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Secretly Pleased: Fascinating look at Alice's life



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Published Date: 23 July 2008
Square Peg Productions, Land Farm Garden and Gallery, Colden
Secretly Pleased is one of Square Peg Productions' site-specific plays bringing to our attention some of the north's unsung female heroines.

In this case, the star is Alice Longstaff, the Hebden Bridge photographer, whose life spanned much of the 20th century.

But don't expect a lecture and dry facts.

This is a fascinating drama about Alice and her husband John. While it is packed with accurate historical references to people, places and events, it effortlessly explores the intense interdependency between the couple.

With John's help, Alice kept one of Hebden Bridge's longest-running businesses, a photographic studio that captured most of the town's quietly significant moments, like births, marriages, sporting success and family pets.

Whatever the accuracy of the depicted relationship, and there were murmurings of recognition the day I saw the show, the on-stage dynamic was believable and enthralling.

Alexandra Mathie is uncannily the Alice from my memory of the woman, with grey hair, a tweed skirt and sensible shoes, all neatly worn.

She's dynamic, humourous, fierce – a fine example of homegrown Hebden Bridge female spirit.

Robert Garrett, as John, is comical and serious in equal measure, brooding and insecure, but aware that his lot was to thrive in the shadow of Alice and the bustling Hebden Bridge society rather than the mining communities of his birth further north.

The writing is touching and intelligent, littered with delightful turns of phrase that bring the precise Alice and irascible John to life. Not bad from writer Anna Carlisle, an Australian offcumden!

And all this staged in John Williams's moody and magnificent Land Farm Gardens, half a mile up the valley from the Longstaff's former home.

I recommend you see the show – even if you saw it last year, as I did. And don't worry if it's raining: the show goes on, moved indoors to the stylish upstairs gallery.

Secretly Pleased continues this Saturday and Sunday at Land Farm at 2pm, or 1.30pm for complimentary tea and scones.

For tickets, phone 01422 844901.


The full article contains 351 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 23 July 2008 9:19 AM
  • Source: Evening Courier
  • Location: Halifax
 
 

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