LAURIE Lee’s celebrated novel Cider With Rosie comes to theatre Royal Winchester in a new stage adaptation that brings the author’s evocative prose brilliantly to life with drama, live music and original songs.

The play portrays Lee’s famous recollections of growing up in the Slad Valley, Gloucestershire at the beginning of the 20th century, in a bygone age of innocence and simplicity and features six actors.

Watch Laurie and his siblings as they step into the dreamlike world of memory and recall the defining experiences of their youth. There’s charabanc outings to Weston-super-Mare; frozen white winters and blazing orange summers; heroic fourteen-year-old giant Spadge Hopkins; tyrannical teacher Old Crabby; the warring ancient rival Grannies Trill and Wallon; and of course that first, unforgettable, cider-fuelled encounter in the harvest fields.

Abigail Anderson, Associate Director of Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds who developed the play, told Scene South: “The script is created entirely from Laurie Lee’s words – the only thing we’ve added to the novel is a selection of his poems set to music.

“Everyone who knows the book will find that the play is a faithful homage to the beauty of Lee’s language and we are particularly pleased to introduce his surprising and often humorous imagery to a whole new audience.”

• Cider with Rosie is playing on Tuesday and Wednesday. Call 01962 840440 or book online at theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk.