An Episode of Sparrows (2006)
Rumer Godden’s treasured novel brought to life.
Facing almost insurmountable odds Lovejoy does everything she can to make a garden in a bombed-out churchyard, on a rough street of postwar London. Deserted by her mother, the little girl stays with a kindly couple whose gourmet restaurant is failing because of being on the wrong street corner. Her efforts to grow something beautiful come to an end when she and two other children she has enlisted are caught stealing earth from a walled garden in the adjacent neighbourhood.
All the while Lovejoy’s actions are observed by a shut-in spinster in a wealthy townhouse overlooking the street.
Is it possible to steal earth?
Poster Design by: Molly March
Performed at Curly Willow Farm, Grindrod
Adapted by Lois Anderson from the novel by Rumer Godden, with a concept by Cathy Stubington
Directed by: Camille Gingras
Musical selections from J.S. Bach, Gounod, English Folksong, and contributions by Alison Jenkins
Puppets: Cathy Stubington
Set design: Molly March
Lighting: Stephan Bircher
Carpentry: Eric Kutschker
Performers: Chris McGregor, Sarah May Redmond, Cathy Stubington
Sparrow children: Ryan Ready, Lucy and Leila Grainger, Nell, Rosa and Leif Saba, Aidan Sparks
Stage Management and music direction: Alison Jenkins
Funded by: British Columbia Arts Council Canada Council for the Arts, Government of British Columbia
Artistic Process
In our puppet theatre, puppeteers are sometimes visible, sometimes not. When they are visible, they can exist simultaneously in another world or on another level which can have significance in the telling of the story.
In our version of “An Episode of Sparrows”, the childrens’ world (in working-class Catford Street) played out with tabletop puppets, as well as the Combies (the kindly couple caring for Lovejoy). Angela and Olivia, spinster sisters living in a wealthy townhouse in the adjacent neighbourhood, were portrayed, lifesize, by two of the three puppeteers, the other puppeteer doubling as their servant. The childrens’ escapade was seen through the eyes of Olivia who watched them through her window, and who played the piano thus providing musical background for the show. Her sister Angela had a less favourable while charitable view. This scale difference emphasized the difference between the world of adults and that of children - which is the real world? - and more so the difference in class between the two realities - Lovejoy was struggling to have a life, as Vincent Combie and his wife struggled to make his dream restaurant succeed.
Three main set areas co-existed as both the puppets’ world and as the home of the sisters: the sisters’ dining room table doubled as the restaurant, and the piano was the church with the churchyard round the back of it.
A group of real children were present looking over a balcony into the theatre space, as a singing chorus and as a gang of children (sparrows) in the story.