Directed by Gregory Jones

Silas Marner the musical, based on George Elliot’s 1861 novel of the same name was written by John Taylor in 1993, where upon it waited in a draw until 2018, when John approached the Midnite Youth Theatre to produce the world premiere. Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe was inspired by memories of Eliot’s childhood in the 1820’s at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and the small village of Raveloe shows an unspoiled England. The story is a weaving of two main elements: the warp is a pseudo-fairytale of a miser’s gold that is ‘transformed’ into a golden haired little girl, forcing the misanthrope Silas to rely on his neighbours. The weft is an exploration of the families we make for ourselves, both through biology and adoption and the complications we make for ourselves when we deny or accept them.

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The design was a challenge: as this was the world premiere of the musical, it was quite daunting, knowing that mine would be the original solutions to the problems posed by the script and its rapid change in place and time. It was clear from the outset that, being scored for two pianos – and no other instruments – they would have to be an integral part of the set. An early design called for the pianos to have their lids and fronts open to show the strings of the instruments and tie them into the weaving of the set. Sadly, due to the size of the space, the pianos in this configuration were too loud and the notion had to be abandoned. We ended up placing the pianos back-to-back with a thin cat-walk of Perspex between that was lit and was used to simulate the fire and the golden hoard beneath the floor. It also became Silas’ loom.

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All the piece of furniture and the flats that huddled around the stage were connected with ‘thread’ that joined to the grid representing the weaving of Silas and the ties that bind him and his adoptive daughter Eppie to their community.  I experimented with hand drawn ‘animation’ that was projected onto the flats and helped give a sense of scale of the village and surrounds of Raveloe

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Lighting Design: Tess Reuvers