Australian author Geraldine Brooks’s novel of the plague, Year of Wonders, set in the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1666, is being adapted for the stage and will have its World Première in the North of England in June.
The adaptation is being written and performed by Jane Arnfield, Associate Professor and Head of Theatre and Performance at Northumbria University and co-written and directed by Mike Alfreds, who, in a long and distinguished career, has been an Associate Director of the National Theatre, founder of Shared Experience and Artistic Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company (later Method and Madness), as well as directing at The RSC and Shakespeare’s Globe.
The creative team includes designer Imogen Cloët, sound artist Kate Doherty and Professor Carol Martin, and there is production support by Stanley-based The Forge and Newcastle’s CaroleW Productions.
The team hope that the production will follow in the footsteps of their previous collaborations, notably The Tin Ring by Zdenka Fantlová, which has toured to over 14 countries and played to thousands of audience members.
Based on the story of the Derbyshire village of Eyam, which quarantined itself when the plague struck in 1666 so as not to endanger others, Year of Wonders tells how, when an infected bolt of cloth carries plague to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.
Jane Arnfield tells the multifaceted story from the character's point of view.
The production will play at The Lowry, Salford, from 21 to 23 June and then at Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre on 26 (7:30) and 27 June (9:30), at the Gala in Durham on 28 June (1:30 and 7:30), returning to Newcastle where it will play at the Literary and Philosophical Society (The Lit and Phil) on Westgate Road at 7:30 on 29 June.