YORK company Procter Goblins are to head out of the city for the first time to premiere their new show, Grimm Up North, at Bar Farm Antiques, Barmby Moor, from August 25 to 28.
"It's on the A1079, the York Road, going out towards Pocklington, about ten miles out of York," says artistic director Ben Rosenfield. "I live out that way – the rest of the company are from York – and I went in to have a mooch around. I got chatting with the owner, Gregg Huber, an American from New Orleans, and we started talking about theatre."
Ben and Gregg, whose wife Belinda hails from Pocklington originally, settled on Procter Goblins staging a show at such a splendidly theatrical site. "Gregg bought the farm buildings to turn them into antiques showrooms and he plonked a circus bus in the farmyard to make into a café," says Ben.
"I instantly loved the place, and we've always said we don't want to do theatre shows in conventional spaces, so after doing lots of pubs, we're now branching out into the East Riding to play a farm!"
Bar Farm Antiques: the setting for Procter Goblins' promenade production of Grimm Up North
Ben and co-director Kirsty Wolff's company are at present rehearsing in York but will complete their rehearsals at Bar Farm Antiques after trading hours before their run of 7pm promenade performances over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Kirsty and Ben both will appear in the show, playing Kitty Echo and Mr Scratch respectively, part of Mr Scratch's Travelling Troupe of Grimm's storytellers. "They may well have been performing for 80-90 years and are now quite broken, grotesque characters, who've been travelling the world for so long," says Kirsty.
"The idea is that they could do these Grimm tales anywhere; they've travelled to South Africa, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, France...Bognor Regis, and now they've arrived on the A1079 near Pocklington."
One of the "Horrid Pals" in Procter Goblins' travelling troupe
Leading the troupe of "horrid pals" as they promenade around the farmyard and into the showrooms will be Ben's Mr Scratch. "He's partly based on Donald Trump, in terms of his arrogance, always wanting his own way, and having a false sense of control," he says.
Procter Goblins will be telling the tales of the Brothers Grimm "as they were intended" and with a Yorkshire twist applied. "It will be the most grim, gruesome, grotesque, sinister, outrageous, northern, just-about family show of the year, right on the edge, but no more so than a Roald Dahl story or even a pantomime – and it will be quite panto-esque," says Ben.
Alongside Ben and Kirsty will be former York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre member and York College performing arts student Gavin Brooks, now 20, who is in the last weeks of his gap year. He will be playing Poor William in his last role ahead of attending Rose Bruford College drama school from September.
"It's been a really enjoyable experience, working with the Procter Goblins actors, especially with us all having a lot of say in the devising process with the directors," he says.
Procter Goblins' poster for Grimm Up North
Completing the company will be Lee Gemmell's Uncle Tinker, Emma Walker's Bella de Ball and Jimmy Johnson's Mr Marvello, plus Procter Goblins' regular squeezebox player, Ben Crosthwaite. "As tradition dictates, Ben has one line and one line only, but it's an important one," says Rosenfield.
Music will be a key part of the show, Crosthwaite's squeezebox being complemented by Brooks on guitar and mandolin, Johnson on cello and Wolff on ukulele. "There'll be lots of songs you recognise but we're changing the arrangements, like Every Breath You Take being done in a Klezmer style for the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood; the Witch in Hansel & Gretel singing 50 Cent's Candy Shop, and mashing up Rumpelstiltskin with Eminem," says Rosenfield.
"So, the show is a mash of old stories and modern music in a punk/folk/Klezmer style; some stories well known, like Hansel & Gretel, some not so well known, like The Boy Who Went Out To Discover What Fear Was."
Procter Goblins present Grimm Up North, Bar Farm Antiques, Barmby Moor, August 25 to 28, 7pm. Tickets: £9.50, concessions £7.50, on 07772 523116 or at seetickets.com. Audience members should wear suitable clothing and are welcome to bring picnics and fold-up chairs; parking is available on site. A piano bar will be in operation.
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