Wow do I feel like the country cousin now! I've been living in the sticks too long--how else do you explain why I was counting the number of people on stage on Friday night at the marvelous production of "A provincial life" at the Sherman-- I'm used to touring theatre where the actors  / scenery shifters/ technicians are one and the same & all have to fit in a single transit van with the props-- It took a while to realise that Friday nights production was not going to up sticks and re-appear in a village hall in an un-heard of valley tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

So-- I acclimatise to a full cast ---in a full size space ---with sophisticated sound and light-- then the production takes over and the storyline and the characters are sooooooo relevant, so real - so now. Change the costumes and stop quoting peoples surnames when you refer to them and you have community development in  any deprived community in Wales or England in the 21st century. A poor misguided protagonist who wants to change his part of the world but who sets off in the wrong direction from the wrong starting point---Misail is a nice guy but he's not as bright as he'd like to be, he thinks it is easy to change society and that everyone will -- in a blinding flash see the rightness of his thinking and instantly follow--- and still it happens in the 21st century, well meaning people who don't understand the issues but think they know the answers.

So much thought is stirred by that production-- buzzing---demanding to be shared-- triggering vows to act: you can feel the real effect of good writing and live theatre and this flicked all the switches, turned on all the lights-- I just wish that I could take it home to show everyone else---- Does anyone have a biiiiiiig transit?????.