Highlights of the 2009 IWA National Festival (1)

We had a thoroughly good time at this year's IWA National Festival at Ratcliffe-on-Soar. A highlight for me was the Mikron Theatre Company who put on two shows: Fair Trade and Tales of the Thames. Fair Trade was a dramatic history of the Co-operative movement, from its beginnings in a shop in Toad Lane, Rochdale, through the formation of the CWS, to the present day and Suma.


I saw only the first half of Tales of the Thames as I wanted to catch one of Tony Brooks's maintenance courses (another highlight: more to come on this later). Tales of the Thames interwove a love story with a history of the River Thames, from estuary to source, using "river magic" to transport the action into the past.


Both productions combined excellent acting with well performed musical numbers, humour, and an awareness of the audience. The four actors achieved some amazingly quick costume changes. I was sorry to miss the second half of Tales of the Thames as there were a few loose ends I wanted resolving. If you haven't seen any of Mikron's work do go if you can (if you have already seen them, you'll know how good they are). I will now seek out Mikron's performances either as they travel the waterways by narrowboat or as they tour by van.

I forgot to add: And once you'd paid to get into the festival all the theatre performances were free, which ensured full houses.