Hello one and all and welcome back to A Rural Review – the (occasionally…) weekly blog series where we recap some of the highlights of the Rural Arts week and look forward to some amazing things we have coming up in the calendar. This week, as Rural Arts weeks usually are, was packed full to the brim of fun stuff to talk about – so why waste any time rambling in the introduction?! Let’s dive straight into…
What’s been happening
Paradise Lost
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| Very atmospheric no!? |
On Friday and Saturday, Lost Dog dance company performed their amazing show Paradise Lost as part of the ON Tour scheme – and what a show it was! Paradise Lost is a one-man, contemporary dance show retelling the entirety of Milton’s epic poem about the creation of the world – and nothing at all like the show you were picturing when you read that sentence.. There were huge crowds at both Skipton and Newton Le Willows, and the audience was blown away by this witty, inventive, humorous and powerful show (I have now used up my entire arsenal of adjectives – it is going to be a very boring rest of the post..) We want to say a big thank you to everyone at Newton Le Willows and Skipton for running such brilliant events and of course Lost Dog Dance for delivering such a wonderful performance. However the ON Tour fun does not stop here for this blog – keep reading to find out more! #mysterious.
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| Here they are in action |
Quilt as you go!
On Tuesday, the Courthouse was full to the brim with the sweet sounds of sewing machines whirring, needles stitching and people laughing. Dionne Swift’s course on an introduction to Quilting was a huge success and there were some fantastic results – which you can see for yourself opposite. Usually we would make a sewing created joke here, but we have doing this blog for a while now and honestly we are running out of good material…
Evening ‘A Taste of Art’
One of our most popular activities is ‘A Taste of Art’ our weekly adult art club where people can come in and try a variety of different art forms and styles weekly. Although these are always well attended we had some feedback from people that although they would love to get involved but can’t because they are at work/ have things on etc. Well never let it be said that we don’t listen to you! We have launched evening A Taste Of – slightly longer, evening sessions so that more people can get involved. This week we had Dry Point & Mono Printing and there were some truly fantastic prints made – if you want to sign up to more of our Evening A Taste Of’s – just click HERE.
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| Just one of the many beautiful results from Thursday night! |
What’s coming up
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| Last year was great, this year will be even better! |
Halloween Half Term Workshops
It’s arrived! Our annual haunting half term is back with all your favourite spoke activities and a couple of new ones thrown in for good measure! Theres gruesome goblins, skyline lanterns spooky spiders on the menu (literally when it comes to the Spiders!) and loads more to get involved with. To book onto any of these activities you can click HERE. As I am sure you can imagine, these workshops sell out quicker than than you could say ‘trick or treat’ so make sure you get them soon!
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| The man himself! |
Capability Brown
Another week, another amazing ON Tour show: the work never stops for us here at Rural Arts… Tonight and tomorrow we have the fabulous show, Capability Brown The Eye Catcher at Stillington and Greatham respectively. This performance focuses around acclaimed gardner Lancelot Brown. In The Eye Catcher, we meet the man himself, charming, personable, and the first professional gardener, come and watch as he effortlessly climbs from Northern anonymity to become one of the most famous men in England. This is probably too late for the Stillington show but you can still nab the last few tickets HERE. Again this is probably the place for a gardening/vegetable puns but I couldn’t find any – if any of you can help then lettuce know your best one in the comments below..
Bonte Humaine – Fuse Theatre Show
On Thursday next week Fuse Theatre are bringing their fantastic show Bonte Humane to our venue in Thirsk, as part of their tour. It is a brilliant performance and one you should really see if you have the chance! For those of you who don’t knowFuse Theatre is an inclusive youth theatre project delivered across North Yorkshire giving approximately 140 young people the opportunity to work with professional theatre makers. Bonte Humaine is a brand new, devised theatre piece with a group of disabled young actors, exploring what is means to be human and what is it that sets us apart from other living beings. Combining comedy, movement storytelling and drama, it promises to be a great evening. To book tickets to the show click HERE.
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| There may or may not be a tree in the production (There is. It’s amazing.) |
That’s it! We’ve finished our blog for another week: thanks so much for reading, and make sure keep a look out for all of our other posts in the future. See you soon!
