Behind The Scenes — The Glad Giver
A bonus episode where the author, Jill Korn, talks about how she came to write and produce her audio drama about Julian of Norwich.
There Goes Craufurdland
enSeptember 07, 2022
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About this Episode
“Cousin John. Dead more than twenty years. I can’t see you, but I know you’re here. Why? You abandoned this place years ago; you neglected it and left it to strangers. Why have you come back?” Craufurdland Castle in Fenwick, Ayrshire, keeps its secrets close. It has been held in the same family for almost two thousand years. It is the early 1800s. Janet Craufurd, Lady of the house, writes in her diary, charting the progress of renovations to the estate which has suffered years of neglect. But Janet’s mind is not easy. She suspects that the house has its own story to tell – a story lost in a secret passage, in hidden rooms, in dusty books and neglected papers. And someone is watching her as she searches for answers; someone she cannot see but whose presence she senses as she works. There Goes Craufurdland is the final play in An Ayrshire Trilogy, three audio dramas which celebrate Ayrshire and its people. The Trilogy is supported by Creative Scotland.
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The Glad Giver
Julian of Norwich is an old woman who has lived walled up in her stone cell for more than forty years. When she was thirty, she received sixteen visions or 'shewings' which she believed came from God, and she spent the rest of her life contemplating and writing about them. Julian's book, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first book we have in English that was written by a woman.
The play is set in 1413 and imagines the daily life of Julian at 70. She has already completed her book but her life is by no means empty. Her cell is very near the river and its busy docks, whose comings and goings pass by her exterior window. Another window gives onto the church itself, where services and other business are conducted daily and a third window communicates with her kindly servant, Sarah. Julian’s meditations are sometimes interrupted by visitors, to whom she is always gracious, but about whom she can only share her thoughts with God.
The play was written to celebrate the 650th anniversary of Julian's visions and was featured in the exhibition 'Love is the Meaning'. It was recorded in Norwhich, England by local actors, and was produced in Scotland by John Boyd.
There Goes Craufurdland
“Cousin John. Dead more than twenty years. I can’t see you, but I know you’re here. Why? You abandoned this place years ago; you neglected it and left it to strangers. Why have you come back?” Craufurdland Castle in Fenwick, Ayrshire, keeps its secrets close. It has been held in the same family for almost two thousand years. It is the early 1800s. Janet Craufurd, Lady of the house, writes in her diary, charting the progress of renovations to the estate which has suffered years of neglect. But Janet’s mind is not easy. She suspects that the house has its own story to tell – a story lost in a secret passage, in hidden rooms, in dusty books and neglected papers. And someone is watching her as she searches for answers; someone she cannot see but whose presence she senses as she works. There Goes Craufurdland is the final play in An Ayrshire Trilogy, three audio dramas which celebrate Ayrshire and its people. The Trilogy is supported by Creative Scotland.
The Lady And The Poet
Supported by Creative Scotland
High Spirits
© Jill Korn / John Boyd
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