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Blaize

www.blaize.uk.net
t : 01943 607 030
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
England

Please contact Ellen Thorpe

Artistic Director/s Mike Bettison, Artistic director
Jim Woodland, Associate Artistic Director

Administrator/s Ellen Thorpe

Ways of Working
Practices
theatre, celebrations, site-specific drama, Environmental Interpretation, small-scale touring, Local Distinctiveness
Places
village halls, community centres, auction marts, coastal areas including the Heritage Coast on North York Moors and Robin Hood's Bay; anywhere we are asked to perform

Productions and Projects

Sward! The Story of a Meadow

2011

Sward! is a time-travelling tale and a love story with roots in ancient myth, oral records and modern science.
Through its telling, the complex web of life and history woven into the very fabric, the sward, of an upland hay meadow is revealed, along with its extremely fragile nature.
Young farmer Jason Drysdale is out on his quad bike, spraying thistles, when he spots botany student, Jemima Foxley. Fate intervenes to take them both on a fabulous journey.
A new play by Simon Corble, winner of the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, with songs co-written with Jim Woodland. Commissioned by Blaize, in collaboration with Highlights Rural Touring Scheme, the play is directed by Mike Bettison.
The production is accompanied by a photographic exhibition by Neville Turner, following the changing face of species-rich hay meadows through the seasons.
Sward! is an entertaining romp that delivers messages about the environment and our responsibilities towards it.

Sward!

A Way of Life

2002

A Way of Life takes place at and around an upland farm and a public house in the North of England in the 2001, during the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.
Research for the play involved interviews with farmers, officials from the then Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, smallholders, slaughtermen and farmer’s wives.
A Way of Life was accompanied by the exhibition 'In the Shadow. The Foot and Mouth Outbreak in West Durham' by Richard Grassick. The project was commissioned by The Rural Stress Information Network.
An earlier version of the play was titled New Life.
writer: Maureen Lawrence
director: Mike Bettison
Maureen Lawrence writes :
What happens in this country has a bearing on the whole world, and the whole world affects what happens here. There is no safe place. The awareness of this inter-relatedness was something I met in many of the farmers and other business people, as well as government workers and national park employees…Now, when the means of control are being modified by global forces, the farmer feels increasingly coerced. Yet in the midst of so much confusion and unrest, people continue to live their lives with amazing fortitude and joy. A Way of Life is my attempt to celebrate this vitality.

Yew Wood, Wouldn't You?

2001

Yew Wood, Wouldn't You? was commissioned by the Forest Education Initiative for children and families, and designed to be performed both indoors and outside. It contained information about trees, conservation and the management and uses of wood.
New Wood was its sister play, also commissioned by the Forest Education Initiative for children and families.

More About

A song composed by the villagers during a Blaize project on the North York Moors Heritage Coast

STAITHES SONG

From Eight Bells and Gun Gutter
Broom Hill and Lining Garth
Beck Side and Laverick Doorstones
Old Stubble to Barber's Yard
Up Slippery Hill to the Barras
Through Dog Loup up from the Staithe
The fret's creeping in from the harbour
As the tide brings it on the wave

Safe and calm, safe from harm
In the warm embrace
Cowbar Nab, Penny Nab, Those two strong arms.
Up top, down Steers, where you will
Rolling Cross is standing, Rolling Cross is standing
Rolling Cross, Rolling Cross is standing still

'Love Divine' and 'All My Sons'
A-sailing in the morning
'Seaton Rose' and 'Golden Crown'
Hiding from the storm
'Coronation Queen' and 'Star of Hope'
Guided by the brave
The fret's creeping in from the harbour
As the tide brings it on the wave

Safe and calm, safe from harm
In the warm embrace
Cowbar Nab, Penny Nab, Thos two strong arms.
Up top, down Steers, where you will
Rolling Cross is standing, Rolling Cross is standing
Rolling Cross, Rolling Cross is standing still

Oyster catchers, herring gulls
Circling in the twilight
Postcards and photographs
Fading in the dawn Memory and history
Souvenirs to save
The fret's creeping in from the harbour

Blaize
www.blaize.uk.net
t: 01943 607 030

Garsdale
Easby Drive
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
LS29 9BE
England

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