Lilies on the Land

Lilies on the Land is less a play and more a series of dramatized reminiscences. The whole piece was devised in 2001 by ‘The Lion’s Part’ using letters from old Land Army Girls, most of whom have now sadly passed. The cast of this play (there were six of them) were mostly in the older age range, but this worked well because of the opening, where the women listen to the announcement of Churchill’s death in 1965 and look forward to the day when the contribution of the WLA to the war will be recognised by a badge in 2009 and being part of the march past of the Cenotaph in 2000. After this the older actresses playing themselves as young women during the war made perfect sense.

As the audience entered, their first impression was of the fabulous backdrop painted by Helen Voisey. It was a masterpiece and put us right in the heart of rolling English countryside, quite different from the Dales landscape outside the front door of the Playhouse. There was also a wealth of authentic props dressing the stage, we were completely transported to 1939. Bravo Carol Blades.

There was no sign of nerves on opening night as this well-rehearsed cast told us their stories. This is a difficult piece because it could end up just being static monologues, but there were some clever set pieces to keep the action moving along. Ruth Dodsworth, Debbie Forsyth, Moira Siara and Sally Smith were the continuing voices of Poppy, Peggy, Vera and Margie, while Claire Prescott and Joyce Liggins played the multi part roles.

Two stories particularly resonated with me, the first was Ruth’s story where she gets sent north to a very lonely place with no other company. She had of course requested a billet in the south as she comes from Leeds. Instead, she spends her evenings eating in the dark and going straight to bed in a cold and lonely farmhouse. A much happier running story came from Sally, who had some fun during her war work and ended up marrying one of the farm hands. Casting was excellent and Debbie Forsyth was perfect as the ‘posh girl’ who lies about her grandfather’s illness in order to attend a debutant ball.

In Act Two we heard rather more of the dark side of being a Land Army girl with tales of overwork, abuse and sexual harassment. Some of these girls were very young, vulnerable and afraid to speak up for themselves. But the magic moment when they all sang Silent Night reminded us that for many, this was a defining part of their growing up, a chance to get away from home when working class girls didn’t go away to university, an opportunity to make friends from different backgrounds, and just generally to have a big adventure. Absolutely beautiful.

The Silent Night scene demonstrated the effect of changing the lighting- the fabulous backdrop turned to a snow scene as if by magic.  I would have enjoyed even more moments enhanced by changed or tightly focused lighting. The taboggan was a perfect example, a fantastic choreographed picture which could have been isolated by lighting.

Well done to director Carol Bailey for bringing the stories to life, and absolute credit to the costume team led by Ruth Dodsworth. The detail was fantastic and did not go unnoticed. The red and white highlights to all the costumes really enlivened the khaki and green. Although this play was written in 2010, this month seemed to be the absolutely perfect time to perform it, sandwiched between the eightieth anniversaries of VE and VJ Day.

Well done Pateley Bridge Dramatic Society who continue to bring high quality drama to their local community.

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