TIN - Western Morning News

“In the winter of 1900 a windswept troupe of actors arrives in a small town, perched on cliffs above the Atlantic…” So begins Miracle Theatre’s latest project, Tin, written and directed by Bill Scott. Tin is partly based on an 1880 novel of the same name (itself based on true events), and also inspired by a wonderfully bizarre historical photograph of a turn-of-the-century touring opera company.

Along with the story of tin, think curly moustaches, cross-dressing, love and crooked bankers. Throw in excerpts from Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, and you have the vital ingredients of a true comic melodrama. 

For the first time ever, Miracle staged a public rehearsed reading in Constantine’s Tolmen Centre on 23rd March. Most of the audience expected to see the actors, after only four days of rehearsing, perched on barstools and reading scripts. But Miracle’s passion for the project was plain to see, in what appeared to be more like a full-blown performance.

Artfully detailed black and white illustrations, projected onto a large screen, provided a historical, literary lens to the piece. With Miracle’s trademark comic style, simple costumes, and ingenious use of the simplest of props - a wooden table served as a horse-drawn carriage, desk, boardroom table and kitchen table - it was easy for the audience to imagine how the theatre company plans to stage the show in 2011. The audience barely noticed the actors with scripts in hand, for their characters were already totally absorbing.

There was a wheelchair-bound elderly mother (Steve Jacobs) – arguably the heroine of the play – who was a particular hit, with a determinedly dour expression, quirky, stand-up-doily hat, and superb name to match: Parsimonia. Jason Squibb’s floundering vicar, and Mark Buffery’s menacing Captain Rundle, pulled off poignant spiritual counterpoints. There were some tragic and violent moments, less easy to pull off than the comedy in an informal run-through such as this, but affecting, nonetheless.

Tin’s informal performance, supported by the World Heritage Sites Cultural Programme, is just the first step in an eighteen-month development process. In the summer of 2011, Miracle plans a touring theatre show in collaboration with community groups, visiting Miracle’s established venues and new non-theatre spaces, including relevant heritage sites. A choral work, yet to be commissioned and adapted from Beethoven’s opera, will be used as a musical score for the play, and in some venues it will be performed live by local choirs. There are even plans afoot for the development of a film version of the play.

Perhaps most unusually, the audience were canvassed for their opinions at the end of the rehearsed reading, and assured that their input would help shape both the play and the project’s evolution. They were asked which elements of the story were particularly engaging, and to comment on the way Tin brings aspects of Cornish heritage to life – even to suggest ways the theatre company might do it better.

Indeed, as one audience member put it: “Miracle is so good at making our heritage come alive. I feel privileged to be here at the start and help shape what will happen.”  By Kelly Stevens