Now with subtitles...

Transcription

1 The Hammerman

2 The STAGETEXT system in action at the Old Vic, Bristol, with Tim Barlow in a production of Juliet and Her Romeo. (Photo courtesy of Mike Lusmore) Now with subtitles... If you re wondering why this performance of The Hammerman features sub-titles when few or even no other show you ve ever been to has before, it s because we are proud to be pioneering a new system. STAGETEXT have years of experience of producing captioning (to give it its proper name) in major professional productions, using specially developed software.they regularly provide captioning for special performances of West End shows, at leading provincial theatres and prestigious venues such as The Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company. But thanks to a special agreement with the firm, we are helping them pilot new plans to develop the system for use in amateur and major community productions for the first time. The captions are designed to enhance the experience for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing members of the audience. Research has shown that providing captions helps people who suffer a range of hearing impairments, including those with relatively minor hearing loss, such as that caused by old age. Although the captions may be viewed from anywhere in the auditorium, a block of seats has been set aside because it offers optimum comfortable viewing for those taking advantage of the captions. Hours of preparation have gone into making sure the captions match the script as closely as possible, and STAGETEXT staff have trained Graham Carter and Will Cable, who will be operating the captioning tonight. In a further effort to make tonight s performance as accessible as possible to all of our audience, an audio description of the action on stage will also be broadcast to those in the audience who have visual impairments. They were also invited to take part in a touch tour to familiarise themselves with costumes, props and the layout of the stage, before the performance began. When Alfred Williams Heritage Society bid for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to mount this festival, we made accessibility a key aspect of our project. We have been grateful to receive the HLF s full support for our plans, which their grant has made possible. For more information about STAGETEXT, see

3 The Performed as part of the Alfred Williams Heritage Festival in The Great Western Hall, STEAM, Swindon, on Friday, November 12, 2010 (world premiere) and Saturday, November 13, 2010 Music and lyrics by John Cullimore Script by John Moorhouse Directed by Linda Worth Musical direction by Andre Pysancyzn Hammerman

4 JOHN CULLIMORE Love Unfaithful By Alfred Williams, 1913 Her summer smile was sweeter Than summer skies at morn; Her lightning glances fleeter Than ever lightning born; The blue-bright fields above her Were mirrored in her eyes, How could I help but love her, So little wisdom-wise! The years waxed ever younger, Stars thickened in the blue, And stronger yet and stronger My doting passion grew; The green round world about her New blossomed at her tread, The green round world without her A thousand times were dead. Ah! simple, soulful-minded, What utter woe was mine, Too darkly passion-blinded, Too rich with lovers wine; There came a burst of anger, Clouds crimson-lit with flame, My dreaming, still, soul-langour Fast yielded up to shame. Find out more about John Cullimore s music at When surgeon John Cullimore swapped his scalpel for his guitar and began composing his latest album, he found himself tapping into the heartbeat of a man who has been dead for 80 years. Alfred Williams has largely been forgotten in Swindon, and John decided that recording an album about Alfred s inspiring life, which he called The Hammerman, would go some way to setting the record straight. It turned out to be only the first step in a journey that has brought us all the way to tonight s performance. The idea for the musical indeed the whole festival arose from The Hammerman, which was recorded as a concept album in 2008 at Mooncalf, a studio fittingly situated on the rolling Wiltshire Downs at Draycot, just south of Swindon. John, who is originally from Liverpool but has lived in Wanborough since 1992, came to the area to work as a consultant obstetrician/gynae surgeon, and is now based at the Great Western Hospital. Ever since discovering the remarkable story of our local hero, he has become passionate about the life and work of The Hammerman Poet being not merely interesting, but truly inspiring. John was inspired enough to try to resurrect the memory of this almost forgotten Wiltshireman through the medium of song, and it was as a result of the album that he met fellow Alfred fans Caroline Ockwell and Graham Carter, and the idea of the Alfred Williams Heritage Society took shape and hence the festival. Working with his playwright friend John Moorhouse, he turned the album into a musical, and after appointing Linda Worth and Andre Pysancyzn as director and music director respectively, The Hammerman was ready to take to the stage. The original music was influenced by works such as Babbacombe Lee (Fairport Convention) and Tommy (Pete Townshend), and its folk-rock elements have been retained on stage, while additional melodies have been developed for the main characters in classic musical theatre style. The lyrics of the songs are a blend of John s words and Alfred s poetry. On the album, the love song Leave Me

5 The singing surgeon who brought a hero back to life Not Ever, for instance, includes lines from Alfred s poem of the same name, although the bulk of the song is from a second poem called Love Unfaithful. The musical version includes two verses from the poem, but owners of the CD get a bonus third verse. For War Sonnet,John took lines from three of Alfred s war poems Battle of the Rivers, Burying the Dead and The Departure, 1914 and span them with his own words to create a haunting reflection on the horror of the First World War. He borrowed the words of a poem called In My Garden for his song The Wren, one of five brand new numbers that have been specially written for the stage show. There is a bonus for owners of the CD, however, because two of the songs on it did not find their way into the show. John is hoping the lyrics of the songs inspire others to explore and discover Alfred s charming, easy-to-read poetry and his evocative works of prose, but The Hammerman CD has another role to play in spreading inspiration in the name and more importantly the spirit of Alfred Williams, the self-taught local hero. Copies of the CD are available for purchase at the Alfred Williams Heritage Festival, and profits will help to establish an Alfred Williams Educational Bursary, which will assist a talented aspiring local scholar to achieve their full learning potential and, maybe, even provide Swindon with another local hero in the process.

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7 The long walk to the factory As one of the songs in tonight s show says, Alfred Williams walked four miles there and four miles home to work in the railway factory at Swindon.And it has been a long haul for us to get here, too! There could be no more fitting venue for tonight s show about the life of Alfred Williams than part of the complex where he experienced Life in a Railway Factory. Few of Swindon s railway workers and probably not even Alfred himself could have imagined that we would be gathered here, a century on, to do what we are doing tonight. The main aim of the Alfred Williams Heritage Festival was to remind Swindon and its neighbouring towns and villages of their local hero, but our ambitious project and the unique challenges it has thrown up have also reminded us of Alfred s own struggle. For even an established amateur dramatic company to put together a major musical like this, with a large cast and professional production values, would have been difficult enough, but to create one from scratch made the challenge even tougher. And although the music was already mostly there in the form of an album, converting it for the stage and for live performance involving a 10-piece orchestra was an immense task that required dedication, concentration and sheer graft of the kind that Alfred would have admired. Yet, right from the first rehearsal appropriately at St Augustine s Church, in the shadow of the Railway Works and in subsequent sessions in a hall kindly provided by Lawn Junior School, the whole team not only rose to the challenge, but seemed to be enjoying it! Those of us who believe such things might tell you that Alfred has been looking over our shoulders during preparations and rehearsals, but even if we don t believe in ghosts, most of the cast report being influenced and even inspired by the story they are telling. You must decide whether we triumph in the end, but whatever your verdict, we hope that this telling of the outline of Alfred s proud story will inspire you to find out more about his remarkable story and his place in a local history we should be proud of.

8 Triumph or The curious tale of the self-made man Alfred Williams s life story is an inspiring tale of triumph over hardship. Born at South Marston in 1877, his family was already poor before his father walked out on his mother and eight children, when Alfred was still a toddler. In common with many rural children of his era, he received only a rudimentary education before beginning full-time agricultural work. However, like his older brothers, the teenage Alfred eventually had little option but to turn his back on his agricultural roots and take better-paid but less fulfilling employment with the Great Western Railway in its Swindon Works, where he worked on steam hammers producing parts for carriages and wagons. Despite 24 years of physically demanding labour, Alfred made the most of his precious spare time, first educating himself and then turning loose his talents as a writer. Between 1909 and 1916 he produced five books of poetry later adding a sixth which earned him a national reputation as The Hammerman Poet. He also published books of prose, starting with a charming account of life in South Marston, called A Wiltshire Village. This was followed by two other books that observed and recorded the everyday conditions of other villages in the area where he lived all his life, which he called Villages of the White Horse and Round About the Upper Thames. When ill health forced him to leave the GWR in 1914, he was free to publish Life in a Railway Factory,a rare first-hand account of what life was really like for industrial workers in the first years of the 20th century, and which is now recognised as the most important document in Swindon s history. Nothing could quench his interest in his world, and Alfred is also nationally revered as a key figure in English folk music, having cycled around the area in a selfappointed quest to diligently record and ultimately save the lyrics of hundreds of songs. His spare time was also spent studying history, literature and languages, and when he was posted to India during the First World War, he fell in love with its culture and its people, and developed a deep fascination for its religions. He even taught himself Sanskrit, which allowed him to translate the classic Indian book of children s fables,the Panchatantra, into English. Soon after his return from India, Alfred and his devoted wife Mary were forced to find a new home, and Alfred s solution was to build his own (pictured left). They not only did this literally using their bare hands but used stones that first had to be

9 tragedy? recovered from a derelict cottage and a canal lock, which they then transported by barrow for up to a mile. He died in 1930, aged just 53, weary from years of ill health and physical toil, too proud to accept charity despite being close to starvation, and heartbroken because his beloved wife Mary (pictured with him on their wedding day, above) was dying. But Alfred is yet to have his finest hour. Most of his writing is still as fresh, readable and charming as when it was first written, and his story can be a lesson to us all in selfimprovement and in the pride that we should take in our heritage. Alfred Williams still has the capacity to inspire, even 80 years after his death which is surely proof enough that a seemingly tragic story is, ultimately, really one of triumph.

10 Stay tuned for the next When the lights have gone down on tonight s show, you might think that s the end of the story. But one of the main reasons why the Alfred Williams Heritage Society was formed last year was because we felt his finest hour was still to come when his achievements and his legacy gets the widespread recognition it deserves. Tonight s performance can only tell the outline of the story, naturally, but if it has whetted your appetite for learning more about this remarkable character, then our website provides more details about all aspects of his life his family and friends; local places; folksong traditions; his Indian connections and much more. So think of this festival not as the end of the story, but rather the beginning. Here are a few other ways we have been telling the story, and our plans to continue telling it... Chris Park of Acorn Education, at the Alfred Williams Folksong Evening at the King and Queen, Longcot, in April By organising a permanent exhibition/ display about his life A display of material relating to Alfred s life will be mounted as a lasting reminder of his achievements. This will be a travelling display that will go on the road in 2011, but we have a longterm aim to create a permanent home for it in Swindon. By working with schools As well as hosting special children s activities during this festival, such as an afternoon event at STEAM based on elements of The Hammerman, we are planning to present local primary schools with information packs as a teaching aid, and we plan to set up an Anglo-Indian exchange to recognise Alfred s love of India and its culture. By publishing and re-publishing his works Alfred s works are now out of copyright, so we are republishing them first for reading online and later in print. We ve even started putting previously unpublished works online.

11 chapter in Alfred s story By supporting local culture and heritage We are already supporting local poets, artists and charities by involving them in our projects, and we plan to link up with more as time goes on. We believe Alfred can be used to help bring together local groups working to preserve our culture and heritage. By organising and attending more events An Alfred Williams Folksong Evening took place in April 2010, thanks to the help of local folk enthusiasts. We hope to run more events on this and other themes. And we d also welcome invitations to take part in other events organised by other local heritage groups. By setting up an educational bursary Another long-term aim is to establish a means of offering financial help to a student working in the arts, which will be called The Alfred Williams Educational Bursary (see elsewhere in this programme for more information). Finding him and following him on the internet Our website is updated virtually every day, but it s only one way of finding out more about Alfred Williams on the internet. Even though it s 80 years since his death, he has his own Facebook account, and you can even follow him on Twitter!