Top of the Wold kicks off the 55th season of productions from Mikron, who will be touring the country from their base on a narrowboat called Tyseley. It chugs along waterways stopping at various locations allowing them to set up stage and perform one of the two musical plays written especially for the year. 2026 sees the vessel concentrating mainly on the Midlands but they will also be going to venues in other areas via road. Some of the quirky places you will find them are allotments, sports fields, restaurants, cafes, village halls and, naturally, the odd – sometimes very odd – pub. Added to the list for this particular play is a library which is in keeping with its subject matter.
As the name suggests, the action takes place in the Wolds, not just any old wolds, but the Yorkshire Wolds, which stretch more or less, from the A1 to the East Coast of God’s Own County. The journey is undertaken, not on canals, but terra firma, in a mobile library, hence the aforementioned venue.
Catherine Warnock, Rob Took, James McLean and Georgina Liley with the lavish set.
On each stop along the way we get to hear the stories of the towns and villages where the facility stops to provide its service, along with an enforced halt at the famed landmark, Garrowby Hill. This reminded me of when I was a kid in the 1950s and we had an old banger in which my parents and I would take trips to Bridlington on a sunny Sunday. My dad preferred to drive to Scarborough as it was a flatter route from Leeds, thus avoiding the North Face of Garrowby. The incline was so steep that we would count the vehicles that had not made it to the top, and were either revving wildly, or had steam belching out from under the bonnet. We had everything crossed hoping we were not about to join their number. As a precaution my mum always carried the money earmarked for the rent man, just in case we needed to call assistance! Many years later when I was driving modern cars, the mountain I remembered seemed to have reverted to more of a molehill and, although still pretty steep, everyone was able to fly up it at a rate of knots with no drama.
Speaking of drama, the ‘plot’ of this one is that the three people working in the bookmobile are joined by a young woman who is ostensibly a student shadowing them to get material for her dissertation on Art in the Countryside, but, due to a misunderstanding, she is perceived as a spy planted by the council to do a feasibility study as to whether the mobile library is still economically viable.
They are also joined by a live crab, but that is a side plot. Crab – side plot – geddit? Apart from said crustacean, the cast is the same four travelling players as last year: Catherine Warnock, Georgina Liley, James McLean and Rob Took, all of whom act, sing, dance and play several instruments, giving us a couple of hours entertainment at an amazingly high standard.
Catherine Warnock, James McLean, Georgina Liley and Rob Took are Rockin’ All Over The Wolds, whilst obviously preserving the status quo. Always leave the countryside as you find it.
The subjects covered as the bibliophiles wend their merry way around the highways and byways, are the manufacture of caravans, David Hockney, fishing, the cultivation of peas and Germans – that is Germans as a subject not the cultivation of them. The tales are enhanced by the utilisation of the musical instruments as sound effects with a motorcycle engine brilliantly replicated by a trombone as was the Nokia ring-tone on guitar.
The humour was up to its usual high standard, but they had the advantage of the names of the villages and hamlets to assist them. If you can’t make a joke about places called Kilham or Wetwang, you should pack it in, fortunately they could, several in fact. There was a very amusing conversation on the genre of literature enjoyed by readers in various locations.
Maeve Larkin was Writer and Lyricist, with Robert Cooper, Composer and Sonum Batra, Musical Director and Arranger. Celia Perkins Designed the Set and Costumes, Production Manager was Tom Blakemore. Rachel Root multitasked as General Manager and Choreographer, the piece was Directed by Marianne McNamara, and Produced by Pete Toon, with Jo English taking care of Administration.
So, if you fancy an entertaining evening, or afternoon, depending on where you see it, Top of the Wold is just the library ticket, but please remember to speak in a whisper.
For full details of Mikron, the dates and details of the shows and more about Tyseley, whose 90th birthday it is this year, please go to https://mikron.org.uk/
To see what is coming to Halifax Playhouse see http://www.halifaxplayhouse.org.uk
Photographs by Robling Photography.
Tyke It To The Limit 