Over the weekend of the 6/7 August we played the Avanti XL at Stockton International Riverside Festival. This festival, one of the longest running outdoor arts festivals in the UK, has always been part of Avanti’s season. Over the years all of our shows have played there  A feature of the festival this year, and this is not unconnected with the fact we were presenting a retrospective of our work, was the number of young people we talked to, for whom the event has been part of their whole life. A young woman and her mum stopped by our backstage area to say she first saw The Spurting Man when she was four, twenty years ago! Whilst this can make one reflective on ones own story it also points out that she had probably seen most of the main Euopean outdoor performances of the last twenty years and could rightly be described as an expert. Where else in the UK is the audience so well informed?  Make no mistake Stockton is not without its problems and the festival is only one weekend, but look at the new magnificent sculpture The Stockton Flyer and the beautiful public fountain we were lucky enough to perform in this year. They both create focus and interest all year. Well done Stockton long may you continue.

Well we did it! Six shows making eleven performances over two days. Only made possible by outstanding help and support from Jon, Helen, Trevor, Adam and Robyn plus of course the team at the festival. The weekend included a guest appearance by the festival director himself joining in with the crowd scattering ending of our mini finale, thanks Frank. Thanks also to Cloud Nine theatre company for playing in Leak and for joining in with the finale. We are now preparing to do it all again in Stockton. (Last time the fountain machine was in Stockton High Street we crashed into a bus!)