It is hoped that Lucky Lucky, an entertaining but thought-provoking play with music can be performed or showcased in some form to the public at 14.30 on Sunday 22 November 2022 as a culmination to two months of rehearsals. Please keep an eye on the BAC website, FB page or email bfmt@bollingtonartscentre.co.uk for the latest news.
The story tells of two Swedish children who have just moved to Czechia. Their Mum is a conservationist trying to protect growing numbers of Czech wolves, elk and beavers. Emilia’s greatest worry (it seems) is that she won’t be able to dress as Saint Lucia and enjoy the Festival on December 13 that’s so significant in Sweden. Her brother Stefan is annoyed he can’t have Swedish food and that Czech children say his name wrong. Despite this, the children pick up the language, especially through folk songs, and enjoy Czechia’s autumn festivals. They realise the things they have in common, especially through the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood. Emilia takes a lead role, making some Czech girls who have befriended her jealous. They hatch a mean trick for St Lucia’s Day. In Sweden, on December 13, girls dressed in white with crowns of candles bring light, carols and refreshments in honour of the 3rd century saint and martyr. In Czechia, the Lucky (pronounced luhts-ki) “police” the public holiday. Dressed in white but a cross between witches and birds of prey, they have long beaks and claws to peck and prod anyone caught going to work or school, or riding a bike. They barge into houses to inspect them for cleanliness, and demand lavish refreshment. They inquire into whether children have been good all year, and threaten naughty ones with no Christmas presents. As matters threaten to get out of hand, there’s a sudden turn of events which bring about a happy ending – far happier than anyone, especially the Swedish family, believed possible.
The images show some depictions of the Swedish and Czech Lucia, and the Music Theatre telling the story of the Children of Lidice, Czech victims of a Nazi atrocity in 1942.
Bollington Festival Music Theatre was formed in 1986 by Donald Judge. It went on to perform at least twice a year and at every Bollington Festival. With many of the shows being written specially, it has told tales from all over the world, with several being set in an imagined historical Bollington where “Nancy White” was a heroine who always wore a distinctive white skirt. Among other feats, she saved Bollingtonians from disaster involving the town’s first steam train, and disguised as a drummer boy, defeated Napoleon single-handed at the Battle of Waterloo, hence her truncated statue on Kerridge Hill. When Covid struck in 2022, the group was two weeks away from performing a play with music based on the unusual childhood of Dr Samuel Johnson of dictionary fame, and a youth folk band was due to come from his home city of Lichfield to share the programme. Resuming in September 2021, members worked on Tales of the Christmas Travellers in which animals journey to Bethlehem, and Daisy Daisy based on the life of a British Home Child taken from her London home simply because she was poor, and transported to Canada, where all contact with her family was forbidden. In the Spring of 2023, Peg’s Egg will tell a local tale set in Victorian times. Fro Winter 2023, Jeanne’s Noël will imagine Christmas with Joan of Arc in medieval France. While for the 2024 Bollington Festival, Get in the Queue! will imagine the childhood on James Chadwick, born to weavers in a cottage on Clarke Lane, who became one of the world’s greatest scientists.
