Mintfest Review - 2nd night

Second night and show were taking place Kendal's Abbot Hall and Fletcher Park, I expected the crowds to be at Abbot Hall so decided to spend the evening seeing the shows in Fletcher Park.


Walking to the park I notice something strange was going on the river Kent, people dressed in white wandering round a table situated in the middle of the river, by late evening it would become apparent what they were there for.

First performance in Fletcher Park was Sufi: Zen doing a performance based around styles of Indian dance.

Next was Schraapzucht, I didn't know what to expect from what I read in the Mintfest programme but the large fly wheel get me attention to come and watch.  Sitting down the covers hiding the stage were brought down, it was a 10 minute wait till the start.  As we waited we casually looked around the stage, focus was on a body in a sack with shoed feet sticking out, we were trying to workout if it was a live person inside, nothing moved.  Also on stage were 3 sacks hung up, no much attention was paid to these as their was not movement.

The performance started with an explorer coming on and looking round the strange array of wood and rope, pulled the figure on the floor to safety (still didn't know where a person were real but assumed not).  He examined the wheel and the rope that worked it, from a pull of the rope the wheel started turning.  As the wheel turned the 3 hanging sacks descended, then shock on the faces of everyone in the audience to find 3 actors realise themselves from the sacking (we had no clue they were in the sacks whilst we were waiting)..

The story flowed in that the flywheel now pulled by the 3 work people was creating a living space which the explorer enjoy as each piece rose to life, table, chair, bookcase, window frames, fire

The performance reached a point and then went in reverse ending with the 3 work people back in the their sacks where they stayed for a minute or so, half the audience thought the show had finished have were head of before the all four actors took in the appreciative audience response - an excellent show  

On the way back saw the last minutes of Page Blanche (more in next post) before heading back to the river to watch a little of the feast taken place in the middle of the Kent (I could spend 3 hours stood in the cold Kent)

Few photos from the evening