Cold Comfort Farm

The original novel was written in 1932 and was popularly considered to be a parody of the “loam and love-child” novels of the early twentieth century.  These are now largely forgotten, but “Cold Comfort Farm” endures, and defies easy categorisation.  Set in the near future when written, it has elements of science fiction, not least in its supposition that we would soon all be commuting by air.  It includes invented dialect vocabulary to describe the antics of the Farm’s residents.  And it is quite “meta” in that many of Flora Poste’s asides to the audience include commentary on the play itself.

When the city-dwelling Flora descends on her rural cousins to apply the strictures of her guiding tome “The Higher Common Sense”, their complex and chaotic lives are straightened-out and sanitised.  This lends Paul Doust’s stage adaptation a strong narrative thread, but there is something uncomfortable about the controlling triumph of Flora’s suave urbanity over her cousins’ authentic lives.  Nonetheless, it can’t be denied that just about every character’s situation is ultimately resolved with warmth and humour.

The play has a much narrower focus on the occupants of Cold Comfort Farm than is the case in the novel, but there are still half a dozen members of the Starkadder family to identify and connect.  At one point I wondered if it would have been helpful to have included a family tree in the programme, but trying to connect all of Amos’s half-brothers and half-cousins in a two dimensional diagram might have created more problems than it solved.  In any event the various Starkadders are all sufficiently well drawn and characterised for an adequate picture of the tensions within the family to emerge in time for Flora to sweep in and work her sophisticated magic.

The attention to detail was particularly apparent in the costumes.  The Director told me that the costume team often buys costumes online and then sells them on after the show, which sounds to me like a very sensible and cost-effective approach.  It certainly worked well here, and particularly in the case of Flora who sported a succession of convincingly vintage skirts and blouses.  The costumes were very well judged in their support of character – Elfine’s flowing dresses matched her artistic temperament, Amos’s dark tunic reflected his position on theological matters, and Rennet’s shapeless shift was entirely in keeping with her social status.  The accessories were spot on as well, such as Adam Lambsbreath’s knee socks and boots, Charles’ flying goggles, and particularly Mrs Hawk-Monitor’s jewelled headband which practically rooted the drama in the inter-war years all on its own.

This production of “Cold Comfort Farm was originally scheduled to be staged in the spring, but had to be postponed following the sudden and unexpected death of Andy Tacon, a much-loved member of the Stonesfield Players.  One thread of silver in this particularly dark cloud is that the cast really understood their characters and knew their lines thoroughly, as the original production was cancelled only a couple of weeks before it was due to be staged.  This meant that the company had had plenty of time in which to reflect and prepare, and this was evident in the actors’ confident characterisation and dialogue, with cues picked up promptly and challenging episodes, such as when several members of the Stackadder clan were effectively talking over each other, handled well.  In places the dialogue was almost too slick so that a few words were lost, especially as most of the cast affected broad West Country accents which were persuasive but occasionally impenetrable; this was especially true in some of the early establishment scenes.  However, there is no denying that the brisk tempo of the dialogue contributed to the pace of the production as a whole.

“Cold Comfort Farm” is not an easy play, but the Stonesfield Players really rose to the challenge.  It was remarkable that what is essentially a village dramatic society was able to recruit such a substantial cast, with the actors so well suited to, and accomplished in their roles.  It was similarly impressive that the limited theatrical resources of this fine village hall could be utilised so effectively to create such an atmospheric and gripping presentation.  The show may have been a long time in preparation, and will no doubt always be associated with Andy, but this multi-talented company should be very proud of what they achieved here.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.