Lilies on the Land

Lilies on the Land is a play cleverly devised by Sarah Finch, which is a testament to all the women, known as Land girls, who worked hard on the land replacing male farm workers who fought in the war and coming from all backgrounds, so unfamiliar with the toils and tasks they faced.

I attended the opening night, absorbed fully from the start. There was a swift pace to this evening’s entertainment; faultless delivery of lines from those with key roles which were articulated perfectly and with some use of dialect. Some use of humour was present, and all direction was effectively coordinated and imaginatively staged. The songs and some choral pieces were harmonious and a few beautifully sung pieces. it occurred to me early in the evening that the cast was talented, reliable, well-rehearsed and so appropriately selected, given the challenges of presentation and the script.

This was a commendable production that enlightened us all, a fine tribute to the fortitude of these young women paced under the spotlight. Director, Rachel Waters and her cast had not shied from the challenges and the audience gained a strong sense of nostalgia and awarded with a clear vision of the hardships these four ladies struggled with including learning the labour-intensive skills of farm workers. The script had heavy dialogue and the play had a narrative style which was interspersed with music from the 1940’s, with each character delivering some lengthy monologues as they brought to life personal anecdotes, as well as singing some memorable songs from the world war period.

The audience was so effortlessly guided through these remarkable individual experiences taken from documented stories shared in letters and interviews. This included, learning how to milk a cow; shaming a farmer into building a field loo; climbing back in the early hours after a dance or the attraction of the GIs; ploughing, sowing, and threshing, through long days in the sun and bitter winters.

The set was simple and had a countryside feel, with bales of hay and tartan rugs and some clever resourcing of props and techniques used to improvise farm activity and simulate tractors and stables, with one memorable example mating the bull with the cow! The costumes were authentic and included wellingtons, brown dungarees, fawn-coloured loose trousers, green v necked jumpers, brown skirts, and arm bands. Hair styles reflected 1940’s era and pigtails featured. The words and movement of the characters were complimented by singing with sound effects created both on and off the stage by Stan Vigurs. This included Winston Churchill’s speech and radio announcements. Effective war songs included, ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ ‘Run Rabbit …..’ and ‘Wish Me Luck,’ were performed with the most poignant song being, ‘Silent Night,’ which was very moving and sung with no musical accompaniment.

The four ladies brought the land girls to life beautifully. Sam Allen played Margie with conviction and whilst her eyes were opened by new encounters, she kept her optimistic outlook. Tina Williams played Peggy, a confident cockney girl who revelled in getting stuck into her country life despite having had little farm experience. Tina also had a lovely strong singing voice, a pleasure to listen to. Francesca Rees adopted the role of Poppy naturally and with ease, speaking in a posh voice as appropriate, for her character’s background was a privileged one. She had signed up for the land army rather than the Wrens after seeing the poster. Amanda Grove was excellent in the role of Vera, finding satisfaction in joining up and creating her own path as well as getting use to the serviceable clothing. Worthy mention too needs to be afforded to the supportive cast, in particular, Ray Lawrence was very good and timely with his entrances and exits and one liner as the farmer and station master.

The sombreness of war was never downplayed but this performance was a celebration of the work the Land Army did. Well done to Rachel, the director and her crew and thank you to the actresses who played the main characters who did a sterling job voicing the memories of many others like them. The audience really enjoyed it.

Thank you for inviting me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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