Mikron - the Marsden-based theatre company with storytelling at its heart

I could last the rest of the year just telling you about the venues we have in God’s Own County, but that wouldn’t bring you a full picture of the theatre scene with which we are blessed. To do that, I’d have to include theatre companies, ones who don’t necessarily have a venue. Companies like Mikron.

A more idiosyncratic company, perhaps in the whole country, you’ll struggle to find. Doubtful? Name me another company that tours by narrowboat.

The reason I get to cheat this week is because Mikron is attached to a venue – Marsden Mechanics in the heart of the West Yorkshire village which the company calls home. Last year I was there as Mikron opened my own play, Redcoats, a musical about Butlins, and there was such a feeling of ownership and pride from an audience towards a company and venue.

“We tell the stories of ordinary people involved in extraordinary events. We tackle social history and despite being small, we are not afraid to tackle big movements of moments in history, be it Butlins, the YHA, women’s football, the RNLI, the WI, allotments and bees,” says artistic director Marianne McNamara.

To describe her and producer Pete Toon as passionate about what they do at Mikron would be an understatement.

“What defines us are the stories we tell and the places we tell them. Mikron delves into the rich tapestry and finds the stories that connect society.”

Every year it tours with a company of four actor-musicians, all living and touring on the narrowboat Tyseley through the summer, pitching up in all kinds of venues to perform shows in the way that has been done since Shakespeare’s players slogged around the UK.

“We perform theatre anywhere for everyone by canal, river and road,” says McNamara. “We have performed at allotments, care homes, community centres, dry docks, festivals, lifeboat stations, pubs, restaurants, village halls, youth hostels. We’ve even performed inside a tunnel, in the bows of a docked boat and in people’s front room. Oh, and the occasional theatre.”

When Marianne contacted me ahead of the tour of Redcoats going out last year she told me about an unusual request – one which the company fulfilled, meaning it can add to the list above ‘in front of a naturist audience in a brewery in Oxford’.

McNamara says: “Mikron is about so many things. It is about collective experience, about connecting with communities, telling untold stories and about a blooming good night out.

“Lockdown has shown us that we can watch plenty on the television, but it’s not the same as live theatre, laughing together and crying together, human connections.

“I know I am lucky right now to have a job, for the time being, but in life we need more than that – give us bread but give us roses, as the saying goes. What I wouldn’t give to see Mikron performing at a canal side venue to a large crowd with the sun setting behind them. We see the same faces in different places year on year and we really miss them.”

That is one of the impressive things about Mikron – the loyalty of the audience, which genuinely does return year after year. In 49 years of touring, the company has written 64 original shows featuring 384 original songs performed by 236 actor musicians, spent 30,000 boating hours on the inland waterways and staged over 5,060 performances to almost half a million people. It’s an impressive set of numbers.

“Despite our size – Mikron is Greek for ‘small’ – we are the most prolific theatre company in the UK, performing at over 130 venues every year,” says McNamara.

The company also ensures that more than half of its performances are ‘pay what you will’, meaning it is incredibly accessible. Audience favourite shows include 1994’s Beer Street, revived in 2000 and 2011, Imogen’s War from 1992, 93 and 98. McNamara’s personal favourites include Troupers (2014), Losing the Plot (2012) and Raising Agents (2015).

McNamara first worked with the company as an actor-musician in 2003.

She says: “The company ethos, pedigree and its unique place in the UK theatre world meant I could not turn down the job as artistic director back in 2009.

“At this point I really don’t know what the future holds. I’m yearning to get back to what we do best, but will that ever be possible? We have the advantage that many of our performances happen outside. Perhaps this will change theatre forever.

“I really feel for my colleagues who run buildings and I worry for their futures. We’re based in Marsden Mechanics and open and close our 130-night tours here to a home crowd every year.

“It is a community building and it has been closed to the public since March. It is so quiet and lifeless at the moment. Now we face the challenge of reopening this building, we need to reopen, people are missing the library and human connections, but we need to do it safely and there’s the challenge. In the meantime, how do we pay the bills? The Government has been quick to acknowledge that Covid-19 has devastated the economy but what about communities? How do they and we recover?

“We have a few ideas up our sleeves and we are closely watching our talented and creative friends in the industry to see how they are doing it well.”

Fundraising appeal

With no income from shows, Mikron are currently looking at a shortfall of £48,337.49. The team is doing as much as they can to reduce costs month by month, but this simply is not enough. On current budgets the company will run out of money before their 50th year of touring in 2021. With this in mind the company had no choice but to launch an appeal to raise £48,337.49 by the end of December 2020 to ensure they can tour next year and that Mikron has a future within the theatre industry.

For more information and to donate please visit www.mikron.org.uk/appeal

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