Mikron Theatre's Wild And Wonderful World Of Weather

In a bright and breezy new play by Mikron newcomer Lindsay Roden, the uber-talented and always hard working cast of just four treat us to a whirlwind history of the weather / climate change and all things meteorological.

For those who don't know Mikron (where have you been?), they are a delightfully small and permanently touring force of nature. Whisking in an out of unlikely venues - mine was the Wetherby Whaler in Guiseley - Mikron spend much of their Summer on their own canal boat and pop into pubs all across the canal networks of England, bringing theatre directly to the great unwashed. Now over 50 years old the company is said to have performed 5200 times to over a staggering 436,000 people.

This production, Red Sky at Night, features newcomer Hannah Bainbridge, Thomas Catron, Alice McKenna and Mikron stalwart James McLean. All of them are actors, singers, and all-round multi-instrumentalists.

When combined with a zinging script, an assortment of hats, coats, scarfs, umbrellas and a plethora of props, the troupe can tell a tale in a much more personal way than an on-stage production. With very little of the formality of a conventional performance Mikron simply stand in the corner of a venue and get on with it. In modern parlance we'd call this a 'pop-up theatre', but it's been used for centuries and Shakespeare himself would recognise the approach. There's something enchantingly intimate about this style of performance and this goes some way to explain Mikron's enduring popularity.

Red Sky at Night is a history lesson in the creation of Meteorology as a science; the Met Office was established in 1854 by Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy (hence the region called FitzRoy in the shipping forecasts), and in 2022 we're belatedly concerned about climate change; 'Red Sky' covers pretty much everything weather-related in between. There's also a family drama, possibly an incipient love story, a hiring, a firing, and more!

There's almost too much in Mikron's latest piece - so many catchy songs, so many fun facts, so many history lessons that I do feel the need to see it all again, slowly, and re-educate myself. Despite this minor personal problem I hugely enjoyed Mikron's latest outing and I'm sure you will too.