Stedham date for Rude Mechanical Theatre Company on tour
It’s a summer on the road for Eastbourne-based Rude Mechanical Theatre Company as they tour the south with Gentle Harry’s Farm.
Locations along the way include Friston, West Chiltington, Hartfield, Hastings, Duncton, Rushlake Green, East Dean, Plumpton Green, Lewes, Handcross, Winchelsea, Alfriston, Waldron, Arlington and Eastbourne (tour details at www.therudes.co.uk).
It’s a lovely prospect for cast members Holly Cassidy and Evie James.
As Evie says: “It is all set on Gentle Harry’s Farm in the 1950s, a lovely sleepy little farm and we get to meet the human characters on the farm and we also get to meet a lot of the animals. But what happens is that a couple of cockney burglars have broken into the local bank and stolen lots of money and are now on the run. They get mixed up with a couple of young women who are back for the summer holidays before they go off to college. The show is about all the hilarity that ensues. It is quite silly!”
Holly gets to play a collie dog, a sheep, a magpie and a little boy: “The animals on the farm all have their various characters, and the B plot is that their main worry is about being sent off to the knacker's. They are all trying to work how not to get sent there and also wondering what lies beyond the fence. It is certainly fun and silly but the underlying message is perhaps not to judge a book by its cover. One of the burglars is out and out bad but the other one has been brought up like that and is like a product of his environment.”
As Evie says: “There are some threads that run a bit deep but really the whole thing is just hilarious. But the Magpies represent the beauty of things. They love the beauty just because it's beauty rather than because of it monetary value. You get the juxtaposition with the burglars who are stealing for monetary reasons. They are both thieves but for completely different reasons!”
For Holly this is her third show with the company: “The shows are always so beautifully written and wonderfully put together. They are all actor-musician shows and I trained as an actor-musician at drama school. Playing the music is a lovely extra layer to it all. And there's also mime and a lot of physicality. I'm using all my favourite skills. But on top of that they're really, really lovely people. It's like a lovely big family being part of it.”
Evie is on her fourth show with the company: “I love creating new shows. They are so unique in their style. They have been creating them for 20 odd years and working together, and I just love that fact of creating something from nothing using all the different techniques. It's great fun but it's also challenging as well. You learn so much. You definitely learn as a performer when you are doing shows like this.”
West Sussex shows include:
Friday 1st August Stedham – Stedham Sports Pavilion, The Street, Stedham, West Sussex, GU29 ONQ