Ahead of this weekend's rehearsal of SALT, Poole's community play, we find out how home-made marmalade, sandwiches, Dorset buttons and a dead seagull are fuelling one woman's creative energy...
‘Bursting’ with creativity and desperate for an outlet, Jane Bull could hardly believe her luck when she found out about SALT, Poole’s community play.
A veteran of countless drama and craft groups, she responded to the first call out and was delighted to land the part of Elinor Warland, the wife of a retired Admiral.
“It’s great that I got the part and my husband Anthony Barrett, who is a professional actor, is playing the Admiral – we’re mostly in it at the beginning and the end,” Jane explains.
“But when they said they were looking for someone to help out with a community fundraising campaign I volunteered immediately.”
Armed with surplus jars of home-made marmalade as well as trays of cheese sandwiches and rocky road brownies, Jane arrived at the first rehearsal and raised a cool £50 there and then selling her produce alongside SALT branded tote bags.
“We’ve got another rehearsal this weekend so I’m hoping a few others will turn up with extra sandwiches and bakes as there’s always someone who forgets. I only a charged £1 each and did quite well.
“It costs such a lot to put on a production so anything we can raise will help with that. SALT is such a good thing for Poole and it’s already bringing people together – I’ve come across some ladies today and it turns out our husbands know each other but we’ve never met before. Isn’t that something?”
But that’s not all. Jane is also prop making and has enlisted the help of the Crafty Ladies group who meet at Lighthouse to make Dorset Buttons for the production.
“They want buttons of all sizes, up to hoop-sized buttons for the sets,” she says. “We’ve got a brilliant set designer, but there’s such a lot of sewing needed before the show goes up in July.
“First though, I’ve got to make a dead seagull… but I don’t want it to be too scary!”