s failure to sell well, especially at first. Although Lorna Doone is a work of fiction, much of the history that inspired it is well-documented and characters of national and local fame appear. Mark Palmer convinced as Tom Faggus, a highwayman with a reputation for roguish derring-do, sharing a drink with a mysterious man in black (Eric Nichols) and telling of his career in highway robbery, only to be arrested by the mystery man! Penny Kelham’s dramatic reading of ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes heightened the atmosphere of the scene.
Everyone was enthralled as Aggie Norman, the folk healer or witch, another well-known local character brilliantly played by Stephanie Blake, told of her life in the Valley of Rocks. It is thought that Aggie was the inspiration for Blackmore’s Mother Melldrum. John Hill was a dynamic Duke of Monmouth, lamenting his failure to inherit the throne of England from his father, Charles II; telling of his rebellion and the Rye House Plot.
Nigel Greenwood excelled as the much-feared Judge Jeffreys; he had the audience booing with grisly tales of the Bloody Assizes and his reputation as a money-grabbing drunk! Although Blackmore did portray him as dealing fairly with Spank and being appointed legal guardian to the Lady Lorna Dugal.
Jane Hill was a marvellous Mother Eyebright recounting the sorrowful tale of Jennifrid de Wichehalse, her desertion by the faithless Lord Aubyn Auberley and the terrible end which befell her. The real tragedy of the de Wichehalse family, connected to the capture of Major Nathaniel Wade, was not quite such a romantic story but nonetheless almost certainly provided a canvas on which R D Blackmore could weave his powerful tale of unrequited love and tragedy!
Penny Kelham read passages from the novel, describing the life of Mother Melldrum, and the appallingly cold winter of 1683- 1684. Throughout the evening Stephanie Blake (flute) and Chris de Vere Hunt (guitar) accompanied the cast and audience in some delightful singing; the entertainment was brought to a close as everyone joined in a fine rendition of ‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’.
The audience and cast then exchanged reminiscences over coffee and chocolates, ably provided by Fiona Plumstead, John Blake and Rosalinde Haw.
The drama was compiled, written and directed by Chris de Vere Hunt and produced by Dovery Manor Museum’s curator Dr Lita Strampp. The wardrobe manager was Mij Kay.
Dovery Manor Museum © 2018 All rights reserved.
Registered Charity Number 1079760
Registered Charity Number 1079760