PRIDE OF PLACE FESTIVAL 2006

In the afternoon the spirit of a splenetic eighteenth century polemicist stalked the 21st century steel and glass secular cathedral that is Endeavour House, the HQ of Suffolk County Council. By teatime the Gods were propitiated and had got back their apples of youth. In the evening an old man travelled from Calgary to Arizona to die and a disparate clutch of culturally diverse writers and actors explored what it’s like to be a stranger or to spy new faces in the countryside. Finally after the buses had rounded up everyone and taken them to a new side of town, five stir-crazy youngsters went psycho.

This was just the first day of performances of UpStix, the Pride of Place Festival celebrating rural touring theatre, held in Ipswich and Woodbridge at the beginning of April. ITC sponsored the delegate packs and Charlotte Jones posed the question: will cultural leadership always be metropolitan? And that momentum never let up as, the focus moved to the lovely riverside town of Woodbridge where, over the next two days there were 23 performances of 12 different shows in 5 different venues. More than 200 tickets - over 90% - were sold and even the sun came out to bestow its blessing on what many were describing as a "mini Edinburgh".

Even the locals got in on the act and booked day tickets to combine a show about the memory of New Orleans from two Big Easies in a sports dome, with John Clare’s walk from Essex to Northampton and a salute to Hollywood’s great dames, Bette and Joan crammed into a tiny church hall. At every venue you could find a line of local theatre goers, anxious to be at the head of the queue to make sure they got the best seats!

The café ran out of food, the pub had to close to re-stock, and the minibus searched for stragglers at the end of the day.

There was sex in The Country Wife, race in White Open Spaces, class in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and drugs in Callanish Stoned. Who says the countryside is quiet!

And still there was breath left for a whole morning’s debate about casting, with an opportunity to button hole a plethora of artistic directors, a return to the Cobbett debates of the opening day and a final opportunity to network with nine companies from every corner of England. It was generally agreed to be the “best PoP fest yet” as one delegate put it.

If you missed it, make a note now that the 2008 Festival will be hosted by Northumberland Theatre Company in Alnwick.

Ivan Cutting
Eastern Angles