SWARD. A new play by Simon Corble

With songs by Jim Woodland. Directed by Mike Bettison. Designed by Simon Pell.
Accompanied by a photographic exhibition by Neville Turner and an education project.
The project is a collaboration between Blaize and Highlights - the North Pennine rural touring scheme.

Some early thoughts from Simon Corble ....
 

"With regard to my idea of images and the overall "feel" of the experience, "Magical" is the keyword - but this need not be taken in a Disney sense.

 

With a title like Sward, we are obviously going to be looking at some close-ups, full of all kinds of detail.  I'd quite like this to include some insect life.  One perspective might be an insect's eye view, through the sward to the sky.  "Riches" might be another keyword.

 

The story itself is going to have a fairy tale feel to it, complete with happy ending; so the rusting elevator is now a Sleeping Giant and the Hidden Treasure is the bank of seeds waiting to explode into dazzling colour.  It is going to take in a massive sweep of time, starting in the prehistoric era.  "The complex web of life" is also a living tapestry, preserving within it our cultural history and our connection, as a people, to the land. "

Touring April and May 2011.