Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria, is to stage the world première of a new adaptation of Rogue Herries, Hugh Walpole’s epic tale of restless desire set in north Cumbria.
The novel has been adapted by Louise Page, who has written more than 20 plays and was a member of the script team for The Archers for 10 years.
The production, which runs from March 23 to April 20 next year, will feature a community chorus of up to 30 local performers; amateur actors are invited to apply to join the company now.
Rogue Herries, published in 1930, is the first in a series of four novels that make up the Herries Chronicles. It tells how Francis Herries moves his family from Doncaster to a crumbling manor house in Borrowdale; he sells his mistress at a fair and becomes infatuated, with disastrous consequences, with a young Gypsy girl. The book is inscribed: “For a trusted friend and in love of Cumberland.”
Rogue Herries was a best-seller and earned Walpole a fortune. It is still in print and remains a firm favourite with readers around the world.