“The actual process of how they put the dictionary together, and who was and wasn’t involved in that… it’s an entire tour of Oxford and back again.”Īrthur says the set, designed by Jonathon Oxlade, is “crammed with history” – including props such as books, paper, pens, slips and envelopes – to convey the “textures and feel” of the period, but has a contemporary edge as well. “A lot of people will get a bit of a glimpse into a part of history they may not know about, which is very, very fascinating,” says Arthur. It also gives a detailed insight into how the first Oxford English Dictionary was made, with the scriptorium – a garden shed in which young Esme hides beneath a sorting table while her father and a team of lexicographers carry out their work – almost like a character in its own right. The Dictionary of Lost Words is set at the height of the women’s suffrage movement, highlighting the inequalities women experienced due to both gender and social status. The Dictionary of Lost Words director Jessica Arthur. “It’s really fun because for a while you think you know what you’re watching and then, once you get to the covered market or you meet Tilda the suffragist (Angela Mahlatjie)… we’re watching her mind explode and the walls of her world completely bust open. And then she gets to a point where her whole world is turned upside down by completely different perspectives to her own. “There are key life-altering events that happen in Esme’s life and I think Verity has picked really beautifully the things that make her who she is – the things that happen to her early in her life that set the path ahead. Unlike the book, Arthur explains, the show is not narrated by Esme: instead, audiences will watch events unfold through her eyes and go on a journey with her. South Australian playwright Verity Laughton, who consulted with Williams throughout the creative process, has distilled the historical context and honed in on key moments in the story to turn a 370-page book into a roughly two-hour play that will premiere at the Dunstan Playhouse this month. The historical novel weaves together events both factual and fictional in the story of a young girl called Esme Nicoll (to be played by Tilda Cobham-Hervey), who grows up among the lexicographers compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary in England and collects the words they have discarded that relate to women’s experiences. Sydney-based Arthur, who previously directed the 2022 stage production Chalkface, is in Adelaide for rehearsals of the State Theatre Company South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company co-production of The Dictionary of Lost Words, which has enjoyed global success since its publication by Affirm Press during lockdown in 2020. “Pip’s book does that incredibly well, but to present it live with bodies performing it in front of you means it can reach you on another level.” “I think a good adaptation is presenting what you love but also turning up the volume on the things that it’s endeavouring to say and do,” says director Jessica Arthur. The theatre team adapting Adelaide Hills author Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words has grasped the challenge with boldness and creativity. Through the author’s words and their own imaginations, readers have already conjured a vivid picture of the characters and the world they inhabit – and when the novel is a contemporary bestseller that has sold more than half a million copies worldwide, expectations are especially high. Photo: Claudio Raschella / suppliedīringing a much-loved book to the stage or screen is not a task to be taken lightly. If desired, decorate the cookies with a colored cocoa butter “transfer sheet” or draw stripes with melted white chocolate.Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays Esme, during rehearsals for 'The Dictionary of Lost Words'. Dip half of each cookie into the melted 61% chocolate, let the excess chocolate drip off the cookie before laying back on the parchment lined cookie sheets. stir the chocolate so the residual heat melts the remaining chocolate.
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