In September 2008 I began work with Stroud Theatre Company, rehearsing their new play 'When the Lights Went Out', inspired by life on the home front in rural Gloucestershire during the Second World War. The story centred on my character, Margaret Brooks, and the experiences of wartime life shaping her as she grows into womanhood. The show featured music and dancing of the period, with me playing clarinet, singing, dancing a Lindy Hop and doing my best Scarlett O'Hara impression.
We opened at the Everyman Studio in Cheltenham to sell-out audiences, and toured to rural venues throughout Gloucestershire, Somerset and Kent in October and November. Response from audiences was excellent, with many people stopping to chat after the performance, wanting to congratulate us and share memories brought back by the show.
In 1939 Margaret Brooks is a happy-go-lucky eighteen-year-old; living with her family on their small farm in the Cotswolds, she knows precious little of the world, apart from what she sees in the movies. When the Second World War breaks out her life is turned upside down by the experiences of love, loss and liberty and like many women of the time she finds herself doing things she never dreamed she'd be doing.
As part of this heritage project, Stroud Theatre Company ran workshops with older people. 'We wanted to unlock older people's memories and pass them on to the wider community. The one thing that everyone remembered was the great community spirit that swept through the Gloucestershire countryside. The spirit of doing one's bit, of never giving up or being beaten, no matter what happened. We have tried to capture this wonderful spirit in the play.'
