The Barn in the Media


Heritage in Our Hands - Exhibition and Celebration Event

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Propeller Theatre, June 2008
Photograph © Sarah Barfoot 2008

Between 16-20 June 2008, as part of a government-funded initiative to bring live theatre to young people, the all-male Propeller Theatre Company visited Coggeshall Grange Barn to stage a run of its one-hour condensed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.  The audiences consisted of parties of local school students.

Before the performances, the students discussed the age of the Barn and how many people must have been involved with it over the centuries.  Afterwards there were question-and-answer sessions involving the cast and audience.  Typical enquiries were:

  • "What's it like to play a female character?" - "It's fun to play different parts as we are an all-male cast".

  • "How long does it take you to learn your lines?" - "About three weeks".

  • "What's your favourite character to play?" - (various answers).

Phoenix FM

On 1 September 2007, Brian Smith (then Volunteer Coordinator) was interviewed on Phoenix FM (the community radio station for Brentwood and Billericay, Essex) by Ian MacGregor on his Weekend Breakfast show.  Click here to hear the interview.


Heritage in Our Hands

The following article appeared in the November 2006 edition of the Essex Journal.  Permission to re-publish it has been requested.

 

BBC Essex at the Barn

In May 2006, to celebrate twenty years of broadcasting to the county, two presenters from BBC Essex walked the Essex Way, breaking their journey at Coggeshall Grange Barn.  Some photos of the event can be seen on the Essex Way Day Seven Gallery.


The Volunteer's Tale

The following article appeared in the October 2004 edition of Best of British.  Permission to re-publish it has been requested.

Backdrop to Bacchanalia

Passolini as ChaucerCoggeshall Grange Barn played a prominent role in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1972 film version of The Canterbury Tales,  based on Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th Century classic.  The Barn was part clad in a half-timbered style to portray the Tabard Inn, Southwark, from where the pilgrims departed for Canterbury.

Coggeshall village provided extras for the cast of the film, which remains controversial to this day.  Initially banned in Pasolini's native Italy for obscenity and blasphemy, the film is available on Blu-ray, DVD and VHS with a surprisingly lenient 15 BBFC certificate.

Home