THIN AIR by Berlie Doherty
Our audiences have said:
'Absolutely brilliant, moving, engaging... .Thanks for a great night out!'
'We were very moved by the play, the acting was brilliant. All together probably the best thing we have seen in ages.'
'I really, really enjoyed the play. Gripping stuff. And aren't Cotton Grass good!'
A young man’s dream of flight has ghostly consequences. Set in the shadow of two world wars, this haunting family saga is a tale of ambition and secrets and passion unspent.
Thin Air is a new play by Carnegie Award-winning author Berlie Doherty, directed by Joyce Branagh and presented by Derbyshire-based Cotton Grass Theatre. It is the supernatural story of a First World War fighter pilot who returns home from the horrors of the war. He is in possession of a secret that will haunt his community for generations to come.
Thin Air is set in the Dark Peak of Derbyshire and is inspired by the unique landscape, heritage and mythology of the Peak. The play uses theatre, projected imagery and live music to tell its ghostly tale.
Thin Air resonates with the mysterious atmosphere of this unique corner of England. The Peak District is an ancient geo-political frontier, the border of Mercia and Northumbria. It echoes with the stories of the many peoples who have lived, traded and travelled within its borders. In the last century it became synonymous with aircraft engineering: Rolls Royce at Derby, Barnes Wallace - born in Ripley; the wartime Dambuster practice flights over Ladybower reservoir and the many aircraft wrecks to be found on the forbidding slopes of Kinder Scout. This rich history is captured in the words and action of the play.
Berlie Doherty talks about writing Thin Air
Cotton Grass Theatre commissioned me to write a ghost play set in Derbyshire, where they and I are based. We talked about the many haunted houses and the various legends about ghosts in the county, but felt it would be exciting to write something completely original. I live in the Dark Peak, just below the brooding Kinder plateau, and I became interested in the many rumours and factual evidence of plane crashes in the area. I visited the site of one and was moved to discover that so much remains after sixty years that it has become a place of pilgrimage and reflection. It is easy to imagine how a plane could get lost up there on the high moors. Often when planes fly along our valley a trick of light or a swirl of curtaining mist will make them appear to fly right into the side of the mountain – I have seen this myself many times, and have caught my breath in disbelief. Not far away, over the Pennines in Manchester, A.V Roe was designing and building airplanes at the beginning of the twentieth century. I went to see a replica of his famous Avro tri-plane in the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology and there it was, waiting for me - the inspiration for my play! It is a dragonfly of a plane, beautiful and terrifyingly fragile. How could anyone dare to fly in it, so exposed to the elements? It had a range of only half a mile – but my play is fiction, and the pilot of my story may or may not have been alive, after all.
Creative team:
Director Joyce Branagh
Set Design Olivia de Monceau
Lighting Design Garry Preece
Photography/Publicity Stephen Hepworth
Sound Tom Chester (Blank Tape Studios)
Cast:
Laurence Aldridge (Tony)
Helena Coates (Clive/Sophie)
Susan Daniel (Helen/Woman/Landlady)
Mark Roberts (Peter/Will)
David Westbrook (Collie/Porter/Arthur)
The play is in two acts with a 20 minute interval - Act 1 (75 mins) and Act 2 (45 mins)
Tour Dates:
Feb 9 Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham-by-Sea
Feb 10-11 Mill Studio at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Feb 14-15 Assembly Rooms, Derby
Feb 16 Wirksworth Town Hall
Feb 17 Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Hal
Feb 18 Youlgrave Village
Feb 24 Edale Village Hall
Mar 2-3 Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
Mar 9-10 Pavilion Studio, Buxton Opera Ho
Mar 22-24 Thornbridge Hall, Ashford-in-the-Water
Mar 29 Tideswell Theatre
Mar 30-31 Lantern Theatre, Sheffield
In support of Help for Heroes
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
For more information contact:
David Frederickson, Cotton Grass Theatre
Email: mail@davidfrederickson.com
Link:
www.berliedoherty.com
www.thornbridgehall.co.uk
'Absolutely brilliant, moving, engaging... .Thanks for a great night out!'
'We were very moved by the play, the acting was brilliant. All together probably the best thing we have seen in ages.'
'I really, really enjoyed the play. Gripping stuff. And aren't Cotton Grass good!'
A young man’s dream of flight has ghostly consequences. Set in the shadow of two world wars, this haunting family saga is a tale of ambition and secrets and passion unspent.
Thin Air is a new play by Carnegie Award-winning author Berlie Doherty, directed by Joyce Branagh and presented by Derbyshire-based Cotton Grass Theatre. It is the supernatural story of a First World War fighter pilot who returns home from the horrors of the war. He is in possession of a secret that will haunt his community for generations to come.
Thin Air is set in the Dark Peak of Derbyshire and is inspired by the unique landscape, heritage and mythology of the Peak. The play uses theatre, projected imagery and live music to tell its ghostly tale.
Thin Air resonates with the mysterious atmosphere of this unique corner of England. The Peak District is an ancient geo-political frontier, the border of Mercia and Northumbria. It echoes with the stories of the many peoples who have lived, traded and travelled within its borders. In the last century it became synonymous with aircraft engineering: Rolls Royce at Derby, Barnes Wallace - born in Ripley; the wartime Dambuster practice flights over Ladybower reservoir and the many aircraft wrecks to be found on the forbidding slopes of Kinder Scout. This rich history is captured in the words and action of the play.
Berlie Doherty talks about writing Thin Air
Cotton Grass Theatre commissioned me to write a ghost play set in Derbyshire, where they and I are based. We talked about the many haunted houses and the various legends about ghosts in the county, but felt it would be exciting to write something completely original. I live in the Dark Peak, just below the brooding Kinder plateau, and I became interested in the many rumours and factual evidence of plane crashes in the area. I visited the site of one and was moved to discover that so much remains after sixty years that it has become a place of pilgrimage and reflection. It is easy to imagine how a plane could get lost up there on the high moors. Often when planes fly along our valley a trick of light or a swirl of curtaining mist will make them appear to fly right into the side of the mountain – I have seen this myself many times, and have caught my breath in disbelief. Not far away, over the Pennines in Manchester, A.V Roe was designing and building airplanes at the beginning of the twentieth century. I went to see a replica of his famous Avro tri-plane in the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology and there it was, waiting for me - the inspiration for my play! It is a dragonfly of a plane, beautiful and terrifyingly fragile. How could anyone dare to fly in it, so exposed to the elements? It had a range of only half a mile – but my play is fiction, and the pilot of my story may or may not have been alive, after all.
Creative team:
Director Joyce Branagh
Set Design Olivia de Monceau
Lighting Design Garry Preece
Photography/Publicity Stephen Hepworth
Sound Tom Chester (Blank Tape Studios)
Cast:
Laurence Aldridge (Tony)
Helena Coates (Clive/Sophie)
Susan Daniel (Helen/Woman/Landlady)
Mark Roberts (Peter/Will)
David Westbrook (Collie/Porter/Arthur)
The play is in two acts with a 20 minute interval - Act 1 (75 mins) and Act 2 (45 mins)
Tour Dates:
Feb 9 Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham-by-Sea
Feb 10-11 Mill Studio at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Feb 14-15 Assembly Rooms, Derby
Feb 16 Wirksworth Town Hall
Feb 17 Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Hal
Feb 18 Youlgrave Village
Feb 24 Edale Village Hall
Mar 2-3 Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
Mar 9-10 Pavilion Studio, Buxton Opera Ho
Mar 22-24 Thornbridge Hall, Ashford-in-the-Water
Mar 29 Tideswell Theatre
Mar 30-31 Lantern Theatre, Sheffield
In support of Help for Heroes
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
For more information contact:
David Frederickson, Cotton Grass Theatre
Email: mail@davidfrederickson.com
Link:
www.berliedoherty.com
www.thornbridgehall.co.uk
Laurence Aldridge and Sue Daniel
Mark Roberts and Helena Coates
David Westbrook as Arthur
Squadron Leader Anthony Spalding contemplates the bleakness of Kinder Scout
Helen (Sue Daniel) and Peter (Mark Roberts)
Tony (Laurence Aldridge) and Collie (David westbrook) build their aircraft
Anthony and Collie test their design
Takeoff
Sophie (Helena Coates)
A Review of 'Thin Air' by Holly Bee from Edale
Friday 24th February was an extraordinary evening; it was the first time in my life that I’ve ever arrived early to something. It was a good time to pick, as it meant that front row seats to Berlie Doherty’s new play “Thin Air” were available, but wherever you were sitting it was a wonderful performance. Our village hall was changed into eerie moorland, the confines of a boarding house and military base, even the boundless blue of the skies. “Thin Air” was described as a ghost story and technically it was, but, despite the supernatural element, nothing about the play jarred as unreal, for the theme of haunting was not explored in terms of creaky hinges and nightmarish portents, but rather the much truer and much deeper idea of being haunted by the past.
Berlie’s complex characters were brought to life beautifully by the Cottongrass Theatre Company. Only five actors played a variety of parts, each with their own dreams, longings, flaws, secrets and regrets that were revealed
with increasing emotion as the story unfolded. As I first sat down I thought how minimalist it seemed, but the small cast and space only made the performance better and brought it closer to the audience. A few crates and wheels made a wonderfully versatile and imaginative set, particularly effective in creating “Cobweb” the aeroplane – which became a character in her own right – and we immediately forgot that different characters had the same faces as we were transported into another time. The tale twisted through the war-scarred years, fascinating us as the threads that entwined the protagonists together and each individual’s hopes and heartaches were unveiled until the moving resolution.
With an insightful and emotive script, creative design and excellent acting Berlie and Cottongrass brought us a universally enjoyable experience, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt especially glad when the lights came up and the play opened with the word “Kinder”. To see such a great play set in our own home was a brilliant treat and we’re all eagerly looking forward to next one!
Holly Bee
Friday 24th February was an extraordinary evening; it was the first time in my life that I’ve ever arrived early to something. It was a good time to pick, as it meant that front row seats to Berlie Doherty’s new play “Thin Air” were available, but wherever you were sitting it was a wonderful performance. Our village hall was changed into eerie moorland, the confines of a boarding house and military base, even the boundless blue of the skies. “Thin Air” was described as a ghost story and technically it was, but, despite the supernatural element, nothing about the play jarred as unreal, for the theme of haunting was not explored in terms of creaky hinges and nightmarish portents, but rather the much truer and much deeper idea of being haunted by the past.
Berlie’s complex characters were brought to life beautifully by the Cottongrass Theatre Company. Only five actors played a variety of parts, each with their own dreams, longings, flaws, secrets and regrets that were revealed
with increasing emotion as the story unfolded. As I first sat down I thought how minimalist it seemed, but the small cast and space only made the performance better and brought it closer to the audience. A few crates and wheels made a wonderfully versatile and imaginative set, particularly effective in creating “Cobweb” the aeroplane – which became a character in her own right – and we immediately forgot that different characters had the same faces as we were transported into another time. The tale twisted through the war-scarred years, fascinating us as the threads that entwined the protagonists together and each individual’s hopes and heartaches were unveiled until the moving resolution.
With an insightful and emotive script, creative design and excellent acting Berlie and Cottongrass brought us a universally enjoyable experience, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt especially glad when the lights came up and the play opened with the word “Kinder”. To see such a great play set in our own home was a brilliant treat and we’re all eagerly looking forward to next one!
Holly Bee
