Story Forge: Make your Own Myth - REVIEW

First published on 15/04/2022 by Yorkshire Times 

There’s an old theatrical adage ‘never work with children or animals’ but someone doesn’t seem to have reminded the Rubbish Shakespeare Company and Silly History Boys of this as they took to the stage to perform in a theatre full of young people and grown-ups. What ensued was just over an hour of madcap fun for all ages.

Professor Doctor Lee Hithersay and Doctor Robert Rhys Bond took to the stage as their own warm up act chatting with the audience, getting to know a little about them and showing just what a pair of silly men they were. The stage was littered with numerous cardboard props ready for a bout of myth making (swords, shields, helmets, spears etc.) as the third and final member of the company made his appearance. Dan the guitar man with a dour expression came and sat ready to play the music and make up the songs required of a true myth.

After discussing the origin of myths and legends with the audience the intrepid duo of Hithersay and Bond, with the help of audience suggestions, improvised the myth of how Cross Gates came to be named with bucket loads of clowning around and a lot of inventiveness before Dan brought the whole thing together with a final song.

Lee and Robert next moved onto mythological items and after listening to the young audience explain the name and origin of Thor’s hammer (I didn’t know it was called Mjolnir, but a young girl did!), a number of items were taken from the audience (hair band, shoe, pot of jam etc.) before as an audience we decided we wanted to hear the myth of the origin of the Croc sandal. Leading us to enter Hade’s lair and meet a recently deceased Geography teacher.

The final myth was to be about the special powers of mythological beings and was once again decided from ideas from the audience who wanted to know the tale of the Silent Giraffe who had a special power of shade (cue taking a sun hat from an audience member) and who had a weakness for sweets and an arch enemy of the venomous crab snake. Here the audience really got involved with five of our younger members taking the stage keeping Lee and Robert on their toes.

​After an all too brief hour the madcap fun and hilarity was over, and what had we learnt, other than the origin of Cross Gates, Crocs, and the Silent Giraffe? For one it is possible for two incredibly talented performers to not only perform with children but also to improvise at a level that entertains and engages young people. It was storytelling but also a perfect introduction to theatre for youngsters. As Artistic Director Lee Hithersay says ‘Sharing the stage with amazing children is incredible, they light up and come alive. It is one of the most fun and rewarding shows I have ever been part of, the kids steal the show every time, and we wouldn’t want it any other way’

​