ByTheWay • Colehill, Wimborne (2018)

In the 2016 Autumn workshops we worked on a traditional Dorset tale, The Dorsetshire Garland or The Beggar’s Wedding, using different media (drama, singing & music and sound recording) to explore the story’s key themes of love and betrayal, cruelty and kindness.

Taking the text as a starting point Tony Horitz led a theatre workshop, followed by Karen Wimhurst’s music workshop in which we composed a song based on lines of the text and learned a lot about how music can be used to reflect emotions.  Finally Adrian Newton took us on a sonic journey through the story using sounds made by found objects as a story-telling device.

This led us to think of involving different media in our next project, particularly the use of recorded sound.  In February we started exploring the possibilities for a new project in the Leigh Common area.

We spent time thinking about our impressions of the site and the images and themes that had come to mind.

Clean and flowing, green and static,
Waters mingle in the mire,
Spirits of the marsh revealing,
Seen in Jack O’ Lantern’s fire.

Read the full notes from the Brainstorming Session

IDEAS AND THEMES FOR SOUND SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECT February 2017:  Notes made by the Creative Group early in the development of the production based on research and workshop exploration

Using pre-recorded voices and sounds, placed site-specifically with actors possibly in tableaux.

BytheWay and Leigh Common – Wooded area, bog and open fields with wooden walkways.

Bog – environmental and mythical ideas, e.g.:

• place where natural materials and objects from the past are preserved (see **)
• place of story and imagination
• place where fairies live and will o’the wisp/jack o’lantern
• medals and other objects from the past found in nearby back gardens
• BytheWay House – stash of ordnance found there in 1980s – more about this??
• House and Jockey Pub – canteen for troops in WW2; dubious history?? (see photo *)
• Railway going through the area – to where? With what? Time period(s)
• Locations (both bog & fields) reminiscent of WW1 battlefields/trenches link with WTLB characters
• Echoes in the wood – the noise but also the history particularly linking to WW1

Read a story by Clare Small From the Fairy Point of View written in response to BYtheWayField.

General Notes/References:

Colehill History

Wildlife and Plants
Southern Marsh Orchid, Marsh St Johns Wort and Ragged Robin are all locally rare plants found at Leigh Common, along with insects such as Long-Winged Conehead and Common blue damselfly. Look out for grey heron and swallow. Several species of Dragonfly can be found around the wet ponds and extensive ditch systems throughout the site.

Leigh Common
Leigh is mentioned in Doomsday as a one hide manor. It was held by the Dean during the medieval period. The bulk of the current extent of Leigh Common lies outside the study area to the west. However, 19th century maps and the study of plot boundaries suggests that it was originally more extensive and may have included a large area of roadside common reaching as far north as the Old Manor and Green Close Farm. Further post- medieval farms front on to the common on the south side of the road at Brookside Road and Brookside Manor.

** A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. They are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink.

Planning the route

Members of the Creative Group visited the BytheWay site several times to walk the route the audience will take.  We were on the lookout for interesting or mysterious settings for scenes, images and happenings and found plenty!  All this helped us develop a framework for the production.

The 3 workshops run through the autumn of 2017 explored the themes and materials being developed for BytheWay through music, movement and sound.

On 28th September Karen Wimhurst led us in creating music for songs  written by members of the group about the stories of BytheWay Wood.  With Karen’s help we now have a Drovers’ song.  We also learnt a new skill – using our bodies as musical instruments to develop a body percussion piece.  For those of us not confident in singing this made us all feel like musicians!

The movement workshop, led by Jasmine Taylor on 19th October, turned us all into navvies working on the railway line which used to run along the top of the BytheWay Field.  We hoped to use the choreographed piece of co-ordinated movement in the production later in the year.

Finally at the workshop with Tony and Adrian on Thursday November 23rd we started to pull it all together, using the themes and recordings we have developed so far in preparation for the start of rehearsals in 2018.  Adrian introduced us to the headphones sets we would be using in the production and we recorded a selection of BytheWay sounds and words and were amazed at the high sound quality and very atmospheric effects we produced.

In spite of a few quizzical looks from dog-walkers, he kept us moving briskly through a series of enjoyable games and exercises and we hardly noticed the cold!

There were lots of useful tips on how to project your voice and convey character and meaning in open spaces as well as an opportunity to experiment with text.  Good fun and informative – thank you, John!

“The workshop on Saturday was a chance to play imaginative games in the wood,  just like we once did as kids!  We should do it more!”

At the end of the final scene which took place in a wooded clearing around a fire, the audience were asked to write their thoughts or memories about woods and hang them on a small tree.  Here are their thoughts:

No words or actions can match the mystery of a tree and as each one tree grows alongside, the majesty is increased many many times over; so precious is a wood on the edge of town spreading the words of peace and lasting love and hope for the future

We walked these wood a hundred times but tonight I saw them for the first time.

An open heath, a fringe of woodland, a clear flowing stream, kingfishers, newts, stickle bats.  Protect us.

I love green spaces – particularly trees, as I find them peaceful and nurturing.  I love the birds of spring, the insects of summer, the leaves of autumn and the shadows of winter.  I love the beauty of Dorset.

Leave nothing but footprints.

A truly magical walk.  The perfect atmosphere – such beautiful music and captivating stories.  Memories of climbing trees on the common opposite my grandparents’ house.

We must not lose our woods.  Thank you for this journey.

Enlightening – stay with the woodland spirits.

Secrets of the wood, echoes, peace, beauty in nature, lost in a dream of calm, mysterious, the voices of nature and ghosts.

Woodland dream. Dappled light, dark and light in equal measure.  Noises of life, birds, the cuckoo, woodpecker and owl.  The rustle of leaves swaying in the wind, falling. . .  dark – then life.

The smell of wood smoke and I’m 12 again, at guide camp all those years ago.

The amazing sound of sap rising; learning the railway once ran here; that massive oak tree.  I shall remember all these and more.

Hugging trees is good for the soul…and the trees!

The chance to slow down and play in my woods.  Thank you!

The place of our ancestors whose voices still echo in the flowing stream, the rustle of the leaves and the songs of the birds; beneath our footsteps lay the memories of Birth and Death, of those who laid this path for us in our woodland floor.

Wonderful!  I’ll never see these woods the same again! We love Leigh Common.

The jockey’s gone!  The horses fled that grazed beside the stream. 

The ‘Horse and Jockey’ gone.  Last round rang the bell.

Time to pause and reflect on the past and especially protecting the future of the area (not just walking dogs and photographing bugs!)

Serene magical place.  Home for women who run with the wolves’ connection.  Thank you. Jo.

A place of growth and serenity; a lovely community play. Thank you.

Loved the sounds, smells of magic of the woodland.  The cast performed wonderfully.

These woods are truly magical.  Thank you to the green man and fairy folk.

Harmony with the trees – life goes on.

Wild woodland
Open
Odours – for everyone
Dream
Special.

I enjoyed the sounds and smells of the beautiful woods

Fabulous soundscapes – very evocative.  Musical delights all the way through.  Bravo WCT.

I frequently walk in these woods with my dog.  It would be lovely in future to have the headphones in order to hear the magical sounds and birdsong.

I had fun acting in the play

I have been coming here for many years – it is one of the jewels of Colehill and very much valued by its residents.  KD

I love the warmth; I love the safety, the joy of free expression. I love the company and interblending of communication, of leaves and wigs, buds and moss, flowers and roots, of all of us as we bend to our inner landscape and share together no matter our journey. No matter the past, our grievances or hurts, no matter our present, our cultivation of thoughts and reams, those beautiful creations of feelings from a smoking fire pit, a sensitive soul in many a form, in many a style, all eternally worthy.

Dens and stories.

Such a place should be preserved for everyone forever.

Beautiful music and sounds and voices.  So atmospheric.

Stay with me, oh lovely oak.  I love you very much.  You hug me as I hug you.  We nurture each other.  I breathe you.  You breathe me!

Being on this tour reminding one of how disconnected from nature our lives have become and how a simpler life has been forgotten.

May the wood be preserved forever and never built on.

May the history of woodland continue to be told.  Thank you WCT.

Climbing trees as a child.  Peaceful, green, old oak trees, seasons changing.

I first went to school up a hill into the forest. We went for many walks amongst the primroses, the bluebells.  At break time, we played there too through all the seasons.  Magic!

Didn’t even know this forest was here.  This really brought it to life and I look forward to returning.

What history
does the rowan see
And ancient oak
Doth ride the sea
In history.

Leaves have beauty in all these forms – with colour and their flutterings.  Woods are mysterious, dark, light and beautiful.  Lovely performance here at Bytheway.

Birdsong at twilight;
high up in summer treetops,
buglers and songsters
On green boughs in the glade
Bringing memories of a dear Dad
On Father’s Day.
Thank you, enchanting.

Remembering other walks in other woods.  Uncle Joey.

The memory of Eve Dennis who fought to restore Leigh Common for nature and for us to enjoy.  She has since left Wimborne but her work here is greatly to her credit.

I walk here regularly with my dogs.  Now will have a special magic.  Saw it with different eyes through your story.  Loved it.  Thank you. The children were amazing!

I remember ‘The Enchanted Wood’ and ‘Tales of the Faraway Tree’ that entranced my daughter and brought her to the joy of reading and literature

Sounds and sights in a woodland glade
Free from certainty
Free from strife
Bring harmony to love and life

Everything of and about life can be found in a wood.

No wonder trees were worshipped, forest bathing is not new.

Beautifully ethereally steeped with folklore, memories, secrets that our trees see, hear, hold for us lest we forget their magic, peace, healing, beauty, stillness and hope.  Wise old owls, love and fairy protection.

Time as a child, hidden in the grasses amongst the trees brings you to yourself and to life.

Peace; beauty; calm

Love woodland and it will love you back for a lifetime.

Beautiful trees; nature safeguarded forever.

Birdsong in the shifting dappled light.

The small things are the big things.

Bio diversity.

Woodland picnic

Evokes memories of childhood joy!  Good thoughts. .

A glimpse of time past.

Sounds of the wind in the trees and the birds

A magical place

As a child we used to be scared of a wood because there was a story of a mystical man living there  (Germany)

Trees give life to us, very important to preserve the trees.

The peacefulness of the forest, being amongst nature without distractions.

Climbing trees.

Very peaceful; sometimes we need to stop and listen to the nature.

Loved the story, great writing for the songs and monologues.

So atmospheric.

Birdsong, wood smoke, very peaceful.

Woodland flowers, anemones, bluebells rhododendrons, daffodils.

Our lives can continue with our stories and dreams

As long as there are trees.

I like Pete; the cast setting is all perfect.

Forest school fires; a circle of children talking

Healing and peaceful.

From stumps and mulch
Much may grow if you add creativity.

Such a beautiful special place, feels like another world her under the trees.

Trees – history alive.

Green all around me, leaves rustling in the wild, birds welcoming us.  Safe space!

Birdsong and sunlight through trees.

I love the way the performance gave our local wood a sense of history and timelessness.

A birthday party in the woods – son aged 8 – fire and building dens.

Creative, fertile, surreal – the story, the play of woodlands.  Thank you.

A magical performance; woods tell stores; dark, damp smells.

Lovely thought provoking play.  I hope it wasn’t true that an application has been made to de-register the woodland as common land.  How nice it would be to still have the railway.

Takes me back to my childhood, playing safely in the woods.  Happy days. Long may the woods remain.

This is my new favourite place.  Thank you for helping me find it. 

The sunlight through the leaves.
The water between the trees
The birds singing in the trees

Very good performance and very well timed by all the actors, they should all be very proud of them selves.  Very good and enjoyable.

The quivering leaves of aspens.

So magical to spend the evening in this enchanted forest.

I love the ways the trees give homes to so many birds, insects and plants in so many ways.

Fresh green leaves in the spring; crunchy brown leaves in the autumn; beautiful in every season.

The joy of being outside and the power of nature.  And aren’t trees lovely?

Great to be part of the journey through the woods through the ages.  Thank you for the opening up the greenness and the special feelingin the woods.

Mystical secrets in twisted twine.

Very innovative and imaginative.

The lovely music that was played.  Nature at its best.  (Gena  93 years young).

Running through the woods as a child, having no cares.

Leafy shadows from sun shining through layers of leafy boughs.

The story of the woods came alive; always protect the power of story as brilliantly as the Wimborne Community players

Nature, peace, shade and solace –

Remembering New Forest rambling, Brewers cottage, Hengistbury Head.

The beauty of the woods came alive tonight.  The spirit of the trees shone through the hearts and souls of the wonderful Wimborne Community players.

The rough leaves of the elm I climbed as a boy.

THE FOREST POOL
LEAN down and see your little face
Reflected in the forest pool,
Tall foxgloves grow about the place,
Forget-me-nots grow green and cool.
Look deep and see the naiad rise
To meet the sunshine of your eyes.

Lean down and see how you are fair,
How gold your hair, your mouth how red;
See the leaves dance about your hair
The wind has left unfilleted.
What naiad of them can compare
With you for good and dear and fair?

Ah! look no more–the water stirs,
The naiad weeps your face to see,
Your beauty is more rare than hers,
And you are more beloved than she.
Fly! fly, before she steals the charms
The pool has trusted to her arms.
by Edith Nesbit

THE GIRT WOAK TREE
The girt woak tree that’s in the dell!
There’s noo tree I do love so well;
Vor times an’ times when I wer young,
I there’ve a-climbed, an’ there’ve a-zwung
An’ picked the eacorns green, a-shed
In wrestlen storms vrom his broad head.
An’ down below’s the cloty brook
Where I did vish with line an’ hook,
An’ beat, in playsome dips and zwims,
The foamy stream, wi’ white-skinned lim’s.
An’ there my mother nimbly shot
Her knitten-needles, as she zot
At evenen down below the wide
Woak’s head, wi’ father at her zide.
An’ I’ve a-played wi’ many a bwoy,
That’s now a man an’ gone awoy;
Zoo I do like noo tree so well
S the girt woak tree that’s in the dell.

An’ there, in leater years, I roved
Wi’ thik poor maid I fondly loved, –
The maid too feair to die so soon, –
When evenen twilight, or the moon,
Cast light enough ‘ithin the pleace
To show the smiles upon her feace,
Wi’ eyes so clear’s the glassy pool,
An’ lips an’ cheaks so soft as wool.
There han’ in han’, wi’ bosoms warm,  
Wi’ love that burned but thought noo harm,
Below the wide-boughed tree we passed
The happy hours that went too vast;
An’ though she’ll never be my wife,
She’s still my leaden star o’ life.
She’s gone: an’ she’ve a-left to me
Her mem’ry in the girt woak tree; 
Zoo I do love noo tree so well
‘S the girt woak tree that’s in the dell.

An’ oh! mid never ax nor hook
Be brought to spweil his steately look;
Nor ever roun’ his ribby zides
Mid cattle rub ther heairy hides;
Nor pigs rout up his turf, but keep
His lwonesome sheade vor harmless sheep;
An’ let en grow, an’ let en spread,
An’ let en live when I be dead.
But oh! if men should come an’ vell
The girt woak tree that’s in the dell,
An’ build his planks ‘ithin the zide
O’ zome girt ship to plough the tide,
Then, life or death! I’d goo to sea,
A sailen wi’ the girt woak tree:
An’ I upon his planks would stand,
An’ die a-fighten vor the land, –
The land so dear, – the land so free, –
The land that bore the girt woak tree;
Vor I do love noo tree so well
‘S the girt woak tree that’s in the dell.
by William Barnes

SIEGFRIED SASSOON’S STATEMENT in a letter to The Times
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging them for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.

I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. This is my protest.
Lt. Siegfried Sassoon.
3rd Batt: Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
July, 1917

ENTERING THE WOOD
Cup your hands to scoop up sleep
as you would draw a grain of water
and the forest will come:
a green cloud
a birch trunk like a chord of light
and a thousand eyelids fluttering
with forgotten leafy speech
then you will recall the white morning
when you waited for the opening of the gates
by Zbigniew Herbert

LOST IN THE FOREST
Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twig
and lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:
maybe it was the voice of the rain crying,
a cracked bell, or a torn heart.

Something from far off it seemed
deep and secret to me, hidden by the earth,
a shout muffled by huge autumns,
by the moist half-open darkness of the leaves.

Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig
sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance
climbed up through my conscious mind

as if suddenly the roots I had left behind
cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood –
and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent.
by Pablo Neruda

GREEN MAN IN THE GARDEN

Green Man in the garden
Staring from the tree,
Why do you look so long and hard
Through the pane at me?

Your eyes are dark as holly,
Of sycamore your horns,
Your bones are made of elder-branch,
Your teeth are made of thorns.

Your hat is made of ivy-leaf,
Of bark your dancing shoes,
And evergreen and green and green
Your jacket and shirt and trews.

“Leave your house and leave your land
And throw away the key,
And never look behind,” he creaked,
“And come and live with me.”

I bolted up the window,
I bolted up the door,
I drew the blind that I should find
The green man never more.

But when I softly turned the stair
As I went up to bed,
I saw the green man standing there.
“Sleep well, my friend,” he said.
by Charles Causley

FOREST SPRITE II
Wandering down the wooded path,
A sparkle ‘neath a tree
Captures my attention –
A forest sprite I see;

Lounging on a lily pad
Adrift upon a pool,
A tiny fairy suns herself
By waters clear and cool;

She seems to be a-sleeping
So still her form does lie,
Yet I detect a whisper
As I quietly pass by;

‘Come close that I may see you,
For secrets I’ve to tell’ –
She spoke to me so softly
Like the tinkling of a bell;
‘It’s magic that I offer,
I’m equal to the task –
I shall grant you one fine wish,
You’ve only but to ask’;

‘Then, I shall ask for wisdom
To help me find the way
To open up my mind and let
My spirit out to play’;

Then with a tiny giggle
She fluttered all around,
And all the answers came to me
Without a single sound;

My mind had been awakened
As if by lightning speed,
And with her little magic spell
My spirit had been freed;

Now to this day I wonder
Just how this came to be,
To come upon a fairy sprite
While walking ‘neath the trees

In some enchanted forest –
That day a spell was cast
My heart was touched by magic –
Forever it will last.
by Linda Ori

Peter Ferrett performing his own songs in the final scene 
Photo by John Simpson

The Green Man’s Stand

Partial capo 2nd fret – open E maj.
Slow intro Guitar lines – Vocal starts when all gathered

Verse 1 – slow
Well their eyes are on our precious wood….. Once again
To build a road where willows stood, and may a woodland den
We’ve got to stand our ground and fight for every tree

Verse 2  
So hey there city lights ….. fare thee well
Far away and out a sight … I hear the Minster bell
It’s a ringing and a ringing for you and me to fight

Chorus
So rise up, you kindred souls
All rise up, you kindred souls
And all gather round to help the Green Man make a stand
Gather round

Verse 3
Birds are singing sweet and low …..a warrior’s lullaby
Calling out to all who know….to kiss those plans goodbye.
They’re a singing and a singing for you and me to fight

Chorus
And all gather round to help the Green Man make a stand
Gather round.

The Nightingale – A lament for lost habitat

Anglicised version of “The Whooping Crane” with apologies to Lyle Lovett

Verse 1
Think I’ll look around for a rowan tree
I think I’ll look around for a rowan tree
What do ya think this pain has got me?
You think I’m uptight but I’m not
It’s just that, I look around for a rowan tree
And I can’t find one

Verse 2
Think I’ll look around for a drinking stream
I think I’ll look around for a drinking stream
They say you turned the water to wine
And they must have been right this time because
It’s just that, I look around for a drinking stream
And I can’t find one

Chorus
The mighty Oak Tree’s gift of shade is gone
As our Woodlands and our Rivers fade away
For the need of the road and a growing town
And the blindness found in the modern man.

Verse 3
Think I’ll look around for a Nightingale
I think I’ll look around for a Nightingale
What do ya think this pain has got me?
You think I’m uptight but I’m not
It’s just that, I look around for a Nightingale
And I can’t find one

Repeat Chorus
The mighty Oak Tree’s gift of shade is gone
As our Woodlands and our Rivers fade away
For the need of the road and a growing town
And the blindness found in the modern man.

Verse 4
Think I’ll look around for a rowan tree
I think I’ll look around for a rowan tree
What do ya think this pain has got me?
You think I’m uptight but I’m not
It’s just that, I look around for a rowan tree
And I can’t find one

Whooping Crane original lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

DROVERS’ SONG

Before the Railway, before Leigh Road,
Through these old woods we’d go, we’d go,
On the eve of Wimborne’s markets we’d stay,
And the nights they were cold so cold
And the nights they were cold so cold

We came on foot, on wagon, on horse,
Driving cattle and sheep and geese
Left them to graze on grass and gorse
As we sheltered beneath these trees, these trees
As we sheltered beneath these trees, these trees

Words by Tony Horitz and members of WCT.  Music developed by members of WCT in a workshop led by Karen Wimhurst.
©  copyright of Wimborne Community Theatre, 2018

NAVVIES’ SONG – PADDY WORKS ON THE RAILWAY (traditional)

In eighteen hundred and forty-one
Me corduroy britches I put on
Me corduroy britches I put on
To work upon the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-two
From Hartlepool, I roved to Crewe
And found meself a job to do
Working on the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-three
I broke me shovel across me knee
And I went to work for the company
On the Leeds and Selby railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-four
I landed on the Liverpool shore
Me belly was empty, me hands were raw
With working on the railway, the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-five
When Danny O’Connell he was alive
When Danny O’Connell he was alive
And working on the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-six
I changed my trade from carrying bricks
I changed my trade from carrying bricks
To working on the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-seven
Poor Paddy was thinking of going to Heaven
The oul’ bugger was thinking of going to Heaven
To work upon the railway, the railway
I’m sick to my death of the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway

CHORUS
I was wearing
corduroy britches, digging ditches
pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was working on the railway
I was working on the railway