Images from the Riverside Players performance of Spirit of History, Windsor, 1993
The story of a girl who goes back in time to Tudor England started life as full-scale Musical called Spirit of History, which I originally wrote in the early 1990s.
Spirit of History was inspired by my daily commute over the Hammersmith Flyover - seeing the beautiful old St. Paul's church next to the flyover surrounded by modern office blocks. I wondered what it would be like to walk into that old church, then find that time had gone backwards - and when I walked out, I was back in the historical era when it was first built. I thought how great it would be to experience a slower, simpler time, without cars and phones and without all the pressures of modern life.
But the more I thought about it, the more I could see that a modern person transported back into history would be completely lost in an alien world - and far from it being a slower, simpler time, it would be a world full of threats and danger.
This set the scene for Spirit of History - which I wrote as a Musical telling the story of a modern girl transported back to the Tudor era in an electrical storm. After the show was premiered by The Riverside Players in 1993, I turned to other projects, and Spirit of History went no further - until a few years ago, when I re-read the libretto.
It hit me as I read it, that the story could be told in much more depth as a novel. Excited by the prospect of bringing new life to the story, I set to work. A couple of years and a few plot-line / character changes later - it was finished.
I had it edited and proofed (thanks Sinead!) and in 2015 it was published as The Witchfinder's Well.
© Copyright John Lord and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
St. Paul's Church, Hammersmith, London.
