BUXTON company Oddsocks Productions make their regular winter trip to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, on Saturday, buoyed by an award nomination for the composer of their latest show, Treasure Island.
Derby singer-songwriter Lucy Ward is in the running for the folk singer of the year prize at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, to be presented at the Royal Albert Hall on February 19.
In 2012, the 23-year-old acoustic musician won the Horizon Award for best newcomer.
Closer to home, Lucy’s music may be familiar to you from her soundtrack for Folie a Deux (Madness Made Of Two), Kim Hopkins’s documentary about the travails of York boutique hotelier Helen Heraty at the Grade 1-listed Grays Court.
Treasure Island marks Ward’s second collaboration with Oddsocks after last winter’s show, The Adventures Of Robin Hood, featured her original compositions.
Adapted by writer, director and actor Andy Barrow, the Oddsocks version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of adventure, piracy, treasure and treachery combines comedy with drama and tension.
Barrow is among five performers who turn their hand to music, song and dance while tackling almost 20 characters between them.
Gemma Aston plays Jim opposite Barrow as both Long John Silver and in dame mode as Jim’s mum, while Andrew McGilligan is a quick-witted Squire Trelawney, Joseph Maudsley divides his stage time between Blind Pew and Doctor Livesey and Dom Gee-Burch keeps himself busy as Captain Smollett, Billy Bones, Ben Gunn and a multitude of other characters.
Sarah Oxley’s costumes and Amed Hashimi’s fight choreography promise to add to the enjoyment, as does a tribute to the percussion show Stomp.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy Lucy Ward’s contributions, you should seek out her two albums, 2011’s Adelphi Has To Fly and last August’s Single Flame, both issued through Navigator Records.
To watch Lucy working with Oddsocks on Treasure Island, visit the website oddsocks.co.uk and click on the link for the two-minute rehearsal diary, The Music.
• Tickets for Saturday’s 7.30pm performance of Treasure Island are on sale on 01332 258328 or at oddsocks.co.uk
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