THE MYSTERIES IN A BOX 2016
Written by Deborah Nash, directed by Steve Tiplady and designed by Amelia Pimlott, The Mysteries in A Box was a shadow show on the secret lives of three rare plants growing in the marshes and forests of north-east London. The play was performed in six small spaces in the borough of Waltham Forest.
In the play, the Adder’s Tongue Fern, the luzula forsteri, and the Yellow Cress are given character and agency to intervene in the lives of two sister ramblers innocently taking a walk through the urban countryside.
Poster design by Janet Milner
VIDEO OF THE MYSTERIES IN A BOX
The Mysteries in a Box was performed by Ruth Calkin & Elaine Hartley and directed by Steve Tiplady.
Trailer made by Dylan Tate of Tate Creations.
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN EDWARD FORSTER & THE LUZULA FORSTERI
BOTANIST: You are an unnamed rush!
GRASS: We are never in a rush. We are sometimes near a bush. But we aren’t rushy or bushy.
BOTANIST: Whatever you are, I simply must list you. Who are you? What do you call yourself?
GRASS: We are simply grass.
BOTANIST: There is no such thing as simply grass.
SHADOW PLAY
Shadow shapes by Amelia Pimlott, performed and manipulated by Elaine Hartley & Ruth Calkin.
THE CREATIVE TEAM:
WRITER: Deborah Nash
PRODUCER: What More? Productions
DIRECTOR: Steve Tiplady
DESIGNER: Amelia Pimlott
PUPPETEERS: Ruth Calkin & Elaine Hartley
MUSIC: Ruth Calkin
TECHNICIAN: Brian Perkins
PUBLICITY DESIGN: Janet Milner
THE PLANTS AS CHARACTER
Introducing the luzula forsteri (left) ordered from a plant nursery in Ireland, and the Yellow Cress, found growing on Lockwood Reservoir and cultivated today by OrganicLea.
At the Linnean Society’s library in central London, there is a book dedicated to the Adder’s Tongue Fern or the Ophioglossum vulgatum (its nomenclature derives from the Greek, meaning snake tongue). The discovery of the Adder’s Tongue Fern growing on Walthamstow Marshes saved the land from development and made the area a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
