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kneehigh theatre (1999)

performer and musician in productions of  Mannel’s Mango and Ghost Nets 2 (Cornwall): July – Sept 99

In 1999 I spent the summer training the working with Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall – attending their summer school in Landscape Theatre in the ‘Kneehigh barn’ near Gorran Haven, then performing in two outdoor shows, Mannel’s Mango at Hendra china clay pit, near Nanpean and Ghost Nets II at Godrevy.

we spend the summer camping on cliffs / in a china clay pit / on the beach. we rehearse theatre in the landcape. we make sculptures and props from the sea’s detritus. we’re burnt brown by the sunshine. the dirt builds up in the cracks between.. we eat well together joking and laughing. we sing songs by firelight  – ya mo we sila be dea wa /silo /janga . throw parties. dress up. drink too much. burn sambuko in our mouths. become flying angels against the night sky and the sound of the sea. listen to stories. make up stories. learn a new language – the language of the landsape, of the show. we don wetsuits every evening and run into the sea singing – finta shad ale shad fair maid amaras – and crying out Hevva ! we carry boats across beaches. tip barrels over mountainsides. pull rafts over lakes. change costumes behind the hill. we watch the sun go down. we gather on a clifftop to watch the same sun darken in a total eclipse.  we spot shooting stars and glowworms in the dunes.

it is 1999 and I am working with Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall.