Press Release: Amersham Martyrs Play 04.03.26
Fired Up for Amersham Martyrs Community Play in 2027
Amersham Museum Trustees are delighted to announce the appointment of Emma Large and Matthew Appleby as Director and Producer to lead the 2027 production of the Amersham Martyrs Community Play.
The performance of this play, involving hundreds of people across the community, has been a tradition in Amersham since its first production in 2001. Originally conceived by actor and director Stan Pretty as part of the town’s millennial celebrations, the play has been revived roughly every five years ever since, with Stan and his co-director Sally Alford taking the lead. After Stan and Sally chose to retire in 2022, the Museum Trustees undertook a search for a new director and producer. After several rounds of discussions and interviews, the unanimous choice of the selection panel was the youthful pairing of Emma Large as Director and Matthew Appleby as Producer.
Emma Large is an emerging stage director for theatre, opera and immersive events. Emma has cultivated a style centred on community participation, movement and site specificity. She’s known for her playful and resonant approaches to classic works, as well as dynamic and immersive new writing. Emma is currently the resident stage director for Aylesbury Opera, where she’s directed Puccini’s La Boheme, Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and is currently working on Verdi’s Don Carlo.
“I am incredibly excited to be directing the Martyrs Play,” says Emma. “Having lived in Amersham all my life, I relish the chance to contribute to Amersham’s history with such an important production.”
The panel was impressed by Emma’s track record as a director and inspired by her clear vision for the project – a vision which brings in fresh ideas while retaining the special nature of this unique play.
Martin Pounce, member of the selection panel, said: “Early Tudor Amersham was only a small town, and to have seven people burned at the stake on two separate occasions was an incredibly traumatic experience for everyone living there. This is what makes the production so important. Stan Pretty’s script illuminates normal Tudor life – and the contrast makes the prosecution and punishment so dramatic.”
Peter Healy, who represented the Museum Trustees on the panel, added: “Amersham Museum’s guiding purpose is to tell local stories. We commissioned this play more than 26 years ago as a major community event and we are delighted that there will be a sixth production under new leadership.”
Matthew Appleby knows the play well, having taken the role of John Scrivener in the 2022 production. He sees the producer’s role to be delivering the director’s vision, but has the experience to know that that must remain within practical bounds. As Chair of Lighthouse Missenden 2025, he project-managed a community event involving over 300 volunteers.
“I see the Producer role as a combination of project manager, facilitator, and communicator,” he says.” I need to create the conditions in which the Director and a large volunteer team can do their best work, while ensuring the production remains financially sound, well organised, inclusive and enjoyable to take part in.”
For those who want to get involved in the next production, whether on stage or behind the scenes, there will be a call for interest in September. But there is plenty of work for Emma and Matthew to do in the meantime – fundraising, building a plan for the production and building connections with schools and other groups to get young people involved.
“We are really excited about how they are going to take things forward,” said David Cuffley, part of the steering group that has been working to get this new production off the ground.
The next production of the Amersham Martyrs Community Play will take place in March 2027, at St Mary’s Church, Old Amersham, dates tbc
Emma Large can be found on Instagram @_emma_large or at her website www.emmalarge.co.uk. Matthew Appleby can be reached on [email protected].
For more information: [email protected]