Lark Rise

A drama written by Keith Dewhurst
Thursday 14 May 2026 - Saturday 16 May 2026
The Poultry Yard, Coleshill Village Estate, Coleshill SN6 7PT

Times: Performances start 7:30 pm. Doors open 30 minutes earlier.
Tickets: Tickets available from our Online Box Office from 4-6 weeks prior to the first performance.
Other information: This is an outside production so we advise you to wear clothing suitable for the weather conditions on the day. More details to come.

The play is based on the story ‘Lark Rise’, which was written in 1939 by Flora Thompson and soon becoming part of a trilogy known as ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’. It is a literary sampler of English village life in late Victorian Oxfordshire. The action takes place in and around the hamlet of Lark Rise in the late 1880s. It is the first day of the harvest. The scenes in Act I are set in the Timms family cottage, the gardens of neighbouring cottages, on the village green, and in fields around the village. In Act 2 there are also scenes on the way to the “big house”, in the village pub, and in the church. The final scene is thirty years later. FDS last performed Lark Rise in 1998.

Flora Thompson was born in 1876 and spent her early childhood in the hamlet of Juniper Hill, near Bicester. Her book “Lark Rise” is an account of the life she remembered; the only names she changed were her own (Flora became Laura) and her brother’s (Edwin became Edmund). The dialogue and many of the scenes in the play, although they did not take place on a single day, are taken straight from the book.

The Poultry Yard is a key part of the original, innovative Victorian model farm at Coleshill. It is a historic and active location within the National Trust-owned Coleshill Estate, primarily used as a venue for village community events, historical re-enactments, and theatrical productions.

26th February 2026 – Introduction and read through at the United Church, starting at 7.30pm.

2nd March 2026 – Auditions at the United Church, starting at 7.30pm.

Production No.213 - 3 shows will be performed over 3 days. This amateur production of "Lark Rise" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd., www.concordtheatricals.co.uk. The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings or streams of this production without prior permission is strictly prohibited, and is an offence under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.