In recent years our work has been rooted in outdoor arts and this year is no exception, with ‘George’ our cheeky Bookworm’s grand tour of Essex libraries. He has his own page on this website, but you can see how children reacted to George’s first live appearance below as well as our range of other outdoor performances.
The Smallest Theatre in the World
It may seem far fetched but Dave’s entire career as a performer began when a big hand landed on his shoulder and guided him into this weird little two-seat theatre. Squeezed next to his girlfriend he watched ‘The Entire History of the Second World War’ acted out by Marcel Steiner and his team in just twenty minutes flat. A year later Dave took his first intrepid steps on the World’s smallest Stage. How we eventually came to inherit the Smallest Theatre and take it on a tour of India is another story.
“‘You What? said Dave in horror. “I told them we had space to keep it” replied Mandy. Dave’s mouth fell open and he turned pale. After quarter of a century the Smallest Theatre had come back to haunt him. It felt as though his life had come full circle.
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2016
Sparks will fly
This was a real challenge; we auditioned a team of six actors to improvise a fully developed show in just two weeks. The show then toured the whole of Essex and incorporated a high powered reception for local dignitaries ~ see opposite. We came, we saw, we entertained and gave a good dusting down to boot!
The ‘Sparks will Fly’ project which celebrated the 2012 Olympics in Essex was produced by Walk the Plank and culminated with a large-scale spectacular, in Hylands Park. The Lemmings worked for Walk the Plank and Essex CC to deliver a touring show that traveled across all the towns in Essex.
Six creative artists spent three days hothousing in deepest Essex, all trying to come up with an idea for this epic olympic show. At the very last minute of the last hour Dave’s mind was wandering around the image of a beaded butchers curtain. The director asked for ideas for the very last time and put down her pen, at which point Dave stood up and started talking about beads. Every town in Essex would put have a glass bead the embodied the best of that place; they would be gathered up by competing mythical creatures and in minutes the show was formed. Dave has never felt so ‘cool’ since!
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2012
George is born
“We need a project that will engage the children with literacy” was the brief given to us by Wix and Wrabness primary school. Mandy hit the nail on the head, when she said “What about a bookworm?” We recycled George The Tortoise from our stage show ‘The Descent of Man’. Then a plan was hatched…
Every every class found a books full of holes leaving words on the floor.
The Headteacher called a special assembly to discover what on earth was happening. Local journalists were called in and the hunt was on, until George The Bookworm turned up to tell everyone that he needed their help to save all the books in the British Library.
It is truly amazing when a school and all it’s staff wholeheartedly buy into an idea, it feels like you can accomplish anything. Mr Newell, the school’s headmaster deserves an Oscar for the way he spent an entire day leading the entire school in the hunt for a bookworm.
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2019
