WEBLINKS |
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The
touring theatre company's own website with full details of
their 2002 tour.
The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content
of external websites.
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SEE
ALSO |
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Romeo
and Juliet
A review of Heartbreak Productions performance at Shrewsbury
Castle.
The Merchant of Venice
A review of the Shropshire County Drama Group's performance
at the Much Wenlock Festival.
Breathing
new life into an old canal As
a new golden age of canals is heralded, we look at the past
of the derelict Shrewsbury & Newport Canal
- and the plans to restore it to its former glory.
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DATES |
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Thurs
11th July 2002 The
Red Lion, Marsworth, Nr Tring. (By Road) 8pm (The Moon on
the Water)
Wed 17th July 2002
The Talbot, Market Drayton, Shropshire. 8pm (The Moon on the
Water)
Thurs 18th The Anchor, Peggs Lane, High Offley, Nr Mkt Drayton,
Shropshire. 8pm
(The Hero of Sandy Edge)
Mon 22nd July 2002
The Junction Inn, Norbury Junction, Nr Market Drayton. Shropshire.
8pm (The Moon on the Water)
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REVIEWS |
"....the
performance was so full of character and detail that although
seated indoors, one somehow felt as if the walls had been widened
and a wharf had been built brick by brick...." Loughborough
Echo
"....vividly brought to life by just two actors ........ like
much on the canals, the storyline moves slowly, but Day-Star
know how to keep your attention and involve you with their love
of canals, past and present ..." Oxford Times
".....the performance quality of this tiny company improves
with each new work. Today, the productions are slick, excellently
acted and tightly written ........ they slip from character
to character with accomplished ease, assuming dramatically different
persona at the change of a coat ....... Waterways World
"....Their collective enthusiasm for their creations was infectious,
with several scenes reminiscent of top-class situation comedies
....." Loughborough Echo |
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Watching
a Day Star performance is to experience a unique style of theatre
often performed in whatever available space there is at canal side
pubs or at festivals.
With a few props and a mere suggestion of costume Day Star will
take you, the pub and anything else that gets in the way on a very
unusual theatrical journey.
This
year's plays are The Hero of Sandy Edge Wharf and The Moon on the
Water, which are both written and performed by the Day Star team,
husband and wife, Pete "Duffy" Marshall and Jane Marshall.
Jane
has appeared in the film Robin Hood and on T.V. in Brookside. As
well as acting in Day Star's productions, Jane also paints and runs
courses on traditional canal painting.
"Duffy" Marshall is the writer of all Day-Star plays,
songs and music. He has appeared on T.V. in Watching, Coronation
Street, Medics, Children's Ward and Brookside.
'Duffy' is his mum's maiden name, his real name being Pete. Pete
and Jane moved on board an old wooden narrow boat called Day-Star
in 1977 and by 1982 they were a touring theatre company.
They now live and tour on The Angry Bull and are based at The Old
Stables at Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal when not touring.
The
Hero of Sandy Edge Wharf
A rural village in Middle England. A canal climbs down a flight
of locks to the wharf and pub before continuing on it's way across
an embankment.
Below the embankment lie the village allotments and the new executive
houses. Along the main street can be found a church with a steeple,
a general store and post office and an occasional bus service.
All in all, Sandy Edge is a pleasant over night stop for the holiday
boater - stay a bit longer and you might meet the locals. There
is the old gardener who is a prophet of doom with pathological weed
and insect killing tendencies.
There is the self righteous chairman of the Parish Council who owns
the shop. There is the vodka drinking, wickedly mischievous Freda
from the Old Vicarage.
So when Josie Collins and her two boys decide to tie up their narrow
boat in the 'long pound' and make Sandy Edge their home for a while
they soon meet the locals and they soon get to hear about the war
time legend of the hero of Sandy Edge Wharf.
This is the story of a rural village and the influence of the canal
that runs through it. It is also a story of pride and prejudice,
romance and heroism... and impending catastrophe. Its all built
on sand.
The
Moon on the Water
Dave & Doreen are farmers. They have a dairy herd, a flock of wandering
sheep and two grown up sons who live abroad.
Isobel is a single woman who lives alone in a small cottage by the
canal. She looks at the moon and the stars when the night sky is
clear and wishes she was up there. She also keeps moonshine in a
bottle!
Simon is a drifter on the water. A free spirit with a narrow boat,
a guitar and a vague memory of the sixties. He writes songs and,
up until now, has avoided commitment whenever he can.
They are all 53 years old and all had fine ambitions when they were
19. They were all 19 in the summer of 1969 when man first stepped
on the moon and half a million young people went to the Woodstock
music and arts festival in New York State.
During the course of one day and night around the sleepy canal side
village of Sandy Edge in the heart of 'Middle England' their lives
converge in a confusion of guilt, disillusionment and unfullfilled
dreams and a scary iron aqueduct.
This is the second story set in the small village of Sandy Edge
where the pub never shuts and the ducks turn out to be sheep but
it is not a sequel.
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