As theatres around the country wait to hear whether the Arts Council will include them as a National Portfolio Organisation in support of the new ACE 10-year strategy to “recognise and champion the creative activities and cultural experiences of every person in every town, village and city in this country, and to ensure that more people express and develop their creativity and create more opportunities for them to enjoy the widest possible range of culture”, the Watermill in Newbury is staging a perfect example in its latest production and related activities.
After a thirteen-venue outdoor tour of local towns and villages, the production of Camp Albion arrives for a two-week stay at the Watermill Theatre. Its themes of protest against authority, ecological campaigning, youth culture and mental health pressures will resonate strongly with many under thirties while the dilemma of a road system fit for purpose versus the environmental damage its construction causes will remind their parents of the difficult decisions and compromise that society needs to sometimes face. One campaigner says “it’s a protest, not a war” but at times these standoffs feel more like war than simply putting across a point of view.
