The GUIDE
Discover Doncaster
Puffball
by Phil Sheppard
CAST Theatre, May 1st 2014
Anyone who knows anything about Doncaster knows that we have fascinating history by the train-load (wink wink!) From our fledgling Roman beginnings to building the world’s fastest steam locomotive, you don’t have to dig deep to find an interesting nugget of information. Most schools cover local history, so it is surprising that there have been no books for children about the subject until now.
My name is Caroline Ogden, I am a local visual artist who is currently studying for a BA Fine Arts & Crafts degree. My husband and I went to watch Puffball at CAST as a treat for my birthday. I love going to the theatre and on seeing the advert for the show I felt that Puffball would be something I’d really enjoy. I was not disappointed.
Phil Sheppard, a teacher at Hexthorpe Primary School, has been searching shops and libraries for a book to help teach his class about Doncaster. To date, the perfect one has yet to be found. By a stroke of luck, Phil also happens to be a talented writer and cartoonist, and had a brainwave: to fill this gap on the bookshelf himself! The result is Discover Doncaster, which lays claim to be the first children’s book all about our town. As Gervase Phinn says on the back cover, “Discover Doncaster is written in a lively, entertaining and accessible style... guaranteed to appeal to children” And we couldn’t agree more. Phil’s cartoon illustrations are perfectly pitched at the target age group. Recurring characters (two children and their cheeky dog) take the reader through Doncaster’s history, from the Romans to the miners’ strike and right up to the modern day. Phil has uncovered lots of lesser-known facts too, with recurring features including ‘Horrible Doncaster’, detailing the more gruesome aspects of Doncaster’s past, and ‘Doncaster Stars’, advocating notable Doncaster people such as Thomas Crapper (it’s for kids remember!) and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. We at the Doncaster & District Heritage Association enjoy it to such a degree we have decided to invest in a copy for each primary school in Doncaster! We don’t believe there exist many better ways than this to foster an interest in our town’s heritage among our youngsters. Whether you have children or not (even us adults could pick up an interesting fact or two), you can visit Waterstones, WHSmith, Tourist Information or Amazon for a copy. Richard Bell, local history enthusiast and ‘Sand House Man’ on behalf of Doncaster & District Heritage Association
The initial set-up was different from other performances as the actors and actresses were already on stage, but you soon come to realise it was an integral part of the show. Performance One involved a gentleman breaking out of a cocoon of cling film suspended above the stage. My husband and I saw this as like the birth/re-birth of the individual. Maybe it was meant to be seen as a gay person “coming out”. Throughout the show bathtubs were a concurrent theme. They were used in a diverse variety of situations to express many different experiences, stories and journeys. One of the few dialogue pieces was the acceptance speech. Although it was obvious that she wasn’t looking for acceptance from her parents as much as acknowledging an acceptance of herself, mind and body, and in many ways I think most can relate to this. I know I can. There were a large number of circus-act performances throughout the entire piece. Some may argue that there was too many, but I personally feel that these performances were a very important part of the show; illustrating the hurt, anguish and torment that was central to the journeys portrayed. The well chose orchestral music set the tone and helped to explain the situation and was delicately used. The voice of the main vocalist, Gabi Froden, was sensitive to each individual performance and the composer, Jules Maxwell, set a perfect mood for every piece. Mark Storor, the artist behind the entire performance, uses space brilliantly. A head-spinning combination of acrobats, trapezes and burning stilettos keeps you on your toes and ever so slightly disorientated. You never know quite what to expect next. Caroline Ogden
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