The New Hardy Players present a special programme of words and music as part of the official opening ceremony for the National Trust’s Thorncombe Woods Visitor Centre on Tuesday March 10th. This Visitor Centre serves Thomas Hardy’s cottage in Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester – more info on the National Trust website.
The thirty- minute programme is devised and directed by Tim Laycock, and features short acted extracts from The Woodlanders and Far From the Madding Crowd, as well as poetry and prose by Thomas Hardy, and local folksongs and music.
Thorncombe Woods and the heath beyond was Thomas Hardy’s playground as a young boy, and the landscape inspired some of his most memorable prose and poetry. ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ and ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ were both written in Hardy’s Cottage, and the stories of his mother’s early life in Melbury Osmond provided the raw material for The Woodlanders. ‘Woodland Words’ will be performed on the very edge of the wood in amongst the trees. Sadly, this performance will not be open to the public, but there will be an opportunity to see and hear it at Hardy’s Cottage on Saturday May 2nd. Further details once the timings are confirmed.
The New Hardy Players 