Lyth

On Sunday I took a train to Thurso, hired a car, and drove the 25 minutes out to Lyth Arts Centre, a quite amazing place created by Willie Wilson. Apparently in the middle of nowhere, it can actually draw an audience from a wide hinterland. Willie is well known and trusted in the Caithness community where his centre sits in farmland half way between Thurso and Wick. 17 years ago Horse + Bamboo arrived at this place with horses and carts, but this time it was in a Transit van. Willie is still very much here, offering his wonderful hospitality and attention to detail - to us certainly, and I'm sure to all the many artists who travel out this way because they know just how special it is.

Our show booked up two weeks ago, and Willie persuaded us to put on an extra performance in the afternoon. Both performances were rapturously received. The photograph below shows Frances and Mairi, in front of Jonny and Mark,  showing masks, puppets and Joanne Kaar's weaving to the audience after the show. Joanne lives 15 minutes drive away from Lyth, so it was lovely for her to be with us - she came to both performances - and for the cast to meet her friends and family.

The day after was a day off for the company before they embarked on a strenuous last leg of the tour. As so often with days off there were a few jobs to do. Not least a repair of a prop - a smouldering sheepskin torch (!) which took most of the morning and half of the evening. But still we took the afternoon out to see the sights - including Dunnet Head, close to Joanne's house in Dunnet. This is the most northerly point on the British mainland. Immediately below the photograph shows Jonny looking across Dunnet Bay to Dunnet Head, and below that the view from Dunnet Head itself - looking west all the way to Cape Wrath.

Then yesterday I left early with everyone else still asleep, and drove to the station to take the early train back home. The picture is Lyth Arts Centre, with the H+B van in the car park, as the sun rose. As you can imagine, I left feeling just a little sad...

Full circle

Above, two scenes that became a familiar part of the first leg of our tour. Now, in a few days time, we embark on the third and final leg of taking 'Angus - Weaver of Grass' around the country. On this leg we start way up at Lyth Arts Centre, at the very top of Scotland, not far from John'o'Groats and (far nicer) Dunnet Head. From there we have a few more Scottish shows (but alas no more ferries) and then into England and a handful of shows including an interesting one organised by the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, when we perform in a lecture theatre within the Manchester Royal Infirmary as part of the Arts in Health programme. 

The tour comes to its finish at home - two nights at the Boo in Rossendale as part of the Horse + Bamboo Puppet Festival on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd September. So full circle! Tickets for all of these shows are selling well so make sure that you book seats in advance - I'm told the Lyth show is sold out already and that they could have filled a second night.

Meanwhile, I've been collating information to send to Creative Scotland, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the Arts Council of England as part of the reporting back process. This will be done as soon as the tour is finished, and I'll be sending a report and feedback from the audiences. Doing the latter job has been quite an experience - it's amazing to read just how many people have been deeply affected by the show. 

Goodbye to the Fringe!

The Edinburgh Fringe Experience is over - and we survived! In fact interest in the show grew and grew and the final shows were all sell-outs. 

The reactions have continued to be overwhelmingly positive. Standing ovations, comments left in the book, and critical feedback from others. Reviews in festival mags, while generally positive have been more mixed and the 'Total Theatre' critic, while acknowledging a standing ovation at the end of the show, seemed perplexed by the Gaelic and felt confused by the narrative - although this seems a singular response, among the many, many that go out of their way to mention the clarity and ultimate simplicity of the story.

So now the cast have a week or so of holiday, and I get back to planning the future programme with Alison and Esther - until we get back on the road and meet up at the end of next week at Lyth Arts Centre, right at the top of Scotland in Caithness - a venue we first visited in 1983 or thereabouts. It's Joanne B Kaar territory!

One of the perks of the tour has been an excuse to spend time in Scotland again - always a special treat and enhanced this time by the fact that in 2012 the summer weather that southern England normally claims for its own seems to have migrated far northwards. Part of the joy is the travelling around, and the train journeys can be especially magical. The trip to Edinburgh across the famous Forth Road Bridge is one of my all time favourites (above).