FROM STATION TO STATION
Inspired by Alison Uttley’s novel, “A Traveller in Time”, the play imagines former Knutsford residents, Elizabeth Gaskell and Alison Uttley meeting, face to face in the modern world. Interwoven into their experiences are the influences of other “amazing” women who have lived in towns along the mid-Cheshire railway line between Chester and Manchester.
FROM STATION TO STATION, KNUTSFORD PROMENADES and HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
From Station to Station’ was commissioned by the Knutsford Promenades association as the main element of their ‘Extraordinary Women’- themed festival. With national links to Heritage Open Days and local links to Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership’s ‘Amazing Women by Rail’ project, key historical women connected by the train line from Chester to Manchester were included in the theatrical piece. The central characters were former Knutsford residents, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), the Victorian novelist, famous for such novels as: “North and South”, “Wives and Daughters”, and “Cranford”. Also nominated was Alison Uttley(1884-1976) also a famous writer, best known for her children’s books: “Little Grey Rabbit” and “Sam Pig”. Uttley was also a noted Physicist, the second woman to gain a science degree from Manchester University in 1906.
Alison Uttley’s novel, “A Traveller in Time”, challenged the concept of time as we understand it and investigated the concept of “timeslips”. Using this concept Uttley and Gaskell meet and “travel” through time meeting other amazing Cheshire women on their way. These include: Charlotte Bronte, Emmeline Pankhurst, Helen Allingham, Mary Fildes and Elizabeth Raffald as well as the “insufferable” Charles Dickens.
The play was premiered at Brook St. Chapel, Knutsford, the Chapel where Elizabeth Gaskell worshipped and where she is buried.
A performance was also given on a train between Chester and Manchester, with the Mayor of each participating town boarding at the appropriate station.
A final performance was given on the concourse of Manchester Piccadilly Station in front of the Lord Mayor of Manchester.