Sir Toby Belch (Roger Bingham) and Maria (Susan Daniel) - Twelfth Night at Thornbridge Hall - summer 2011
What's New
We will be on tour this summer with two shows:
YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIVE - a new piece about Dorothy Parker will tour Derbyshire this Spring and in the late summer tours to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
THE UNKNOWN LAND - our highly-praised show about the fatal attraction of the Arctic regions comes to the Buxton Festival Fringe this summer.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIVE - a new piece about Dorothy Parker will tour Derbyshire this Spring and in the late summer tours to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
THE UNKNOWN LAND - our highly-praised show about the fatal attraction of the Arctic regions comes to the Buxton Festival Fringe this summer.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIVE: An Evening With Dorothy Parker
Poster Sarah Hepworth
A show featuring the words, wisdom and wisecracks of one of America's foremost jazz age writers. Dorothy Parker's short stories and journalism are characterised by rapier wit and her poems by melancholy and aching vulnerability. Her pen frequently upset the literary establishment and provided an acerbic commentary on life in inter-war America. She was a very rude and very funny lady.
She was active in cultural politics on the west coast, setting up the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League and (with Lillian Hellmann and Dashiel Hammett) the Screenwriters' Guild. She also visited and wrote about Spain during the Civil War, supporting the efforts of the Republican Government to provide basic education for their people. Of course, she ended up on Senator McCarthy's Hollywood blacklist which, she said, severely curtailed her earning power. But it didn't stop her telling it like she thought it was.
Dorothy Parker will be accompanied on stage by the Steve Salfield Trio playing the music of the twenties and thirties. She will fill you in on her life, her loves and her views on the writers and cultural icons of her day. One more show left in our short Spring tour. We will be back in the autumn starting in Guildford!
"Sue Daniel's timing is perfect for the epigrams and one-liners. She gives a real sense of someone for whom life is a bit of a struggle and humour a defence; someone who provides sparkling wit and pleasure for others but who is not herself laughing behind her eyes". (Audience comment)
She was active in cultural politics on the west coast, setting up the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League and (with Lillian Hellmann and Dashiel Hammett) the Screenwriters' Guild. She also visited and wrote about Spain during the Civil War, supporting the efforts of the Republican Government to provide basic education for their people. Of course, she ended up on Senator McCarthy's Hollywood blacklist which, she said, severely curtailed her earning power. But it didn't stop her telling it like she thought it was.
Dorothy Parker will be accompanied on stage by the Steve Salfield Trio playing the music of the twenties and thirties. She will fill you in on her life, her loves and her views on the writers and cultural icons of her day. One more show left in our short Spring tour. We will be back in the autumn starting in Guildford!
"Sue Daniel's timing is perfect for the epigrams and one-liners. She gives a real sense of someone for whom life is a bit of a struggle and humour a defence; someone who provides sparkling wit and pleasure for others but who is not herself laughing behind her eyes". (Audience comment)
'Had I been consulted my face would have been very different - but I was not' - photo Bill Allerton
BAKEWELL MEDWAY CENTRE
Friday May 17th at 8pm (music and bar from 7.30pm)
Tickets: £9 (£8 - if booked in advance)
From: Bakewell Book Shop Phone: 01629 815469/813209
Email: jude.brown4@tiscali.co.uk In support of Bakewell Oxfam Group
THE MILL STUDIO AT YVONNE ARNAUD THEATRE GUILDFORD
Thursday Sept 12th, Friday Sept 13th and Saturday Sept 14th at 7,30pm
Ticket Information to follow Box Office: 01483 440000
GREGSON CENTRE LANCASTER
Sunday October 20th at 8pm Box office details available soon
The Company: Susan Daniel (Dorothy Parker) Steve Salfield (Saxophone) Matthew Ratcliffe (Piano)
Graham Jones (Double Bass)
Written and directed by David Frederickson
Links: www.billallerton.co.uk
THE UNKNOWN LAND by Caroline Small
Coming to the Buxton Festival Fringe this July is The Unknown Land, an original play for one actor - but many characters, inspired by true accounts of nineteenth century Arctic exploration, Inuit mythology and the fatal attraction of the polar regions written by Buxton-based writer Caroline Small.
The year is 1844. A man answers a newspaper advertisement inviting him to join a ship bound for the unknown wastes north of Greenland. His experiences on the voyage, the loneliness, the strength-sapping treks across the ice, the merciless cold, change him forever and we see what really drives him as the certainties of his early life are stripped away.
Music is supplied by concertina maestro and professional folksinger, Keith
Kendrick who lends his resonant voice with English folk songs and tunes which catch the mood and enhance the story.
“Absolutely gripping, multi-layered, wonderfully acted and very, very moving. See it if you can!”
(Sally Goldsmith, singer/song-writer)
“A terrific performance by David Frederickson in a really fascinating play full of wit and love that I didn't expect from the title and subject matter. If it's not the most unexpectedly joyous night out I'll have this year it'll do to be going on with.”
(Rony Robinson, BBC Radio Sheffield)
There will be three performances at the Buxton Fringe Festival
United Reformed Church, Hardwick Square East, Buxton, SK17 6PT
Wed 3rd, Sun 7th & Wed 10th July 7:30pm
Tickets: £10 - Conc £8
Bookings via Opera House box office: 0845 127 2190
The year is 1844. A man answers a newspaper advertisement inviting him to join a ship bound for the unknown wastes north of Greenland. His experiences on the voyage, the loneliness, the strength-sapping treks across the ice, the merciless cold, change him forever and we see what really drives him as the certainties of his early life are stripped away.
Music is supplied by concertina maestro and professional folksinger, Keith
Kendrick who lends his resonant voice with English folk songs and tunes which catch the mood and enhance the story.
“Absolutely gripping, multi-layered, wonderfully acted and very, very moving. See it if you can!”
(Sally Goldsmith, singer/song-writer)
“A terrific performance by David Frederickson in a really fascinating play full of wit and love that I didn't expect from the title and subject matter. If it's not the most unexpectedly joyous night out I'll have this year it'll do to be going on with.”
(Rony Robinson, BBC Radio Sheffield)
There will be three performances at the Buxton Fringe Festival
United Reformed Church, Hardwick Square East, Buxton, SK17 6PT
Wed 3rd, Sun 7th & Wed 10th July 7:30pm
Tickets: £10 - Conc £8
Bookings via Opera House box office: 0845 127 2190
Keith Kendrick and David Frederickson in The Unknown Land
About Cotton Grass Theatre
Cotton Grass Theatre began producing professional theatre in the Peak District in 1995. Our first production was Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills about a tragic day in the life of country children (all played by adults) during the Second World War. The play was staged in the grounds of Birchfield Hall at Hathersage using the spectacular backdrop of Mam Tor.
Bazaar and Rummage by Sue Townsend was staged in a converted barn near Bakewell. Then in 1998 The Hollow Country, a play for young people was set in the underworld of caverns and mines of the Peak District. We followed this with another children’s play: The Glorious Tale of the Golden Whale. Next Into the Rose Garden by Caroline Small was set in an art gallery, using the work of local artists, and is the story of an estranged mother and daughter who re-enact the story of their loss. The play toured again in 2003.
Cotton Grass Theatre went on to produce two more pieces of new writing by Caroline Small: Black Bread and Tired Feet, a family show based on traditional Russian folk tales, and Gardens of Delight, an adaptation of Boccaccio’s Decameron. This was staged in a picturesque farmyard near Youlgrave.
In May 2001 we produced La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler at the Buxton Opera House Studio. and the Crucible Studio in Sheffield. In 2003 we toured Derbyshire with The Unreturning Army, a show about Derbyshire Dales and the Great War. The show has proved very popular and we have toured the show at Armistice time in November on a number of occasions since then. Our autumn 2004 tour was a double bill of two plays by Derbyshire writers. Louise Page, a writer of national reputation for plays at the RSC and the Royal Court, adapted Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler and Chris Hawes’ Haunted was an adaptation of the ghost stories of M R James. The plays toured theatres, art centres and village halls. In 2006 we toured with a play for Key Stage 2: Corvus Corax: The Crow in the Know, a new play about creation myths from around the world, written by Susan Daniel. Then Sherlock Holmes and The Final Problem written for us by Justin Webb, toured nationally from the Maltings Arts Centre in Berwick-on-Tweed to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
In 2008 Cotton Grass received lottery funding to develop and manage a schools project for Winster Morris Dancers recreating Cecil Sharp’s 1908 visit to Winster when he recorded the Morris dances of the local lead miners. We worked in three local schools, providing workshops on folksong and dance and produced a new play, A Nest of Singing Birds, written by David Frederickson, telling the story of Sharp’s life and work.
In 2009-10 we toured with The Unknown Land by Caroline Small, a play for one actor and many characters telling the story of a journey to the Arctic in 1844, of one man's battle against extreme conditions, the ghosts in his own mind and the fatal attraction of the polar regions. We also toured again with Haunted, Chris Hawes' adaptation of the creepy stories of M R James.
Last summer we completed a run of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall at Ashford-in-the-Water, as part of this year's Bakewell Arts Festival. One audience member emailed: 'it really was a cracker and we've talked about it such a lot, there was so much love and joy and poetry in that play last night.....it was astonishing - as we were leaving all the people were full of it, so delighted.'
Then in the autumn we toured with a new stage adaptation of Street Child by Berlie Doherty about the boy who inspired Dr Barnardo. The production used puppets and projected images (with artwork by Daisy Frossard) and toured to theatres, arts centres, village halls, tourist attractions and schools across the country.
Our Spring 2012 project was a new play by Berlie Doherty. Thin Air is set in the Dark Peak of Derbyshire and is inspired by the unique landscape, heritage and mythology of the Peak. It is the ghostly tale of a World War I pilot who crashes on the slopes of Kinder Scout. The play toured village halls and arts centres finishing with a run at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
Bazaar and Rummage by Sue Townsend was staged in a converted barn near Bakewell. Then in 1998 The Hollow Country, a play for young people was set in the underworld of caverns and mines of the Peak District. We followed this with another children’s play: The Glorious Tale of the Golden Whale. Next Into the Rose Garden by Caroline Small was set in an art gallery, using the work of local artists, and is the story of an estranged mother and daughter who re-enact the story of their loss. The play toured again in 2003.
Cotton Grass Theatre went on to produce two more pieces of new writing by Caroline Small: Black Bread and Tired Feet, a family show based on traditional Russian folk tales, and Gardens of Delight, an adaptation of Boccaccio’s Decameron. This was staged in a picturesque farmyard near Youlgrave.
In May 2001 we produced La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler at the Buxton Opera House Studio. and the Crucible Studio in Sheffield. In 2003 we toured Derbyshire with The Unreturning Army, a show about Derbyshire Dales and the Great War. The show has proved very popular and we have toured the show at Armistice time in November on a number of occasions since then. Our autumn 2004 tour was a double bill of two plays by Derbyshire writers. Louise Page, a writer of national reputation for plays at the RSC and the Royal Court, adapted Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler and Chris Hawes’ Haunted was an adaptation of the ghost stories of M R James. The plays toured theatres, art centres and village halls. In 2006 we toured with a play for Key Stage 2: Corvus Corax: The Crow in the Know, a new play about creation myths from around the world, written by Susan Daniel. Then Sherlock Holmes and The Final Problem written for us by Justin Webb, toured nationally from the Maltings Arts Centre in Berwick-on-Tweed to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
In 2008 Cotton Grass received lottery funding to develop and manage a schools project for Winster Morris Dancers recreating Cecil Sharp’s 1908 visit to Winster when he recorded the Morris dances of the local lead miners. We worked in three local schools, providing workshops on folksong and dance and produced a new play, A Nest of Singing Birds, written by David Frederickson, telling the story of Sharp’s life and work.
In 2009-10 we toured with The Unknown Land by Caroline Small, a play for one actor and many characters telling the story of a journey to the Arctic in 1844, of one man's battle against extreme conditions, the ghosts in his own mind and the fatal attraction of the polar regions. We also toured again with Haunted, Chris Hawes' adaptation of the creepy stories of M R James.
Last summer we completed a run of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall at Ashford-in-the-Water, as part of this year's Bakewell Arts Festival. One audience member emailed: 'it really was a cracker and we've talked about it such a lot, there was so much love and joy and poetry in that play last night.....it was astonishing - as we were leaving all the people were full of it, so delighted.'
Then in the autumn we toured with a new stage adaptation of Street Child by Berlie Doherty about the boy who inspired Dr Barnardo. The production used puppets and projected images (with artwork by Daisy Frossard) and toured to theatres, arts centres, village halls, tourist attractions and schools across the country.
Our Spring 2012 project was a new play by Berlie Doherty. Thin Air is set in the Dark Peak of Derbyshire and is inspired by the unique landscape, heritage and mythology of the Peak. It is the ghostly tale of a World War I pilot who crashes on the slopes of Kinder Scout. The play toured village halls and arts centres finishing with a run at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
Who We Are
Susan Daniel
Susan has worked professionally in the theatre since 1984. She began her career in fringe and street theatre, juggling and fire-eating. She has also worked in TV, radio, corporate video and was a puppeteer in the children’s TV show, Button Moon. She is founder and artistic director of Cotton Grass Theatre and has produced and appeared in nearly all its productions. Susan both wrote and appeared in Cotton Grass Theatre's play for children, Corvus Corax: The Crow in the Know. On TV recently Sue has been seen in Emmerdale. Susan has just played Maria in Cotton Grass Theatre's production of Twelfth Night at Thornbridge Hall, Ashford-in-the-Water. Last autumn she toured in the stage adaptation of Street Child by Berlie Doherty.
David Frederickson
David has appeared at the RSC, Birmingham Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Manchester Royal Exchange. He made his West End debut in Nigel Planer’s On the Ceiling at the Garrick Theatre in 2005. More recently, he played Polonius in Hamlet for Demi-Paradise Productions in Lancaster. TV work includes: Dangerfield, The Braithwaites, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, The Cops and The Royal Today. For Cotton Grass: Black Bread and Tired Feet, The Unreturning Army, The Compleat Angler, Haunted and Sherlock Holmes and the Final Problem, in which he played Watson, Moriarty and Conan Doyle. In 2009-10 he toured in The Unknown Land by Caroline Small, a play for one actor and a musician, about the fatal attraction of the polar regions. Most recently, Last summer he played Malvolio in Cotton Grass Theatre's Twelfth Night at Thornbridge Hall.
Contact Us
Cotton Grass Theatre, 2 Overdale, The Hills, Bradwell, Derbyshire, S33 9GZ
Telephone and Fax: 01433 621624
Email:
Sue: cottongrass@hotmail.co.uk
David: mail@davidfrederickson.com
Telephone and Fax: 01433 621624
Email:
Sue: cottongrass@hotmail.co.uk
David: mail@davidfrederickson.com
