MORE than 600 people attended the three performances at St Neot Parish Church of a new locally-written musical drama, A Daughter's Tale.

On all three nights, there were spontaneous standing ovations for the lavish medieval production, which cost in the region of £14,000 to produce, £8,000 of which was raised in grants from various bodies.

The two-hour drama, which was completely sung, took St Neot resident Nick Hart, musical director of the choir Canoryon Lowen, two years to write.

Nick said there was much input from his two musical sons Ed and Jim, while he was writing, and there was invaluable support from his wife Jenny who pulled the whole production together.

The fictional tale is based around the historical figures of Neot the monk and his friendship with Prince Alfred, and the love rivalry between the prince and the Cornish King Donierth.

The object of their affection was the made-up character Lethelt, the daughter of Neot.

Nick says A Daughter's Tale was Canoryon Lowen's first venture into musical theatre and the choir was expanded to bring the local community into the production.

'It has been an amazing experience,' said Nick.

'St Neot is an extraordinary place. Everyone in the village became involved and all the help we needed was provided willingly.

'The church gave us the building at no cost and allowed the removal of pews to create the production in the round, the heavy lifting to achieve this being down to Warleggan Young Farmers Club.

Spectacular

'The local WI provided medieval-style refreshments, and so many other people helped out in every aspect.'

Nick said he is grateful to everyone who helped but there are two people he would like to highlight. The first is the director Olwyn Foot.

'A professional, she took on a bunch of choristers most of whom had never appeared on stage,' he said.

The second is Louise Kidd who he said designed all the spectacular handmade costumes, each one individual and hand dyed, using colours available from the medieval era.

The cast included: Colin Arthur, Bianca Phillips, Elowen Waters, Mark Woodman, Rosemary Turner, Jack Yeo, Peter Bawden, Ele Waters, Dan Wendon, Tim Coombe, Stephanie Thomas, Giuseppe Baggiani, Carolyn Batey, Roz Davies, Euan Hunter, John Batey, Simon Deacon, Colin Mutton, Adrian Burrows, Huw Griffiths, Pat McSherry, Eric Thomas, Andy Thompson, Helen Baggiani, Anne Beswetherick, Mellyn Burrows, Sarah Cole, Roz Davies, Anne Griffith, Jenny Hart, Jenny Lucas, Bridget Kent, Bridget King, Jane Mutch, Liz Neal, Jo Rautio, Margaret Ward, Ele Waters, Elena Rautio and Ellie Reed.

The funding for the production included £1,000 from FEAST which helps communities with arts projects. Other funding came from the Cornwall Heritage Trust, Cornwall Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council.