Love Dawlish

WOWEEE! What a day we had in delightful Dawlish. Belinda the barrow went down an absolute storm and much fun was had by day and by night. Uncle Tacko had done a brilliant job of love-i-fying the centre of the town, and right from the start there was a strong feeling of community celebration. The townsfolk may not see this kind of event every day, but throughout the day we were overwhelmed by their good spirit and willingness to join in and get silly!

And the Story Exchange staff members were kept busy all day long with the wondrous writings being created and delivered. Much fun was had with our live Twitter Feed with status updates, ranging from the sublime to the downright irreverent and ridiculous, being bellowed for all to hear by our Town Tweeter. The good people of Dawlish also created a barmy Tall Tale, one word at a time, charting the life and times of two chocolate button-eating elephants called Ephemera and Alphonso and their run in with Sausage man and upside-down butterfly.

There were numerous cracking games of Consequences that saw the young, very young and young-at-heart- getting stuck right in creating outlandishly silly stories of love. We delivered countless glittery love stories, exchanged Wish Birds and sent Postcards from the Past, inspired by smells from our scent jars. We also match made unlikely celebrity couples- who knew that Miranda Hart had promised Paul Hollywood endless love with no ‘soggy bottoms’? Or that George Osbourne was nothing without his one true love Jennifer Aniston? Well it’s true, and we have the smushy letters of love to prove it.

But Belinda’s bedtime at four o’clock, as the Spring Sun disappeared behind the oh so familiar wintry clouds, was just the halfway mark for Theatre Rush. We packed the barrow up, wiped off our lipstick and got ready for the evening cabaret, which turned out to be a deliciously raucous affair. We were just one of many acts that evening, and it was a real pleasure to watch the other performers. And what better place to test the ‘defiant vulnerability’ of FLUSHED than in front of a wonderfully rowdy (but very friendly!) audience who had been promised a prize for the best heckle! Cue much audience involvement and a good many laughs... and my body being sold for two old sheep and a roof rack. As I’m unsure of the going rate for elderly sheep, I’m going to hedge my bets and take it as a compliment.

But, back to the Barrow for now, as all this week we are going to be out and about in Exeter City Centre. And to make it easier to track it down, from Monday evening onwards we will be posting our intended route for the following day on our Theatre Rush facebook page. So come on, come and find us. Those stories aren’t going to write themselves you know….

 

All photographs, as ever, by the lovely Chris Jones (who incidentally made a reluctant stage debut at the Cabaret).