Natural STUDY NOTES

An introduction to Natural Theatre Company

by Ralph Oswick, Artistic Director

The Natural Theatre Company has been in existence since 1970, and in that time we've had many adventures on the streets of the world. Our theatre is based on well-observed British eccentric characters, most of which are recognised (and laughed at) by people everywhere.

Because our style of visual humour transcends language barriers, we have visited an extraordinary number of countries, mostly on behalf of the British Council. Countries visited include Brazil and most of South America, Central America, China, Pakistan, Australasia, Japan, Central Asia, Russia and North America. In Costa Rica we performed for the President at a cabinet meeting. In Russia, we were painted red all over for a visit to Lenin's Tomb and in Brazil did workshops for street children in the slums.

We have regularly performed at Glastonbury Festival, where the Kissing Coppers are legendary, as well as at both of the Jubilee concerts at Buckingham Palace. The Naturals are equally at home appearing at a local shopping centre, or at the VIP parties at Hampton Court Flower Show. An exciting adventure recently was being chosen to lead the Queen's 50 Years Parade up The Mall, along with 30 nannies.

The company has worked at most of the leading European Festivals, and usually comes home with an award, the most recent of which was 'Kings and Queens of the Romanian Laughter Feast' in Bucharest. Because of our popularity, we tour several groups at one time. Once a booker in Folkestone was alarmed to see one of the Natural Theatre trucks driving on to a ferry, when he knew he had arranged for them to perform for him that day. The answer was simple; it was the opening of the Channel Tunnel, and the towns at both ends had booked the Naturals!

In 2000, Natural Theatre performed a year-long street theatre residency at the Millennium Dome. This involved training up to 50 new performers and although overall the Dome is regarded as a bit of a failure, for us it was a fantastic project. Of course the public were glad to see something live and interactive, and the young performers were given a great start to their careers. As well as being at the Dome that year, the company still carried on touring around the world and notched up an amazing 45,000 performances.

Of course, being fearless street performers, some of us have been arrested several times over the years. However, when the audience spilled into the road in Ipanema, the fearsome traffic cops that roared up on their motorbikes actually directed the traffic around us and over the pavement!

We don't just perform on the streets - we sometimes appear in an aircraft carrier, on trains and planes, in shop windows, at the Tower of London, on Bondi and Copacabana beaches, in circus rings, on parachutes, in a cage at the zoo and even occasionally on stage, would you believe!