the sun shines and so do the performers

Beyond the Border 2014

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July 2014
St Donats Castle, St Donats , Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, CF61 1WF, Wales MAP
early bird £90 for weekend with camping

After a grim, rainy night which surely must have left the majority of us sleep deprived we awoke to improving weather. Yes the sun was definitely beginning to pick his proverbial hat up and put it in the direction of his head. Hip hooray! My first full day exploration uncovered such an array of styles of comedy, theatre, dance (of sorts) and classic stories. Performances throughout the day are aimed at a variety of audiences but the weight tends to shift from child to adult as the evening progresses. A great story teller however can provide humour for both adult and child in the same tale without tainting young minds.

The wonderfully charismatic man Abbi Patrix did such things, he told us Norwegian troll tales with such a sparkle in his eye I began to suspect they were real. These angry multi headed creatures, vengeful and stupid mockingly caricatured by our jolly storyteller as he leapt about the stage his face contorted, one minute by surprise and the next by fear or amusement. He graceful included everyone in the humour, clearly enjoying himself immensely as he did so.

I wondered from venue to venue listening to stories that connect us with our past and felt like we were sinking our feet into our sacred earth like the roots of a tree as our ancestors would have too when passing long nights aside camp fires. There are no modern inventions that will ever remove mankind soulful need for such passions or prevent children (some of whom didn't even speak english) from finding joy in these tales.

In the heat of the day I decided to watch a moving tale called Barbed Wire for Kisses which used real life WW1 letters to help create a story of the men of a village going to war and their personal torments. In the middle of the day with the breezeless heat of the tent such a subject seemed even more intense, my slight discomfort at the warmth seeming pitiful in comparison to such events that had taken place in the world and live of the poor fellows that fought for their countries and in many places still do. I was drained by the performance so took some time after to enjoy the sun, look at the stalls and eat some of the veggie food that was on offer. There was nothing wrong with any of these but nothing too exciting either except for the selection of ales and ciders. A more hardened drinker than myself would have spent a lot of time visiting the drinks tent.

Next was the turn for Ben Heggarty, a one man institution of story telling who commands the audience like an ancient wizard entrancing the listeners effortlessly. At the site of this energetic man the audience burst into rapturous applause, children and grown ups both grinning from ear to ear. He re-told an ancient classic The Devil, The Czar and the Three Dried Biscuits stopping from time to time to question the audience or bringing a youngster upon the stage for some interaction, getting them to play characters of the story. A truly gifted man, his seemingly happy and kind persona adding weight to the performance.

Hugh Lupton provided me and several others some bedtime stories covering new ground in old tales such as Rumplestiltskin. I left for a chai tea feeling like I'd been sent to bed with the soothing voice of my grandfather. I went to bed content and slept well.

review by: Richard Potter

photos by: Richard Potter