1st September 2010

DORCHESTER: Museum lottery grant for Hardy exhibition

by Stuart Broom

An exciting new project entitled “Hardy’s Wessex Sprung to Life”, based at the Dorset County Museum, will go ahead thanks to a grant of £14,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), it was announced last week.

The project will focus on the story of the Hardy Players, an amateur dramatic society in Dorchester, who adapted and staged the works of Thomas Hardy in the early 1900s.

The HLF grant will assist the museum in the interpretation of, and public access to, a large collection of the Hardy Players’ working papers and records, including annotated play scripts, prompt copies, actors’ parts, programmes, posters and miniature mock-up scenery.

This collection was recently acquired by the Museum thanks to generous grants and donations from many organisations and individuals.

Working in partnership with Dorset History Centre and The University of Exeter, the museum will stage an exhibition of the Hardy Players’ collection to run from the middle of October until the end of this year.

In addition, the grant will enable Dorset County Museum to create a range of learning opportunities in connection with Thomas Hardy’s works and to develop and deliver public performances to bring these works to life.

In particular, the project will involve the “Museum Makers”, a group of adults with learning disabilities who meet every week at the museum.

In association with Dorset County Council’s Douglas Jackman House, a Dorchester care home, the group and their carers will take part in a range of activities led by artists, actors, learning experts, storytellers and musicians.

The project will also provide opportunities for the group to collaborate with the New Hardy Players to develop their own public performance based on the new collection.

Other activities will include a schools’ music project in which local students interact with professionals from the Bath Philharmonia to deliver their own musical adaptations of the Dorset born poet’s work for public performance.

The final component of the project will be a drama and theatre resource developed as part of a wider learning programme.

This will enable students of English Literature and drama to participate in sessions on Hardy at the museum using his text as the primary resource in conjunction with current dramatic interpretations of his work.

Commenting on this award, Jon Murden, Director of Dorset County Museum said: “This is a great opportunity for us. We will be redesigning our Writers’ Gallery to incorporate the new collection and are very excited about opening up Hardy’s work to a range of new audiences.”

HLF’s Head of Region for the South West, Nerys Watts, said: “We are delighted to support this project, which will celebrate an important part of the literary and artistic heritage of Dorset.

“Many of the original Hardy Players were members of long- established families from the Dorchester area, and Dorset County Museum will continue this tradition by involving diverse local groups in celebrating and opening up their work for all to enjoy and appreciate.”

DORCHESTER: Museum lottery grant for Hardy exhibition

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