Michael Morpurgo’s Out of the Ashes

City of Light Theatre

Venue: The House Studio @ Plymouth University
Running time: 60 minutes
Recommended age: 8+

Becky Morely begins her diary on New Years Day 2001, little does she realise just how much that year would change her life.

Based on the novel by award-winning writer Michael Morpurgo, Out of the Ashes is the story of Becky’s experience on her family farm in Devon, during the outbreak of foot and mouth disease across the UK.

We experience Becky’s memories of the outbreak as she wrote them in her diary. The story features the birth of her first lamb, Little Josh, her glorious rides with Ruby the horse and the gradual spread of the disease from hundreds of miles away to right outside her doorstep. Becky’s diary comes alive on stage using heartfelt storytelling, family bonds and beautiful staging to document the spread of foot and mouth to the Morely’s farm.

The performance takes you through the joys of living in the South West’s rural countryside and the momentous effect foot and mouth disease had on British farming.