SamuelFrench: When I began pursuing the idea of putting the story on stage I thought only about London and a British audience. That American audiences will be watching a Western play writing by an English writer makes me feel like I’ve cheated – I’ve never been to the Wild West. Other than a few days in Missouri, I’ve never been to America. In person that is; for in stories, films, television, and music, I’ve spent nearly every waking moment of the last four years living right at the heart of the Great American West.
Before I discovered the story of Liberty Valance I knew I wanted to create a Western for stage and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find anything of the sort, other than the big musicals like Calamity Jane or Oklahoma. I wanted to create the world I’d come to love on the screen, a gritty, painful existence in which people fought against poverty, against the elements, and against each other. What makes this period so exciting is that this struggle sits against the constant backdrop of hope.
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