Two productions highlighting British life will be performed to audiences from all works of life. Katherine MacAlister finds out more

Take two new shows, four new actors, and a beautifully painted narrowboat and what have you got?

Yes, Mikron’s summer season is about to commence as they wind their way down the nation’s canals from Yorkshire to take up residency here this summer.

Riverside pubs, huts, clubs, village halls, marinas and business parks are all hosting Mikron’s al fresco plays, which, this year, boast new works about the WI and another about our love of fish and chips.

Marianne McNamara, the artistic director, said Mikron was already overwhelmed by the audience’s response to this year’s offerings, WI members in particular coming out en masse, ticket sales almost beating last year’s total already.

Raising Agents, a brand new show marking the centenary of the founding of the WI in Britain, and One of Each, a savoury tale of fish and chips, will play alternatively at venues such as The Plough in Wolvercote, The Oxford Science Park and The Boat at Thrupp.

And while One of Each is nearly Shakespearian in its story-telling, it is Raising Agents which is stealing the show.

Having come up with the concept of a centenary WI celebration, Mikron passed the idea to its writer Maive Larkin, who, having done lots of research, declared it an impossible project.

“Maive said there was no way to encapsulate the different faces of today’s WI, and that became the basis for the play,” Marianne says.

Raising Agents is thus about a PR’s attempt to update the WI and build bridges between its traditional older members and younger more modern thinking compatriots.

“Essentially it’s about friendship and about how very different women can be,” Marianne adds.

But what Marianne learnt, more than anything else, was how powerful WI members are as a collective, holding it in massive respect.

“The WI started off in Canada when a woman, who had lost a baby, went to the Farmers Union and said they needed to start educating women about health and children, that it was more important than animal husbandry.

“The movement then spread to Wales and beyond,” Marianne recounts.

“So it really has been an interesting journey and it’s going down a treat.”

Having whittled down the cast of four from 450 hopefuls, they have since been taught how to steer a narrowboat, work the locks and put up the set.

“We chose them not only for their acting skills but their ability to work as a team because it’s not always easy living on a narrowboat,” said Marianne.

As for Mikron, their audiences increase every year, some events being ticketed while others pass a bucket around at the end of the production.

“Our audiences are people who come from all walks of life; people who don’t normally go to the theatre; people who just happen to be in the pub,” Marianne said.

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For information about Mikron’s latest productions, dates, venues and box office information go to 
mikron.org.uk