|
 One
of Potter's best known and best loved plays, Blue Remembered Hills
follows the adventures of a group of 7 year olds one summer's day in
war-time Britain - 1943. They fight, they play, they argue, bully, romp,
joke, and cry - but these 7 year olds are all played by adults.
Potter
intended that by using this device an audience could see innocence shot
through with experience, the naivety of childhood juxtaposed with
awareness of adulthood. Throughout Blue Remembered Hills the audience
is drawn into the totally convincing world of childhood but see with
horror, through adult eyes that the cruelties, alliances, manipulations
and, yes, tragedies endured at 7 are no different from those experienced
at 27, 47 or 67.
The play is
set in the Forest of Dean (Potter's childhood home). Both set and
staging create the perfect claustrophobic atmosphere for the 5 boys and
2 girls to meet and play in the constant shadow of war-time activities
(aeroplanes, gunfire, sirens) and to indulge their own war against the
fearful and tearful Donald whose tragic experiments with matches in the
barn leads to chilling and thought-provoking climax to the play.
The company
first staged Blue Remembered Hills in 2001, a hugely successful
production which was toured to the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
Next Stage is delighted to be revisiting this play in 2007 with its
original cast of seven actors. |
