Folk by Nell Leyshon. Inspired by Cecil Sharp's song-collecting in Somerset in 1903
Simon Russell Beale plays Cecil Sharp in Nell Leyshon's play Folk, inspired by his song-collecting in Somerset in the summer of 1903.
Louie Hooper lives with her sister on the Somerset Levels, and knows over 300 folk songs by heart. Cecil Sharp, who is down from London and staying in the village, overhears one of the songs. He immediately recognises its importance and is determined to gather as many songs as he can, before they are lost in the new industrialised and literate world of music halls and ballad sheets.
Cecil Sharp co-founded what is now the English Folk Dance and Song Society and was at the heart of the first folk revival in the early 20th century, collecting around 5000 songs from singers in England and America. The first songs he collected in Somerset formed his thinking.
Folk was originally commissioned by The Hampstead Theatre but is unstaged, as of yet, due to the pandemic
Cast
LOUIE HOOPER - Amanda Lawrence LUCY - Amanda Wilkin JOHN ENGLAND - Stuart McLoughlin CECIL SHARP - Simon Russell Beale
Musical Director - Gary Yershon
Directed by Susan Roberts
Available for 29 days
