Victorian thespians play Ripon Festival

Following the resounding success of their recent appearance at Knaresborough Festival, audience members who missed it have the chance to catch a free performance of Penny Plain’s entertaining romp ‘The Entire History of the North’ at Ripon Festival.

The city square will be the venue for the Dales born troupe’s penultimate show of their tour on Saturday 6th September at 11.30 and 2pm.

Ripon Festival organisers invited the return of Penny Plain after audiences enjoyed last year’s show, Black Hearted Evil.

Back in the familiar guise of a rabble of ever-hopeful Victorian travelling players, Malvolio Hardcastle’s Mighty Excelsior, the company will appear again with their specially created travelling theatre booth based on descriptions of the humblest “penny gigs” that entertained fairground audiences in Victorian times.

This year the troupe of down-and-out actors and misfits are on a mission: to condense 3000 years of northern history into as many seconds. Without letting little things like facts get in the way, their marathon tale descends into their unique brand of mayhem.

Author Andrew Jackson explains, “Writing this year’s show has proved quite a task. In order to bend history, you’ve first to get it right. It’s been like a crash course in English history!”

Having played several Festival venues and a weekend for English Heritage throughout the summer, Penny Plain will be going on after Ripon to perform the final show of the season at Sedbergh Festival on Saturday 13th September.

During the winter season, the company are available for after-dinner corporate and social entertainment, performing their interactive show - again in Victorian personae – which features a group of Gothic ghoul-busters and their extraordinary ‘vortex organo alembic morbidulator’ machine.