Gone to Earth (NHB Modern Plays)

A vivid, emotional stage version of Mary Webb's novel of rural passion, premiered by Shared Experience Theatre Company. Incorporating traditional dances and folk songs, Gone to Earth tells the story of Hazel, an innocent and free-spirited seventeen-year-old child of nature living in rural Shropshire. But when both the wicked squire and the altruistic minister fall in love with her, she is drawn into a world of earthly passions which threatens to destroy her as simply and relentlessly as a Greek tragedy. Helen Edmundson's stage adaptation of Mary Webb's 1917 novel Gone to Earth was first staged by Shared Experience on UK tour in 2004, including performances at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, from May 2004. 'It takes a special kind of company to follow the award-winning success of After Mrs Rochester with a piece as powerful as this. Long may we share in the experience' - Evening Standard'Goes right to the heart of the work, capturing its fervid, glowering atmosphere' - Observer'Balancing the real and the dreamlike without losing the authenticity of either, Helen Edmundson has distilled the book into an echo chamber of themes... Mary Webb's novel [is] brought brilliantly to life' - Time Out