North Country in theatre festival's spotlight

Staged by festival favourite North Country Theatre at the Old Laundry theatre on Wednesday, October 7 (7.30pm), NCT's director (who also writes and acts), Nobby Dimon, points out that it’s the first time they have performed an adaptation of a work by a living writer - award-winning Jim Crace: "I read The Gift of Stones when it first came out in 1998 and I thought it was not only brilliant but very unlike most contemporary fiction."

But is was Nobby’s personal affinity with the main character that really grabbed him: “He looses his right arm as a boy and struggles to be much use in his flint knapping community until he discovers his gift is not stones but storytelling.

“I have very limited use of my right arm and leg because of cerebral palsy but like the character I have found a role in life as an entertainer, a storyteller."

As well as Nobby the cast includes Vivienne Garnett, just back from a film project in Australia; North Country regular Mark Cronfield, whose experience ranges from National Theatre through Hollyoaks to outdoor Shakespeare; and young actor Edward Darling, making his professional theatre debut.

Nobby was born and grew up in a small village called Burghwallis on the outskirts of Doncaster, South Yorkshire: “It was coal mining country but my village was a farming based rather than pit village but from the back garden of our council house you could see the columns of steam rising from four different power stations.

“I was one of the generation who went through the grammar school to comprehensive transition. For me was a really positive experience and I benefited from the broader curriculum and increased facilities for the arts particularly. I went on to take a degree in English and theatre studies at Lancaster University, then a relatively new and small campus which I loved. Later I did a post grad teacher training year at Bretton Hall, a specialist drama college.

He first came into contact with theatre at his local church hall:

“I remember the wonder of a group a travelling players coming to our church hall when I was quite small and it’s interesting that I have ended up doing just that in my professional life. I took part in school plays without special success but I credit my A level English teacher Mrs Snell for taking me to see larger professional theatre and then the brilliant teaching of Margaret Eddershaw at Lancaster University for opening me up to alternative theatre.

“Professionally, I sort of slid sideways from drama teaching in Dorset into community arts in some tough areas of Teesside and then into directing theatre, not a formal route. Peter Brooke when asked how to become a theatre director replied that the only way he knew was to devise a project and persuade a bunch of actors to let you lead them in realising it. I think that’s what I managed to do. I knew earlier on that I couldn’t sit by a phone waiting for 'a break.' I had to invent my own work."

Nobby became director of Harrogate Theatre in Education 1987: "In those days there was still some money in the education budgets to support arts in our schools and we visited schools across North Yorkshire not just entertaining but using drama to support educational aims. We particularly used participation and role play rather than formal theatre presentations. Three touring projects each year plus youth theatres and the occasional main house show. Hard work but hugely rewarding and it developed my skills. I think actors can learn a lot about acting by working in informal settings with primary school children, not because they are demanding or difficult but because you cannot ignore them. They are there wanting to share with you wanting to understand living it with you. That’s what we should want from all our audiences. We used to say that as a TIE company we would never do anything for children that we would be embarrassed to do for a paying adult audience, and we often took the same material and presented straight to adults without any apology and it worked."

As a writer Nobby, says he doesn’t have burning issues or concerns that he feels compelled to write about. Most - though not all - of what he’s penned has been adaptations of other peoples work: “Much like Shakespeare by the way so I don’t feel in bad company.”

Nobby founded North Country Theatre in 1996, well known these days for its innovative and entertaining theatre with a reputation for what Nobby describes as “hilarious ripping yarns," such as The 39 Steps, which went from village halls to the West End and Broadway. "I'd auditioned and interviewed people at Harrogate who said they were going to form their own companies and do this or that and I thought, 'that’s what I want I’d better do it before I get to old and set in my ways.' " I also had an idea for an adaptation of Buchan’s The 39 Steps burning a hole in my pocket, and no immediate opportunity to try it on the stage at Harrogate. My wife Gill had a 'proper' job so I thought I would take the plunge.

"We had a meeting round a kitchen table with supporters and colleagues and set up a company. After 20 years North Country still works to the core ideas and business plans we drew up then.”

“We believe in taking good theatre into rural communities, where access to the arts is sometimes limited.

“But I don’t perform in village halls and small theatres out of crusading zeal. I do it because it’s just so immediate and alive so unaffected.”

Nobby is looking forward to returning Bowness: "The Old Laundry has become one North Country’s favourite venues. It has the intimacy and friendly atmosphere of a community venue with the technical resources and facilities of a modern theatre space and we always seem to get good audiences. Plus it’s always a joy to perform in one of the most beautiful parts of England."

For further information and to book tickets for the festival telephone 08445-040604.