THE Flanagan Collective don’t do glitzy theatres and swanky studios on their latest tour. Instead the York company prefer to call in at pubs, halls, farms and more pubs, travelling in the spirit of Withnail And I in a dodgy blue van and an old ambulance and then kicking up a right old folk musical noise.

Coxwold writer-producer Alexander Wright’s new show is about the people, for the people, by the people and taken to the people. It is a hymn to the importance of community and “spending time with people” in our increasingly solipsistic age, as the Flanagan travelling troupe practise what they preach by going to places that are the essence of community.

After Wright’s chamber pieces Beulah and Some Small Love Story, Babylon is a show on a bigger scale addressing people and politics, consumerism, the role of government and royalty and the joys of shared food, a round or three of drinks, singing, dancing and story-telling.

Revolution is in the air, not only in the way that the Flanagan troupe are taking theatre out of theatres, but also in Wright’s “traditional folk tale for a future imagined”, set 100 years from now in our fine and treasured land. The government had deposed the monarchy, but the republic has failed and the governing officer (Jim Harbourne) announces the election of a new queen of the people, one Henrietta Edwards (Serena Manteghi).

“I’ll be back up north if you need me,” says this back-pack-wearing northerner. Innate cynicism makes you think it will never last, and sure enough it doesn’t. The propagandist government national press does battle with a pamphlet-publishing free press; the north becomes a mire of muddy fields and wrecked cities; two farming brothers (Harbourne and Conrad Bird) fall out as the government dismantles agriculture; and Henrietta’s secret husband Oliver (Ed Wren) leads a campaign against her when she brings in the tanks and bombs her people. Mad Max meets the English Civil War part two.

As with Beulah, Wright’s words have a poetic potency and vision; he can bring you to laughter and move you to the point of tears too, in this case through his timeless wish for us to cherish the “things we should love and care for and keep special and safe”.

Then add his lyrics to the multi-instrumental compositions and vibrant playing of actor-musicians Wren, Harbourne, Bird and Manteghi, and you have a show with the political clout and anarchic energy of Dario Fo, allied to the romantic rebel spirit and love of life of Shane MacGowan’s Pogues.

The collective euphoria of a Pogues gig is found here too, the company of four drawing all the audience into the performance so that it becomes a shared, very social experience in the best pub tradition. Better still, Wright makes you think as you drink and move your dancing feet. Is there a better young writer in Yorkshire theatre right now?

For full tour details and bookings, visit theflanagancollective.weebly.com/babylon.html