Festival’s big idea
Last updated 11:35, Thursday, 17 April 2008
Dracula, a fairytale spider, Shakespeare and musical slates all feature in a festival at Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake.
La’al Fest starts today and involves community acting groups and young actors from across Cumbria.
This is the third year of the festival and with 13 productions it is the biggest yet.
It is also the first time the event has taken over the main stage at the theatre as well as the studio, with four productions on each of the three days.
Groups taking part, include the Netherhall School Specialist Sports College, Maryport; Rural Edge Actors, Millom; Theatre By The Lake’s Young Apprentices and Starfish, the Carlisle-based theatre group for adults with learning disabilities, who opened the event this afternoon.
The festival was started three years ago with the idea of providing local youngsters and community groups with the chance to perform.
Co-ordinator Tina Ewing explained: “This is all about people doing the plays and scripts they want to and providing the opportunity to do something a bit different.
“It also gives them the chance to look at what other people are doing. Every member of each group gets a free ticket to see another show.”
As well as having two stages, the actors also get more time to tell their stories, with studio performances lasting up to 45 minutes and those on the main stage up to an hour.
“The studio shows can be a bit more radical and allows groups to be a bit more different if they want,” explained Tina.
“While the main stage is for larger than life performances and hopefully huge family audiences with the emphasis on family entertainment.”
Lugalbanda, the story of a boy who goes to war in Iraq, starts the final evening of the festival.
Performed by youngsters aged 11-16 from Theatre by the Lake’s New Directions team, it is told through Physical Story Theatre and uses no props – the performers’ bodies create the images enhanced with digitally-projected images.
Following on in the main house is The Musical Stonemason A Cumbrian Wayang, featuring Keswick’s famous Skiddaw Stone Lithophone (housed in Keswick Museum).
Inspiration for the story comes from the famous musical stones of Skiddaw discovered by Peter Crosthwaite in 1785.
The Cumbrian Wayang is a collaboration between the musicians of the Egremont Community Gamelan led by Chris Stones, puppeteers led by Ali McCaw and writer David Napthine. It is based on Indonesian traditions, but is distinctly Cumbrian.
While this year’s festival is the biggest yet, Tina has plans to expand further.
She said: “We will be discussing whether to expand again to include a music night and a contemporary dance night for those not involved in a theatre school.”
Tickets for the festival cost £4 for one show, £7 for two shows and a pass for all three nights costs £15 with groups of 4 or more receiving a discount of £1 off all prices.
Weekly youth theatre sessions start on May 2. The 12-plus group has sold out, but there are still places available for the 7-11 age group. The sessions cost £50 per person, per term of 10 weeks. Visit www.theatrebythelake.com for more information about La’al Fest and the youth theatre sessions. To book festival tickets call 017687 74411.
