Akenfield ~ Film (12A)

.The film Akenfield was inspired by Ronald Blythe’s wonderful book, Akenfield; Portrait of an English Village. The book was a vivid evocation of the rural Suffolk Blythe had known since childhood and was based on interviews with three generations of his neighbours, bringing to life the story of a rural Suffolk village from the late 19 th century up to the 1960’s.

The book was published in 1969 and soon after Peter Hall approached Ronald Blythe to say he would like to film it – Blythe, however, considered it to be “unfilmable”. Eventually, he agreed to write a screenplay and the film was made over a period of some nine months, using local people to capture the immediacy and authenticity of the original book (Ronald Blythe himself played the Vicar). To create the believable, natural performances no-one was told the whole story. Instead, the participants were assembled for a scene, told a brief outline and then asked to improvise while the cameras rolled. The film was released in 1974, with an orchestral score composed by Michael Tippett. Like the book that inspired it, it too has become a classic.

The film will be introduced by Peter Hall’s daughter, Jenny Caron Hall, who at the age of 15 acted in Akenfield. Jenny has worked at the National Theatre, written extensively about the arts and directs Shakespeare. She is a singer-songwriter and weaver. Jenny is the founder and artistic director of the SHAKE Festival, which will be in Aldeburgh 7 and 8 October this year.