Rambling On Day 1 30th May

Vagabonding.

It’s a funny old world.

Last night I found myself in the back of a car driven by a bloke called David who alongside Hans Blix works for the United Nations as a nuclear inspector. He was there when they didn’t find anything. I was sat in the back of his motor eating pasta off a china plate with some lovely olive bread that I had been given at the close of our show.

David (One of our audience members) very kindly drove us to St Bees where we were to spend the night. Along the way we we discussed wether or not the wind turbine viewed from the right hand window was a blot on the landscape or not.

Curiously if I looked out of the left window we were in the shadow of Sellafield Nuclear reprocessing plant.

It remained unmentioned.

We had just performed our premier at a beautiful and intimate theatre called The Florence Mine near Egremont. This ex iron ore mine now boasts a thriving community of artists all gathered in various workshop spaces.

Jenni Payne and Marie Foots. Creators of Egremont Red

They have a gallery, a coffee shop, a bar and theatre space. Our audience gathered around small tables cabaret style, or relaxed at the back of the orchestra stalls on comfortable sofas near the bar.

Amazing place.

Congratulations to Peter the manager and all his team who have created a vibrant Phoenix from the red dust and residue of a now lost industry.

And so to our first night.

As a showman I am at my happiest performing to audiences when offering something new.

There is a glorious mix of excitement and fear involved in premiering a new show. Audiences and artist all to soon gauge the measure of each other and both swiftly realise what kind of evening we are each heading for.

A new show can go either way.

Our opening night. Florence. Mine Egremont.

We hope that each routine will entertain in its own right but also that our collection of stories knit together seamlessly into one long tapestry of tails.

We hope our audience are in the right mood. We hope our audience feature the perfect balance of ages and characters.

We have a lot of hope.

As time passes and our shows evolve us story tellers naturally alter the pace of our delivery and we will constantly tweak and fiddle with a show from our opening night until our final curtain.

Hopefully to its benefit.

And that first night when you stand in front of an expectant paying audience you can only hope your show is good. You never actually know this to be the truth until your on stage.

Thankfully at our premier in the Florence mine both Maxim, myself and audience were quickly able to relax. Surely enough a quarter of a way into our first show I enjoyed that familiar tingle that tells me it’s OK and our audience are engaged. Thankfully each routine worked as we had hoped and our palate of songs, stories and routines worked well together as one whole.

Phew.

Later at the bar our audience shared with us there favourite bits and thankfully again most of our routines earned a mention.

Earlier we had our first shunt.

Five miles of glorious Cumbrian scenery. Up hills, along pretty avenues with lush green canopies then up hills again. We had lunch at the side of the pretty church in Haile which was opposite a large hill entirely washed with blue bells and wild flowers.

Lunch at Haile. Glorious Cumbria

Up hills.

We passed babbling rivers atop ancient stone bridges.

Up hills.

Up hills.

Cumbria is indeed a beautiful and hilly part of the world. Our first push covered five miles in glorious sunshine.

Along the way Maxim enjoyed his share of puffing and panting up the big hills as much as the gentle strolling along the flat lush lanes. After a few miles we had done away with the politeness of asking whether each would care for a break from shoving and had sunk into just knowing when to stop or handover.

The secret to pushing a heavy load a long way is stop and rest before you need to. An easy enough job when you are lucky enough to tramp through glorious Cumbria, always encouraged by what delights might await our viewing at the top.

Finally down hill and into the mine complex itself, a well earned coffee, meat pie and first fit up.

Inside we met with local artists Jenni and Marie who specialise in making paints both oil and pastel from ore cut in the mine. This delivers a wonderful sandstone red hue and exhibits of work using these bespoke materials were hung proudly in the venue by myriads of artists both local and national.

Our first venue.

During one of our routines I use pastels to illustrate one of Maxim’s stories. I know proudly use a pot of Egremont Red hematite to colour and shade with great effect.

So a grand long walk, glorious weather, beautiful landscape and a successful premier. Interesting and kind people plus a few pints of Buttcombe and the promise of a fry up in the morning.

All in all a perfect start.

We are truly on the road.

Beckermet reading rooms tonight. We have five more miles to shunt and the weather is again lovely.

All I need to do now is return the plate.