YORK company Common Ground Theatre will present the outdoor theatre experience The Lumberjills in the Forestry Commission woods of Dalby Forest, near Thornton le Dale, this summer.
Written by York playwright and actress Hannah Davies and directed by company co-director Tom Cornford, this 75-minute play takes place in a woodland glade and tells the stories of the women who worked in Britain’s forestry trade during the Second World War.
"We invite you to step into a 1940s' world of gramophones, tree felling and tea dances," says Hannah. "This is a poetic and dramatic celebration of the lives of the unsung heroines of the forest’s past."
Playwright Hannah Davies
The glade will be transformed with log seating into a 1940s' military campsite for The Lumberjills' dramatic celebration of the work done by members of the Women’s Timber Corps.
Inspiration for the play came from a poem by one of those members, who wrote: "Oh for a manicure/Bath salts, sweet lavender. Oh for a foxtrot/With Jimmy or Bill. But miners are waiting/For props and for timber, So up you young Lumber Jills/And work with a will".
Common Ground's show is supported by Arts Council England and the Forestry Commission. The performance site will be at the end of Dalby Forest’s Ellerburn Trail, a fully accessible walk. "This is a wonderful opportunity to experience live theatre in a breathtaking environment and discover the hidden heritage of Yorkshire’s largest forest," says Hannah.
The Lumberjills director Tom Cornford
Common Ground has a track record in making theatre and performances for non-traditional performance spaces, such as a rural tour of a re-imagining of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale in 2013, Hannah Davies's audio-walk Within This Landscape in Coxwold in 2014 and tours of North Yorkshire and the North East with the folk music and storytelling show Kitty Bridges’ Pocket Book Of Tunes in 2015 and 2016.
Lumberjills in the Forest Of Dean in 1943. Picture: courtesy of the Forestry Commission
The Lumberjills will be staged between July 20 and 31, Wednesday to Sunday, 2pm and 6pm, with a recommended minimum age of seven. Please remember to dress suitably for the weather. Audiences are welcome to bring a picnic, but no glass; parking is available at a reduced rate at the Dalby Forest Visitors Centre car park, a 30 to 40-minute walk from the performance site. Tickets can be booked at cgtheatre.co.uk; contact hello@cgtheatre.co.uk for disabled access details and requirements.
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