Roots.  May/June 2009

 

Our latest site specific work called Roots has just finished a sell out run at the Bath Organic Group Allotments, Victoria Park, Bath.

***** 5 stars - Metro

"Highly recommended, a breathtaking piece of site-specific theatre" - Bath Chronicle

See below for full reviews and read our audience feedback (and get the recipe for nettle soup) on our forum page.

The time is ripe for digging.  As cheap imported fruit and veg rapidly become a thing of the past, Kilter invites you to grab a spade and elope to the allotment for a theatrical journey into the future of food.  Through an intimate tale of love and vegetables, Kilter leads you and your neighbours down the bean-rows to explore food-security in a post-oil world.  Friendly, welcoming characters tinker with their seedlings whilst you up-turn a pot and take the weight off your feet. As usual, Roots is performed in the open air amid the company's slick trademark sets, entirely created from found recycled materials. Get some dirt under your fingernails and join the dig for victory!  Please bring biscuits to share….

 

 

Reviews

Bath Chronicle:

It is rare to find a piece of live entertainment that is completely unique, but Kilter's breathtaking piece of site-specific theatre is refreshingly original and a real slice of bohemian magic.

As we were shepherded through the Victoria Park allotments, it felt as though we were somehow transported to Glastonbury festival; there was more flower power that just in the gardens around us.

It would be very difficult to give a synopsis of the play, or even of a time period in which it took place - it seemed as though the play was set in the past and the future at the same time - but this didn't matter a jot as we were taken on a trip through growing food security issues, amidst the backdrop of a blossoming romance.

The surrealist sketches and huge array of puns - the title might have been Routes as opposed to Roots - were seamlessly delivered as the superbly crafted characters were delightfully portrayed by Kilter's three lead actors - Oliver Langdon, Caroline Garland and Claire Wyatt.

From the moment the experience began, we felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole, as we planted flowers, dug up maps and ate delicious nettle soup in a Hansel and Gretel house made almost entirely from junk found in the area.

This was such an intimate and organic piece of contemporary art that the audience left the allotments with an experience that will last long after the trees have shed their leaves. Highly recommended.

Metro *****:

This 'tale of love and vegetables' is a guided sunset walk around an allotment in the company of five characters.  Meet 1940s widow Beatrice Freed (Claire Wyatt), her great-great granddaughter Robin Freed (Caroline Garland) who lives in the 2050s, their respective love interests, and a time-travelling radio DJ who acts as a conduit between the two eras (all played by Oliver Langdon).  Beatrice tells us she is longing for emancipation from endless cooking; Robin pines for the olden days. 

Through scenes that take place up trees, around ponds and over raised beds, we learn how the early embracing of convenience food led indirectly to global problems, while in the 2050s they are tacking a post food-riot future.

But Roots is more than a lecture on sustainability - such close proximity to the actors creates an intimacy as the play's message is delivered at point-blank range.

Links, tips, contacts and advice

Gardening advice:

What to do if you want to grow, but you don’t have a garden:

Local food providers:

  • Farmer’s Market, Green Park Station every Saturday morning.


 

Seasonal Recipe Ideas:

 

 www.rivercottage.net

 

Further Reading & Ideas:

 

 www.soilassociation.org

 www.transitionbath.org.uk

 www.kiltertheatre.org 

 www.bathorganicgroup.org.uk