Haddo House will form the perfect backdrop for Chekhov's The Proposal
When getting a play ready for performance, a lot of time and effort is spent on designing, building and painting the set, but for Ten Feet Tall Theatre Company’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Proposal, to be streamed as part of Haddo Arts Festival on Tuesday, October 12, the set is real in every detail of the late Victorian interior of Haddo House.
As the play’s director Mark Wood explains, “I set out to create a version of the story that brought it away from rural Russia circa 1890 and a little closer to home, sometime in the early 1900’s.
"The setting of Haddo House helped to bring the characters and voices to life ahead of time, allowing me to envisage the world which they inhabit.”
The cast (Stewart Aitken, Sarah Helena Ord and Mark Wood) agree that the Morning Room and Drawing Room were perfect backdrops for The Proposal which Chekhov referred to as a “joke in one act”, closer to farce than the serious drama more often associated with his works.
The House certainly plays its part, as Ten Feet Tall’s Cameron Mowat acknowledges: “Haddo is the fourth character in the film, giving authenticity to the period of the play and speaking just as big and loud as the other characters with its beautiful grandeur.”
Ten Feet Tall’s performance premieres on the Haddo Arts YouTube channel at 8.30 pm on October 12 as part of Haddo Arts 10th Anniversary Festival, which is available online from October 9 – 16.
There are many such treats including a recital by the renowned pianist Joanna Macgregor, “All Bach” by the excellent Bach Players and a delightful concert by the Scottish traditional music favourites, the Whistlebinkies. Full details of these and the rest of the Festival are available on www.haddoarts.com
By way of an opener, Lights on Haddo, not virtual but actual at Haddo House itself, on Friday, October 8, is a unique spectacle in light and sound on celebrating 10 years of Haddo Arts Festival through images from Festival past and present projected onto the exterior of Haddo House, accompanied by music and song.
This free, non-ticketed promenade event runs from 7.30pm – 8pm and visitors can drop in whenever they wish.
Concurrent with this and the online festival, Art in the Park invites visitors to wander a portrait trail through Haddo Country Park to discover Kimberley MacPherson’s photographic portraits of staff and those active in Haddo's current community which emulate the paintings and history of those from the past.
These are complimented by original paintings in the Pheasantry by Sarah Calder. And Haddo House ‘A Different Light ‘ is a specially curated tour of the House, exploring the beautiful building and some of its fascinating stories and the links to the art which inspired ‘Art in the Park’.
Event calendar on site at Haddo -
October 8 Lights on Haddo
October 8-17 Art in the Park
Online on Haddo Arts Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/haddoarts
October 9 The Bach Players: All Bach
October 10 Anthony White: Organ Recital; Harvest Festival Service.
October 12 Jenna Stewart and Ben Marsden: Violin and Piano Recital; Ten Feet Tall Theatre Company: The Proposal by Anton Chekhov.
October 13 Steven Devine and Kate Semmens: Songs to the Fortepiano.
October 14 Joanna MacGregor: Piano Recital.
October 15 A Place to Play: A Haddo Oratorio Preview; Joanna MacGregor: The Art of Transcription.
October 16 The Whistlebinkies.
