Goose Chase – New Trailer

Trekking miles and miles with nothing more than a substantial Russian hat and a flask of Igor’s cabbage vodka to keep them warm, the Goose Chase cast are now on tour. No one is more excited about this than Boo the Goose herself…

Plus, before they all headed out into the frozen rainy landscape of North Yorkshire, we did manage to get a few photos:

You can find a full list of dates for this year’s tour over on the Goose Chase webpage.

Wrapping up Roughshod 2013

Goodbyeeee!It’s been two weeks since Roughshod came to an end after an amazing week at the Riding Lights Summer School and a performance at New Wine. Since then I’ve between catching up with sleep and choosing what to wear that isn’t my costume, plus I have had time to process just what Roughshod has meant for me.

Since going on tour in February we performed in 18 bases in 13 areas of the country to 22,377 people; we workshopped with 4,543 people and met 338 prisoners. We performed 29 public performances and 242 performances in schools, community centres, care homes, youth groups, prisons, YOIs, homeless shelters, churches, on streets and at festivals.

We met Gav the Chav a whopping 133 times alone and performed our sketches a total of 1197 times (an average of 1 sketch a day for over 3 years!) lasting 138 hours. Not too shabby for a group of five previously-stranger-now-good-friends actors and an occasionally-ailing van.

It is hard to fully express what being a Shoddie is actually like and after hoping and praying of doing this for nine years, it is so much more than I ever thought it would be. It’s exhausting, it’s challenging, it’s moving, it’s intense, it’s ridiculous, it’s incredible, it’s amazing, it’s bonkers, it’s emotional, it’s surreal, it’s inspiring and it’s life-changing.

So, as I finish, I would like to say, on behalf of all us 2013 Shoddies; for all the love, support, prayers, friendship and laughter that saw us through the Roughshod rollercoaster, we wish you a massive thank you and may God bless you all.

Goose Chase

GOOSE-CHASEIn the depth of a Russian winter, what on earth could make frail old Baboushka cross hundreds of miles of snow on foot?

And why is she armed only with a feather duster and a set of Russian dolls?

Perhaps it’s the whispers of revolution, fuelled by Igor the oppressed singer and stablehand. Or is it the birth of a harmless baby, the one that’s got king Herod in a really foul temper. Whatever the reason, the closer Baboushka gets to the end of her mission, the more it seems the only person she can trust is, well, a goose… because not everyone racing to find the baby is bringing gifts.

Goose Chase is a startling reworking of the famous Russian folk story, served up richly spiced with traditional songs and carols. Touring from 18th of November to 23rd of December 2014, Riding Lights tells the tale with a characteristic blend of riotous humour, mystery, and magical glimpses into the heart of the first Christmas.

Goose Chase lasts one hour, and is recommended for age 5 and up.

NOW BOOKING FOR CHRISTMAS 2014

Touring the UK to Primary Schools, Arts Centres and Churches.
Call 01904 655317 for more info

Tour Dates

[gigpress_shows tour=8]

Roughshod on the road: familiar faces in Sunderland

Michael PerkinsOh The joys of being re-united with familiar faces… One of the great things about doing Roughshod for a second year is getting to return to places that I visited last year with Roughshod 2012.

So when I found out that we were heading back to Sunderland but this year with different organisers you can imagine my turmoil! Roughshod 2012 had a glorious time in Sunderland last year, with Father David and Father Andrew being a highlight of our stay. (Joe described them as Sunderland’s very own Morecambe and Wise on the old Roughshod blog).

But never fear,  we had fantastic organisers in ‘Youth For Christ’ and then St Gabriel’s over our two weeks. They more than lived up to the job (we even got a puppet show from some of the kids at St Gabriel’s). We were worked hard over our two weeks in Sunderland too, and it was great to be able to use our full range of sketches, workshops and other material in different places. In fact we really got to test our skills with the broadest age range, performing for both the St Gabriel’s Youth Group and Day Club For The Elderly on the same day. Such a range of activity isn’t  something we’re guaranteed at every Roughshod Base, and it keeps us on our toes, making sure we can still remember all our pieces. In fact I’ve started a tally of each sketch we perform – and if you’re wondering, Newcomer e.g ‘Gav the chav’ at the gates of heaven, is by far the most performed.

What was especially nice was to find out that we were brought back to Sunderland because of a solitary workshop we had done the year before. The organisers at St Gabriel’s had been so impressed that they’d invited us back for a whole week! A great compliment to the work of the company (not to mention the work of Roughshod 2012.)  Still, the icing on the Sunderland cake?  I discovered I was returning to stay with the previously mentioned Father David Chadwick who I had gotten to know the previous year. So at the end of the day it was fantastic to be able to relax, spend time and catch-up with people who were generous enough (or maybe mad enough) to put me up again! I was introduced to classic episodes of ‘Doctor Who’, re-introduced to the ‘who’s birthday today’ quiz and generally looked after incredibly well by both David and Andrew, or as they shall be forever remembered by Roughshod 2013 ‘The Fathers’.

Mike

 

Roughshod on the road: Brough

Stefi Drayson Le TissierHave you ever had that slightly awkward moment when you bump into someone you know but haven’t seen in years? In fact,  so many years they don’t believe it’s you? This happened to me about 80 times over when we had a show in Beverley, my old home town from some years ago.

We performed iWitness at St Mary’s Beverley as part of our stay in Brough (near Hull) and one thing that made this performance particularly special was the fact my Dad got along to see the show. He loved it, though suggested Mike, when playing him in my personal story, needed to grow a bigger beard to really get into character.

We had a brilliantly diverse week in and around Brough visiting two prisons, two youth groups, two churches, a school and doing two wonderful shows. It was a rather bizarre sensation being back in an area I had known so well, everything was the same but yet so different. Plus this time I was there working, not visiting, and it was a little disorienting. Still, it was really lovely to see old friends again. (I was very glad to find time in our crazy schedule for this). I even bumped into a friend unexpected while we were performing in a prison – he is a tutor there, but totally unexpected all the same).

St Marys, Beverley

With all this going on during the week, the concept of home really hit me. Beverley was a place I had once called home, but no longer have such strong attachments to. It all go me thinking ‘What is home?’ I came to the conclusion that while it is different for everyone, for me, at the moment, it’s where I hang my hat. This led me to think about where my hat is hung  – and how many amazing people have welcomed us Shoddies into their own homes. People willing to host a crazy actor for week or two at a time. Hosts which enable us to take shows and workshops into places where theatre can’t always get. How blessed we are to have people that will share that with us. Thank you lovely hosts!

Stefi