Yorkshire-based Badapple Theatre Company’s widely-acclaimed World War I play, The Thankful Village, is back on the road this autumn to commemorate 100 years since the end of the Great War.
The historical drama tells the story of the war from a female perspective – with an all-female cast – and will tour small venues across the country in October and November, including three actual Thankful Villages. Thankful Villages were the places where everyone returned home – no men were lost. There were sadly just 52 of these when the war ended.
Set in Yorkshire, this poignant production gives an alternative perspective to the long years of 1914-1918 told through the eyes of three women from the same rural household, as they are left behind after the men in their lives march off to Flanders.
Each woman faces up to the challenges in her own way – with resilience, humour, a sense of duty and as much hope as she can find as the years pass by and they wait anxiously for news of their love ones. Don’t miss this touching story of humanity and the eccentric twists and turns of daily life that leads to the couples’ reuniting, for better or for worse, in the winter of 1918.
The Thankful Village stars Sarah Raine as Edie, Zoe Land as Nellie and Frances Tither (as seen as Emmeline Pankhurst in the BBC documentary, Making of a Militant) as Victoria. Music is by Sony award-winning singer-songwriter Jez Lowe (credits include BBC Radio 2’s collaboration with Michael Morpurgo’s Alone on a Wide Wide Sea). Songs from The Thankful Village will be sung by Jez with the BBC Philharmonic as part of a live radio broadcast for BBC Radio 2 later in the year.
The tour opens in York at the Stillingfleet Village Institute on 11th October, and will also stop by Green Hammerton, Sutton-on-the-Forest and more, until 10th November. Visit www.badappletheatre.co.uk to find a show near you!
This year marks Badapple Theatre Company’s 20th anniversary of touring. Its mission remains to take productions to the smallest rural venues and communities, and in doing so, find the best of new theatre in the most unexpected of places.
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