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Following the threads of Nick Hutchinson's extraordinary life and adventures, A Mingled Yarn weaves together theatre, farming, family, horses, social unrest, Shakespeare, drugs, manic depression, love and more. ​ Son of renowned actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft and master advocate Lord Jeremy Hutchinson Q.C. Hutchinson grew up around the greats of British Theatre. ​As a young adult in the sixties, deeply uncomfortable with the class structure into which he was born, his idealism and passion involved him in direct action in Europe he encountered revolutionary theatre practices and in Paris the student protests. His move to Canada-first to Montreal, a city in the throes of its own revolution-brought him finally to the Wild West, where he began to live his childhood cowboy dream. As artistic director of the horse-drawn travelling show, The Caravan Stage Company he mounted thought- provoking, audience - immersive productions under the open skies, later founding the Caravan Farm Theatre for farm centred shows- from a masked Animal Farm among real pig pens to a winter production of the Snow Queen on horse drawn sleighs and the first Caravan Shakespeare productions. A Mingled Yarn is a journey through modern theatre history. It is a testament to the power of theatre and the creative process-even when it borders on mania. But it is also a celebration of community and a simpler life, lived on the land. Hutchinson's sweeping autobiography has broad appeal, particularly for creative people and theatre lovers, as well as those who find their peace in wide open spaces on the back of a horse.

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9781039177086

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"Nick Hutchinson was born in London in 1946, son of Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Lord Jeremy Hutchinson QC. His theatre career began in France where he studied at the National Theatre School of Strasbourg founded by Michel St Denis who had a profound impact on theatre and theatre training through the 1930s and 40s in England. This was followed by an apprenticeship as assistant director to Peter Hall, John Barton and Trevor Nunn at the Royal Shakespeare Company during its meteoric rise to become the flagship theatre of Britain. Nick came to Canada for the first time in 1967 as associate director of Toronto's first fully professional theatre -Theatre Toronto- where he directed to much acclaim Jules Feiffer's Little Murders at the Royal Alex Theatre. He immigrated to Canada in 1970 and began what would become a lifetime association with the National Theatre School of Canada, teaching in both the English and French sections. In the 80s he was appointed to head the English section and up until 2007 has been their main teacher of Shakespeare. He came to B.C in the early seventies, joining a classic ""back to the land"" commune and acquired an almost mythical horse, Snake. Back in Vancouver Nick worked as a freelance director and as Powys Thomas's associate at the Playhouse Acting school before being invited to lead the Little Peoples Caravan which he transformed in 1976 into the Caravan Stage Company as a fully fledged professional horse drawn touring theatre. The company quickly achieved national renown as well as bringing theatre to communities that had never heard of such a thing. The pinnacle was reached in 1981 when the company toured Ontario playing such places as the Stratford and Shaw festivals as well as Toronto itself. In 1985 Nick founded the Caravan Farm Theatre with its first show, an adaptation of Orwell's Animal Farm that intended to play to a capacity of 200 but by the 10th performance was playing to more than 600. It went on to produce many memorable shows from Shakespeare to original works and in the late 80s began what has become a mainstay of the company a Sleigh Ride theatre programme during the Christmas holidays. Nick retired from the CFT in 1993 to spend his full time farming and raising horses and continued as a freelance director and teacher. His love and skill with horses has kept him a regular at the local ploughing matches and until recently a major competitor at the I.P.E. Heavy Horse division."

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