Conn arts

As already advertised at reference 1, about ten days ago to see a version of Hardy's novel 'Far from the Madding Crowd', put on by the people at reference 2. With Wikipedia's take on the novel being found at reference 3.

The venue being the Epsom Playhouse, at the back of the Ashley Centre, which has largely backed away from doing plays, but does seem to be doing well with tribute acts.

I started out being rather impressed by Conn Art, a Worthing theatre company who appear to specialise in taking adaptations of well-known novels on tour. Quite apart from whether the show is any good, I am impressed by the energy required to take a production to some 40 venues, all over the country, including both the Isle of Wight and Lyme Regis, as well as Epsom, mostly one night stands, in three months.

It turned out to involve a very modest set, a few props and a travelling team of maybe 10 - so camper van, luggage van and tent? Hotels for high days and holidays? I associated to tales of the wrestlers of old who travelled the country in much the same way, spending a good part of their life in trains and shabby hotels.

The start of my day has already been noticed at reference 4. The soup there was followed by a snooze, followed by a light tea. Which included finishing a Honeyglow pineapple from the man in the market which had been bought a few days previously. Very sweet and very juicy - but I doubt whether it would have lasted another day.

Compromised on travel by parking at the Eclipse car park on the town side of West Hill. Successfully negotiated payment with RingGo.

The theatre bar looked to be staffed by either temporaries or volunteers, and they did well enough.

The theatre itself was rather cold despite being pretty full and I kept my duffel coat on, or at least spread over my knees, I forget which. We learned later that something was wrong with the heating system.

The production rather jarred on me. Turning what was more or less a tragedy, a novel that was both fine and long, into a Punch & Judy affair with added DIY music. Or perhaps putting it in a more luvvie way, Commedia dell'arte. That said, it was hard to see how one could do better with a travelling show in the time available. Syrupy folk music might have been even worse than the rough stuff we got. No Pentangles here. These last being a group who were big when I was little - with reference 5 being from roughly the same time that we saw them at the South Bank, possibly at the RFH. While reference 6 might have come from that very performance.

Acting wise, Bathsheba was OK. Boldwood OK if a bit wet. Gabriel and Troy wrong. Rustics well OTT. The men, were, to my mind and memory, better cast at reference 7. But then, I guess they had money to throw around.

End result, I found the first half too long at 90 minutes and we left after knocking back my interval red. Catching a chap who had nipped out to his car for his blanket on the way out. Perhaps it was the cold that was really the problem.

Once home, despite having read the book several times over the years, despite having seen the films several times, I had to look up how Troy was tidied away to make way for Gabriel.

But there was a useful by-product, in that I have been prompted to think about what the proper function of a précis might be. In this case, entertainment quite possibly, but is it a sensible way to introduce oneself to the book, or even to remind oneself about it? With reference 1 being the first fruit.

PS: just two mentions of the book in the archive, not presently relevant, but one of them led me to reference 8. I had forgotten about this excursion into Hardy land, a bit more than ten years ago now.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/form-over-substance.html .

Reference 2:  https://www.conn-artists.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_from_the_Madding_Crowd. '... Lucasta Miller points out that the title is an ironic literary joke, as Gray is idealising noiseless and sequestered calm, whereas Hardy "disrupts the idyll, and not just by introducing the sound and fury of an extreme plot ... he is out to subvert his readers' complacency"...'.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/trolley-814.html.

Reference 5: https://youtu.be/CwvpMGc_J-w.

Reference 6: https://youtu.be/VJEkO6doLcM.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_from_the_Madding_Crowd_(1967_film).

Reference 8: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/07/matters-hardy.html.