How did a perfectly nice bunch of librarians end up in such a fix; travelling the country in a tent, dressed in rags and covered in face paint, telling stories to 200 individuals who just happen to be taking up one whole wall of their temporary accommodation? Is it as a result of swingeing government cuts? Or does their past conceal a terrible, dark secret…?

I’m going to be up front. I don’t know. I was called away at the intermission and missed the second half. It’s something which I will regret forever, because in common with all Dolphin’s bespoke, haute couture drama, I’ll never see it’s like again. Like Bolivia’s Puya Raimondi plant, (Thanks, Wikipedia), Tales from the Tent blossomed briefly and beautifully this spring and will now disappear forever.

And that’s why these creations are such exciting things to watch. Organic and evolving, with Judy and David Cooper reacting to casts and incorporating the way they think and express themselves. They don’t have to shoehorn available actors into book-bound roles that fit like last year’s walking boots. They take the year groups they know inside out and write expressly for them. So our tent-dwelling librarians are convincingly bookish, forgetful, pompous, and dreamy at times. The farmer and his son are authentically eager to please, optimistic and not terribly bright, and the Hare is bona fide irrepressibly energetic, frantic, and not a little miffed when beaten by the lugubrious, thermos-loving tortoise. I don’t think that’s giving too much away. This is not, I hasten to add, for parents who might think that I’m describing their childrens’ innate qualities, because that’s who they are, but because that’s what the young actors bring to the part themselves. So confident is the cast in its skin that improvisation and ad hockery come naturally and draw the audience right in to the action. Before we know it WE are there in the middle of it, washing clothes and telling tales. It’s not just a school play, it’s theatre, proper, and event to be part of, not just politely observe, and it’s happening in Dolphin’s main hall at least once a term.

So what happened in the second half? How did the librarians come to be in the tent WITH all their books?

If anyone has the DVD...

By Matt Allwright

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Tales From the Tent opened with the audience being warmly greeted at the doors by an array of colourful characters, beckoning us into their world making us hungry to learn more about who they all were and the tales they were so eager to share with us. This interaction, woven throughout the piece, constantly engaged the audience whilst also physically integrating us into the performance; there was the cheeky hare that kept falling asleep on one delighted child’s lap, whilst others were invited to stand up and share their own stories! A charming element which worked particularly well for the younger ones who relished the chance to get close to the action. This brilliantly executed device also gave a voice to the audience and an ownership of the piece beyond the usual role of mere passive onlookers, and it felt like a lovely forum for imaginative exchange. The actors must be congratulated on their ability to remain alert to the whims of the audience and their responses, and having the confidence to be able to cope with spontaneity and surprise; skills acquired by young performers brought up on a diet of creativity and risk-taking and used to being given permission to ‘just try’.

The audience configuration and setting was inspired, with the actors occupying the stage in a diamond shape and the audience seated on two sides of the diamond like the pages of an open book; each actor and participant in the room like the characters in so many untold stories. This idea was cleverly extended throughout the show, some stories coming to life from within the audience, and with voices appearing from all around allowing these stories to leap from the pages of the book. The constant comings and goings of performers, utilising all the entrances and exits in the space all helped in building a sense of a whole world beyond the auditorium.

This was a production with a complete vision, but it was the attention to detail which gave it a professional edge; a Bedouin style backdrop of blankets, a moon suspended on the end of a fishing line, a suitcase brimming with blue scarves conjuring a bath and then disintegrating to paint a stormy sea. The racing hare leaving and reappearing onstage wet having been sprayed down offstage hinted at a dedicated team behind the scenes pulling all the threads together.

I loved how the musicians were integrated into the narrative; their eclectic soundscape furnished the production with a driving energy as well as creating a carnival mood for the show. The Wolf’s sung soliloquy can’t go unmentioned here for cleverly catching the character of a wolf and imparting his sly sense of humour through the medium of a microphone.

As an audience we were asked to take our imaginations to some unusual places where sheep were marshmallows and lost voices beams of light in the darkness but these ideas were always cleverly conceived to shift the mood from humour, to slapstick, to more delicate scenes of pure visual delight. In the tender glimpses of emotion such as when Star was affected by the story of the Mermaid the Sticklewarts seemed to merge with the characters in the very stories they were telling us and I left the theatre with the feeling of not quite knowing where their tales really began and where, and if, they will end….

by Sam Butler

Artistic director of Fevered Sleep Theatre Company

Photos from Tales from the Tent may be found by logging in to the Image Gallery.