Hexham 2007

Last year, The Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, invited us to create a "prequel" to Tattercoats with a group of 11-14 year olds. We spent a very productive week doing just that and so The Queen's Hall invited us back this year to carry out a similar mission with another group of young teens around Dragon Fish.

And what a great week we had. We couldn't have asked for a livelier and more committed bunch. They seemed quite quiet on the first morning but once we'd launched into some work and they met each other properly over lunch, all changed. They worked swiftly but with intelligence and integrity and we were able both to create a script with some depth - exploring families and friendship - and to spend some quality time on developing performing and acting skills.

Weeks like this are draining but when they work well they are also immensely rewarding.

North Devon Fringe Theatre Festival

We made it happen. Not by ourselves - that was the wonderful thing - but, having been so inspired by our experience of the Canadian Fringe Festivals, it is a real joy to report that we finally brought a little of that magic home to Barnstaple, UK.

It was a comparatively tiny affair. One venue, eight companies, two performances each. Over the 3 days of the Festival we had 501 attendances. We had one professional tech with help from students. We had a volunteer force about 20 strong to man front-of-house, the cafe-bar, car-parking and so on. We had one professional box-office staff on permanent duty.

In between each show we had some of North Devon's finest musicians playing in the cafe-bar area.

The performances covered a wide range of genres from contemporary dance, to off-beat comedy by way of heavy-duty drama and even a magic act. See the website for details.

We had a wide range of audience types - ages 4 - 94 (literally) and from all walks of life.

The atmosphere was joyful but intent. People were there for the theatre but were thoroughly enjoying the vibe. North Devon College made a great job of creating an atmospheric cafe-bar with an acoustic stage for local musicians. And North Devon Theatres created a studio theatre inside the big industrial unit that houses North Devon College's Music Performance and Technology courses.

The reaction from audience members was intense and many signed up to help to grow the Fringe in the future. Already we are discussing with our partners how to develop the scale of the Fringe, building on the excitement that was generated this year.

This was a truly communal achievement by all who took part, all who made it happen and all who witnessed the event.

opening night

Opening night was terrific. Strange though that even after all those years in this bizz and the number of times doing this show an opening night anywhere still induces that dry mouthed and quickened heart-beat state of nerves – But, great support from the FTA people – as usual the technician’s here are top quality and all the support staff incredibly friendly – putting even our fave theatres in the UK to shame in terms of welcome and ‘can-do’ attitude. There was a bit of a do after the show and we felt confident from what was said that the show had gone well – indeed it had clearly moved some people hugely. It was also great to be reminded of that extraordinary Canadian ease and friendliness which means we’re already on chat terms with the people in the coffee shop, the pita house and have been invited to parties both tonight and tomorrow…

Our mates Kevin and Catherine – who used to billet us during our fringing days – took us and DonnaLee out for a sushi dinner last night - what a dream treat. So from panic and stress of the journey we’re now basking in the delights of all that Edmonton has to offer. AND loving doing the show too…for all this relief much thanks.

Edmonton at last

Well, we made it here... eventually, 24 hours later than planned…after the day from hell at Heathrow...the cancelled flight, the horror of hearing that the set was being held in Canadian customs and might not be released until the first performance was over...ho, ho, ho...the waits for coaches to take us to the hotel and queues at every point of the journey....including being the last people allowed through at immigration and being sent to a special room whilst they decided whether to let us in or not...oh yeah. We have sweated for Art over the last 3 days....When we arrived here it was to find that the set had been released, and all was well...But not everything has gone to plan since...tiredness, stress…whatever, caused me to completely singe/burn through the ribbon on one of the ribbon sticks yesterday whilst ironing it out… one of the drum sticks feel apart during the show today and our computer projector is playing up...so still plenty of sleep to lose...though, frankly, last night we were so exhausted after arriving and going straight into the tech…by the time we got to bed it was 10 pm Canadian time ( 5am UK time) so it won't come as any surprise to say that we slept straight through to 7.30am this morning....

Our preview show to a local school went well and everyone seemed happy - then a press call for 3 local TV stations and the local papers...then, joy of joys, we met up with DonnaLee Iffla - our mate form Orchard days...for a long lunch and coffee and chat session..

Am now just a little tired - but ready for the big opening night/sponsors evening tomorrow...will try to replace the ribbon after abortive attempt this morning...sort out projector...and glue drum stick..

Mind you we're doing a live breakfast TV interview tomorrow...with 4 live excerpts from the play over about an hour of the show…eek ..We have to be at the theatre in costume by 7am...so no long lie-in until Saturday....

On the good news side...the hotel is FABBIE…even got a gym - breakfast amazing and complimentary drinks at 6.30pm every evening. Love that. Also Spring has suddenly arrived...so after robbing John of all his thermals and bringing all me woollies ...the thaw happened overnight last night and temps are due up to 19 degrees this weekend...after being minus 7 last weekend...extraordinary...even for Edmonton apparently. Needless to say I have no light summery clothes with me. Ha bleedin' ha.

But - I think we ARE going to have a good time...I think they like the show...and it will settle now we're getting it and ourselves into the right frame of mind…It was something of a challenge today. The theatre auditorium is big and projecting our storytelling piece for the size of the space without losing the intimacy of its narrative style was quite demanding…but we'll be fine...

But what a start to the adventure, eh?

somewhere over Iceland

Yep we are on board the airplane – only 50 minutes late leaving Heathrow (to rapturous applause from fellow passengers)…ETA Edmonton about noon (their time) …arriving about 38 hours after we set out from Devon…no change of clothes and all make-up and toiletries in the hold ( and therefore not available last night) -So once through immigration we’ll go straight to the theatre- smelly, tired and more than a little wrung out- and see whether or not we can begin a tech rehearsal…We also have a breakfast TV interview at 7am tomorrow morning....then a press preview at noon…open at 7pm tomorrow night. Will collapse after that....and that’s the best case scenario. If the set ain’t there...well who knows what happens then….Difficult to sleep and relax, unfortunately, with so many possible scenarios playing out in our heads…I know that Bill and I like our adventures but this is somewhat more hairy than even the most danger loving person might enjoy. …aarrgghhh…….

Of course all this means that we have got to know our fellow passengers a little more than is usual…or, more precisely, to watch, observe and listen to the various personal stories unfolding around us…from the self-important, the simply bored, the know-alls , the sad and lonely, the panic stricken ( us!)..and the bad-tempered. We‘re generally not terrifically good at dealing with a bit of adversity are we, us humans... and think - just a generation or so ago this sort of journey would have been unimaginable – or would have taken weeks by sea….now that, I guess, WOULD’VE been an adventure. Still. I’ll be mighty glad when we’re there and back in the driving seat, so to speak…

trying to get there

It’s Wednesday 11th and it’s 8.20 am and we should be having breakfast in Edmonton preparing for our tech rehearsal at FTA. But we’re actually still in the UK – at Heathrow terminal 3 – or should I say interminable 3 – waiting for our flight….it’s been a very long 24hours.

And it all started with such promise. We set out from Devon at 5.30am yesterday – the drive to London was so smooth – barely even a hiccup of traffic round Bristol and all free flowing to the airport itself – arriving almost an hour earlier than we thought probable. John didn’t even have to time to park the van before we rang him to say we had checked in – no queue at all. Heaven. It seemed we had struck lucky for the first time ever and the projected luxury of a 2 week run in a purpose built theatre was feeding into the travel too….. We had a leisurely breakfast and sauntered down to the gate, boarded the plane (we were amongst the first group called to board) and it was about 11.30am. Bill settled down to snooze and I started to read when the Captain made the first announcement: there was a ’maintenance’ problem, they were halting the boarding….So. Cut to the chase. After about 45 minutes we left the plane, were promised another plane within an hour…and at 7pm were finally told that the flight was cancelled, we would be taken to the local Travel Inn for the night and another flight organised for today…….

All bad enough. But we also received an email in the middle of all this to say that our set had arrived safely in Edmonton – as promised by our freighters – but was unlikely to be released from Customs until Thursday ( our first Press performance is noon Thursday)…and this because of the back-log caused by the bank holiday weekend. To say that we felt as sick as the proverbial parrot is not exaggerating…It seemed that all was turning to dust and the scenario becoming more and more desperate…

Getting to the Travel Inn was an adventure in itself – we were given no help to find the buses which had been laid on, we queued for 45 minutes for the buses, we queued again to register at the hotel…We were provided with a (late) evening meal (no alcoholic drinks included in the freebie tho’) ..and no breakfast this morning….7am pickup at hotel…back to airport…DIY breakfast croissant (no thanks to Air Canada)…wait for boarding….and still no idea if our set has been sprung from Canadian Customs. Good start, eh?

off to canada

It's been a while since we were last in Canada - the 2004 Toronto Children's Milk Festival. And we've not been in Edmonton since the summer of 2003. But we'll soon be there again.

Fringe Theatre Adventures are presenting our production of Tattercoats in the TransAlta Arts Barns.

We only know Edmonton in the summer. It's often been hot, hot, hot. So it is with some trepidation that we look forward to night-time temperatures of minus12 degrees - plus wind-chill factor!

What we are definitely looking forward to is re-meeting old friends - including our inspirational friend Donna Lee Iffla who is travelling across the country to meet up.

We played 5 out of the 6 Fringe Festivals between 1998 and 2003. A lot of people saw our shows for adults and children. And we saw a lot of other performers strut their stuff. We met a lot of people as we queued or as we leafleted the line-ups. We had many a passionate debate in the beer-tents and surrounding coffee house/bars. We made a lot of good friends and we have missed them.

We fly out on Tuesday 10th April. Our first performance is on the 12th. We finish and fly back on the 22nd. We have other shows to rehearse while we're out there ( a re-make of Cassandra for the Brighton Festival Fringe and The Beast in our Backyard to be premiered in the middle of June) so perhaps it is just as well that the weather will be encouraging us to stay inside.