Mikron Theatre’s Troupers
Fri, 10 Oct 2014 05:30:00 BST
Heritage Quay will host Mikron Theatre Company’s "Troupers" on Wednesday 22 October at 7.30pm in Heritage Quay (located on Level 3 CSB – Central Services Building).
Tickets are priced at £11.00 (£9.00 concessions) and advance tickets can be purchased via the online store.
Troupers is a performance set against the backdrop of the First World War. It’s 1914 and British entertainment is down on its uppers; a loss of appetite for frivolous pleasures and a dearth of young men finds actor-manager Lena Ashwell with a theatre but no audience.
A passionate advocate of 'art for all' and determined to do her bit, she assembles a motley bunch of ‘turns’ and books a tour with a difference. For her,Troupers won’t tread the boards of Old Blighty, but the muddy, bloody fields of France.
A little-told story of the Great War; Troupers brings to life the amazingly audacious Concerts at the Front; a hitherto unsung war effort that’s full of guts, gusto and greasepaint.
Troupers is an exciting new project for Mikron; firstly, it marks the centenary of WW1, by telling the little-known story of female impresario, Lena Ashwell. Fans of Mikron know that the company’s specialty is in telling the story of the little-known person caught up in big events. Secondly, Lena Ashwell was a woman who fought for the Arts, at a time of economic uncertainty when theatre was seen as a frivolous luxury; the telling of her story is, sadly, relevant in 2014.
Marianne McNamara, Mikron’s Artistic Director directs Troupers, she says, “by telling Lena Ashwell’s story we are telling the story of the place that the Arts had, and still have, in a struggling society. I’m also aware that there will be a lot of companies marking this important centenary, we are really interested in having a central character who is female, at a point in history which is often told from a male perspective, and a story about those who entertain and enrich the lives of our service men and women and how that started out.”
Mikron, who have been producing their unique brand of theatre for 43 years, are the only company touring throughout England by narrowboat, travelling along canals and rivers, and mooring up at canal-side venues; pubs, village halls, marinas and dry docks. The cast of four unpack set, props, costumes, musical instruments and lights and as the audience gather, conjure up a variety of characters, stories and songs, transporting the audience back to 1914.
Troupers will tour nationally playing a variety of venues from April until October.
This show will have a British Sign Language Interpreter.
For more information:
Tel: 01484 473168
Or visit: http://www.hud.ac.uk/archives/
Mikron: http://www.mikron.org.uk/index.php
Tour Dates: http://tiny.cc/tourdates2014
Lena Ashwell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Ashwell
