Don't miss this real play for today in Forest setting (From Salisbury Journal)

Don't miss this real play for today in Forest setting

4:44pm Friday 5th March 2010 in Entertainments By Anne Morris

IF you have ever driven across the New Forest on a rainy, windswept night and been stopped by a pony on the road or a swollen ford, you will be vividly reminded of the incident in Gary Owen’s beautifully written new play, especially commissioned by Ringwood-based Forest Forge.

Such is the evocative nature of the play that you really believe in the five characters portrayed. This is a real play for today, containing accessible contemporary issues, while also being firmly set in the Forest.

Kirstie Davis’s sensitive and intelligent production ensures this sense of place, aided by David Haworth’s seemingly simple set yet transformed by the atmospheric use of film and musical soundscape by Rebecca Aplin.

Karen’s car gets stuck in a swollen river, rough diamond Shaun (complete with his swag van of coal) goes to help. Young lovers Tim and Hannah argue over which way to go to avoid the animals in the road. That they all end up at Pearl’s isolated cottage becomes the epicentre for this delightful morality tale.

Tim Treslove inhabits the role of Shaun with a twinkle in his eye one minute and an unnerving sense of fear the next.

Melody Brown is superlative as grief stricken Karen escaping the horrors of London to find inner strength to cope with the situation she now finds herself in. And how she does this is a masterstroke, but I won’t give the story away.

Maggie Tagney is perfect as the elderly Pearl, the catalyst for what takes place. Stacey Evans is wonderfully naive as the young dreamer Hannah, who finally gets her Titanic moment, as is Michael Cole as Tim. The scene in the depths of the night-time Forest where the other four actors become ponies huddling for warmth around Tim was an unforgettable moment in a play packed with humanity.

By the end of Free Folk, I felt both uplifted and genuinely moved. It is touring until April 3 in village halls and community centres in Hampshire and Dorset. Don’t miss it, it is a little gem.

Anne Morris Free Folk continues its tour to Burley village hall (March 3), Codford village hall (March 5) and Bramshaw village hall (March 6). Full details of the tour which runs until April 3 is available on the company’s website at forestforge.co.uk