A look back at Streets Alive!
27 July 20222022 has seen Eastern Angles hold not one, but two regional tours! WhilstBooming Voices saw us travel down the familiar roads of East Anglian villages and towns to different performance venues, in July we ventured on a new kind of regional tour with Streets Alive – our first touring free street theatre project.
From 9th-24th July we visited 9 different market towns across Suffolk, aiming to bring high streets to life with stilt walking and puppetry and to tell the stories of local legends Margaret Catchpole and The Ipswich Man.
Out on tour we had a great time meeting new audiences, most of whom saw us by chance whilst enjoying the local delights of their hometown. From families enjoying a day out together, to estate agents watching from their office window – it was wonderful to see people come together in awe of our stilt walking cast (Finn Lloyd-Moore, Seamore Nelson and Reanne Black) and our giant Margaret Catchpole puppet (made by our superhuman Stage Manager Penny Griffin and wardrobe magician Faby Pym).
Despite some challenging weather, the tour was a huge success and much loved by crowds across the county:
Wonderful to see the Triangle Market buzzing for Lowestoft Town Council’s family hub. Eastern Angles captivated audiences with live street theatre. A fun morning was had by all.
Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone
West Suffolk Council were delighted to support Eastern Angles’ Streets Alive project. It was great to be able to bring street theatre to Brandon and Newmarket to help increase the vibrancy and footfall in our market places – we would love to have them back again soon!
Sharon Fairweather
We even met a local photographer in Sudbury who, unbeknownst to us, took an amazing set of photos of his local show – some of these photos are below and you can find the full set on Andy Longhurst’s facebook page.
Alongside this free public tour of market towns, Streets Alive also visited 5 schools across Ipswich with our neighbours Handford Hall Primary School being the first ever audience to watch the show. With Eastern Angles’ newest team member Engagement Officer Jack Tricker, we performed and held creative workshops with nearly 1500 students.
Speaking about his experience leading the workshops, Jack said: “It was a fantastic experience engaging with local schools on Streets Alive. The workshop allowed us to draw on themes surrounding women’s rights, race, immigration, and assumptions. The students delved into the exercises and conversations with so much enthusiasm and maturity and were a credit to their schools. It was great to see them enjoying the experience!”
And what did the students think? Check out this video to find out.