A few months ago I was asked by my wonderful friend Bob Eastham, who is the director of the community theatre company 'Shake-A-Leg' (Their website) if I could write a play for the Saffron Walden Maze Festival. The artistic director of Sheer Drop, Tom Latter had worked with me on 'Printed Linen' and he was keen to direct 'Lost & Found' and for his theatre company (Sheer Drop) to produce it in association with Shake-A-Leg, so the production was born!
Visit the Saffron Walden Maze Festival Website or visit them on Facebook and give 'em a LIKE - everybody loves a maze, don't they? - Facebook Page.
The festival is the first one of it's kind in the town and it is a great chance to celebrate the fact that the town has three incredible mazes:
1.) The Ancient Turf Labyrinth on The Common -
2.) Victorian Hedge Maze in Bridge End Gardens - I couldn't find a picture of the maze but here's a picture of the gardens in which it is (it should give you some idea of the Victorian formal style) -
3.) 'Sun Maze', a bronze sculpture by artist Michael Ayrton (which is part of the Fry Art Gallery's collection - the Fry is a lovely little gallery in Saffron Walden - Fry Art Gallery's Website - take a peek...) -
Once I knew I was doing a play for the Maze Festival, I started researching mazes...
For me the most fascinating maze in the town is the Ancient Turf Maze, as I love the fact that it is probably of Pagan origins and it has so much mystery surrounding it. The real meaning and use of the maze is still uncertain, there are theories, very good theories, but nothing is set in stone.
Almost as soon as Bob asked me to write the play I knew I wanted to perform it on/in one of the two mazes, and as you know from above my personal favourite is the turf maze, so that is where I have set the play. I love a bit of site-specific work.
Now there is something that you should know about me...I love research! It was at drama school that I first learnt just how much I love researching. As an actress I absolutely thrive on character and background research, so it is only natural that I should relish the activity just as much as a writer. A subject which I have very much looked forward to looking into, and now since I've started researching it, am loving is...Paganism.
My research into Paganism has been not only been interesting but it has driven me not only into Treadwells Occult bookshop (a trip I was very excited about and I wasn't disappointed by. It's a gorgeous bookshop, look-
(Do you spot the traffic warden slightly blurred in the middle - no one likes a traffic warden (do they??!?), but I do like the bookshop behind.) but it also drove me to write a short play called 'Skyclad' which is about a Wiccan Druid who is trying to communicate with her dead twin by using Wiccan Magic. I have to say that I fell so much in love with that character (Phillipa) that she is making another appearance in 'Lost & Found'.
I don't know how often other writers do that, creating a character in one play and then wanting to explore them so much that they have to write them into another? It would be interesting to know how often that happens. If anyone knows, let me know.
Well I better go now. I need to finalise my short play entry to Bushgreen's What's In My Box - deadline Friday!
Bye bye...
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