This Land is a realisation of a six year body of work. The show was originally developed in special schools in 2006 with a cast of 4 actor-musicians, set inside an intimate transit camp tent. Audiences were immersed in the action as it unfolded around them, with sights, smells, tastes heightening the experience.
Fast forward to 2012 and Interplay debuted This Land at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a cast of 8 exceptional actor-musicians. Revived in 2021 as the world reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic, for performances at Interplay Theatre to sold out audiences.
The work follows the arc of Interplay’s ethos – growing the work alongside our core audience of young people who face barriers to enjoying or experiencing the arts. Interplay develops all of its work by working closely with disabled audiences, within a national network of special schools, and then take this work to wider audiences in venues and arts centres around the country.
Synopsis
Hitch a ride on this musical rollercoaster ride through the life of America’s original folk hero, Woody Guthrie. This Land celebrates the highs and lows of his life, from the heartbreaking death of his mother in a fire to the rousing gigs at rallies and transit camps inspired by those fighting for their rights in the campaigns which swept 1960s America.
The performance uses Woody Guthrie’s own words, immersing the audience in an unforgettable, dramatic experience where visual effects, live music and song recreate the life of this much-loved musician.
Woody once wrote “All you can write is what you see” and he was uncompromising in writing about the dispossessed whose lives he shared on the road, the poor, the hungry and those working-class Americans who had no voice.
In the 1960s his protest songs were taken up by a new generation of singer-songwriters. Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs and later Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer and Billy Bragg all cite him as a major influence on their music, their politics and their lives.
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“Interplay deserve the highest praise for so effectively chronicling the life of a folk hero, capturing every moment of tenderness, tragedy and humour through nothing more than great acting, singing and musicianship”
“It was the most beautifully sensitive, professional and excellent production I’ve ever witnessed”
“Interplay Theatre make no bones about the largely tragic life of Woody Guthrie, yet leave you feeling totally elated by the political hero’s music”