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 PrintableVersion Riding LightsPipe Dreams and the futureIn December 2006 Riding Lights Theatre Company of York completed the national tour of their latest production Pipe Dreams. This was a witty and at times wacky play developed in association with WaterAid, the UK’s major charity dedicated to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the poorest people in the world. It sounds unlikely, I know, but I laughed and cried ... Set around an American private investigation bureau, the play’s four characters investigate some suspicious deaths. Starting with a historical case in 19th-century London, where contaminated water supplies were the cause of cholera, the investigators move on to find in 21st-century USA the disconnection of water was the final straw for a woman living alone. In South America a Western Utilities company has inflated the price of connections so that water is unavailable to the ordinary villagers and in Africa untreated water causes disease and death. The story switches between the detectives’ office, which was suffering an unimaginable (and unlikely, but this is theatre!) heat wave and the four scenarios. The value of water was portrayed engagingly and brilliantly as was the situation when it is not freely available (what was it Jesus said . . ‘and I will give you living water’?). Some of the international injustices of the availability and cost of water to the disadvantaged were clearly displayed. There was a prophetic punch to the message and Public Services and churches did not emerge from it totally unscarred so there is my life’s work written off! Like many Riding Lights shows, it manages to be funny while carrying and communicating a serious social and spiritual message. Who are Riding Lights?Formed in 1977 as a community theatre project. the company is now nationally recognised and frequently collects positive reviews and awards. It highlights three strands to its vision: * To stage high quality productions of both new and classic theatre The work of the company is ‘informed by a Christian faith which is shared by many of those who work for it’. In the words of Artistic Director Paul Burbridge, ‘There is no agenda hidden behind Riding Lights Theatre Company. Our aim, quite simply, is to allow the public process of theatre to open windows through which anybody might gain a little more light on the journey which, we believe, God walks with us.’ RoughshodRoughshod is a professional touring theatre company created in 1992 by Riding Lights to concentrate on the grass-roots community touring which characterised its early years. Roughshod tours from local bases in every type of area, from the East End of London to southern Ireland, from inner city Glasgow to the rural Forest of Dean, bringing a repertoire of shows and workshops to schools, churches, prisons, bases of the armed forces, the streets, town halls, cathedrals, arts centres, and even an occasional theatre... I am amazed at some of the venues and halls in which they manage to create great theatre. Friargate Theatre, York. . .. . . became the Riding Lights Theatre Company's first permanent home in 1999. giving the Company somewhere to live and rehearse, and a studio space in which to present its productions regularly to the local community of York, and its many visitors. More Dreams in 2007 . . .Riding Lights are collaborating with York Theatre Royal to mark the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act with a production of a new play, African Snow by Murray Watts. The play is the meeting of two men cast from opposite sides into the slave trade — an African stolen from his home in West Africa and an English sailor. Both survived to write remarkable accounts of their experiences and both were urged by William Wilberforce to testify before Parliament in the 18th-century campaign for abolition. It will premiere at York Theatre Royal from March 30 Ð April 21 and will then embark on a national tour. Riding Lights goes from strength to strength and, if you like theatre, then make a big effort to see Riding Lights in 2007. You can find details on of their productions and tours at http://www.ridinglights.org and, if you are very brave, you can also learn how to promote a show. Ian Parker, © Evangelicals Now - January 2007 |
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