The Rutlanders Return

Commissioned by Arts for Rutland this play followed the lives of four Rutland women and their families from the end of the First World War through until the mid-twenties; a period during which old social hierarchies began to crumble and the promises of a new world were confronted with the realities of post war life.

With a cast of around thirty, live music and original songs, the play toured over five days to a number of Rutland villages to an audience of around six hundred people. Every performance was packed, we could easily have sold out many more shows, and the responses from the audience were wonderful.

These performances were followed by the recording of an audio version of the play which Radio Rutland played over four Sundays at the end of 2019. An education pack was also created and the script is available for sale at Rutland County Museum.

This was one of the strongest pieces of drama that we’ve made for many years and also, sadly, was the last project that we were able to work on with the much missed and wonderfully talented composer and musician Matt Marks.