In our 5th episode, Artistic Director, Adam Hemming, chats to Dorothy McDowell, Ana Pagu and Leah O'Grady from Not The Way Forward. We discuss life at Oxford university, adapting TV shows into classic novels and forgotten plays in advance of their run of Casterbridge at the Space (5th-9th April 2022).

When she was 21, Mary Henchard stood up in a bar and offered to sell her husband to the highest bidder. She has spent the last twenty years trying to recover.

When she was 21, Dearbhla Farfrae bought a one-way ticket to America. The night before she left, she did a good turn by an eccentric financier, and got the luckiest break of her life. Now a middle-aged millionaire, Mary Henchard thinks she has found a protegee to save her business. She has really found the woman who will ruin her life.

Not The Way Forward Productions’ reimagining of Thomas Hardy’s tragic novel charts the lives of two women growing up, growing old and growing into obsessive rivalry. With a set made out of cardboard, and a soundtrack of 00s hits, step into the high-pressure world of the London financial district, and watch this classic story brought to (modern) life.

“I don’t see why people who have got husbands and wives and don’t want them shouldn’t sell them to those in need of such articles – I’d sell mine this minute if anybody would buy him!”

You can find out more about the Space, connect with us on the socials and see what's coming up at www.space.org.uk

Theme Music: Monsieur Miaow by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Episode edit credit: Sierra Hoss