Silas Marner

This classic short novel gets a classic Mark Wheeller treatment.

An adaptation of a George Eliot novel might seem something of a departure, but as the play contains only words used in the novel the production exhibits narrative characteristics of other Mark Wheeller plays. He has created a beautifully taut and compelling script with immense skill. .

Silas Marner, a member of a strict religious community, is wrongly accused of theft and is forced to move to the faraway village of Raveloe.

A robbery at his new home leaves Marner without his hard earned gold and in the depths of depression.

A mysterious, drug addicted woman is later found dead in the woods outside Marner’s cottage.

That same night he thinks his gold has returned… but it proves to be something very different…

Silas Marner was originally performed as a Promenade production. It offers opportunities for imaginative staging that has become the hallmark for all the best known Wheellerplays.

It will serve as a great read around the class script in English lessons because of its narrative style. The book is one of those allowed on various English GCSE Syllabi and is a set text for Edexcel GCSE English.