Tim Laycock

Tim Laycock is Artistic Director for The New Hardy Players

Tim Laycock is a Dorset man of many talents: actor, writer, musician…. He often combines these roles, adding much to all aspects the performances in which he is involved.

Splitting Tim’s work into neat packages just isn’t possible, but to give you a flavour of the incredibly wide range of things in which he gets very successfully involved:

Past company member with The National Theatre and Festival Theatre Chichester among others.

Actor/Musical Director in (among others):

The Old Wife’s Tale at Shakespeare’s Globe August 2000
Dorchester Community Play “A time to Keep” 2007

Composer and Musical Director for the 2014 Dorchester Community Play “Drummer Hodge”, drawing rave reviews.
Led ‘Tuneful Stories’ sessions through the summer of 2013,at Hardy’s Birthplace.Music and storytelling projects with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Poole and Bournemouth Schools.
Extensive storytelling work in Dorset schools
Specialises in readings of the poetry of William Barnes and Thomas Hardy.
Playwright, writing for theatre companies and community groups.
Thomas Hardy stage adaptations include:

The Return of the Native 1985. An adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel which received a South West Arts writer’s award, and was performed in Dorset in 2005 by the New Hardy Players
The Distracted Preacher. In 2010 Tim directed Ray Sargent’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s humorous short story as the New Hardy Players’ summer production.
The Withered Arm. Tim worked with Pippa Brindley and the Museum Makers group at Dorset County Museum to devise a new play based on Thomas Hardy’s short story The Withered Arm. A cast of 18 actors, performers and carers worked on Monday mornings for several months to produce an hour long play with music, human and shadow puppetry, dance and audience participation.

Wrote and directed a 20 minute DVD about Thomas Hardy’s work, commissioned by the National Trust

Tim is also a skilled folk musician, and collects Dorset (and other) folk songs, sometimes putting them to music. Many people will remember his performances with the New Scorpion Band