Voyages, 1996 (2)

Voyages 2Synopsis

It is 1907. At Kingston Lacy, near Wimborne, everyone is busy preparing for King Edward VI’s visit. Young Viola Bankes (born at Kingston Lacy in 1900) searches frantically for her favourite nursery maid, Alice Maud Baker, to brush her hair but no-one will tell her where she is.

After fluffing her curtsey to the King, Viola is made fun of and she runs away into the gardens, where she discovers Alice who takes her on a mysterious journey around the grounds to meet mediaeval villagers who lived in the area, as well as the Iron Age Veneti tribe from Armorica (present day Brittany) meeting the indigenous Celts, the Durotriges, in the landscape around Kingston Lacy in about 45 AD.

About the production

After the successful first production of Voyages in 1991, Wimborne Community Theatre (then entitled, “Arts in the Community Events”) was invited back by the National Trust to re-produce the play, working with different schools and artists.

Jon Clarke said, ‘I felt privileged to watch one of your performances earlier this week. It was all well acted and imaginatively written, whether by child or adult, experience or novice, performing a legend or delivering a message.

The use of the settings was marvellous, but most special for me was that it was an original work created by a community co-operating.

Special congratulations to the children who were prepared to think about their community and to perform their thoughts.

I wish. . .that Society’s good always shines like this’

Archive materials

The following items from Voyages (2) have been stored in our materials archive. Click here to view.

  1. Recommendation letter
  2. Newspaper clippings from the press
  3. Poster
  4. Programme
  5. Photos of the artists
  6. Music score for a song from the production
  7. Research – read stories found and created
  8. Original songs from the production
  9. Script
  10. Videos