Sunday 21 June 2009

Medway Fuse Festival 2009



The finale to this year's festival took place last night at Rochester Castle (which was actually the only night I could attend anything) and it was probably a mistake to take Matt!

From The Inky Deep, taking place in the moat (it's dry now, there's grass in it) promised "tightwire and aerial circus with dance and physical theatre, transporting you to a far-away world where dark fairy tales and mythical creatures will amaze and delight" which it kind of did, albeit just ten feet off the ground. The music was quite low key and it really wasn't something an eight year old could appreciate; very arty but we were expecting something a bit more lively on the acrobatic front. So he spent the last twenty minutes asking when the fireworks started. And cheered up a bit when I bought him a three colour, flashing lightsabre!

Then we made our way to the castle grounds proper to watch a man set light to a lot of artistically placed wood to the sound a mournful cellist. It said pyrotechnics, you see - again, we thought it'd be a little bit more lively than it was. Don't get me wrong, had I been on my own or with adults I'd have appreciated it a lot more. But having an eight year complaining he was tired/cold/bored took the edge off it.

It's important to support these events though - Medway Council, I feel, do a sterling job of keeping the arts alive in the towns, hopefully next year we can get along to a few things Matt will enjoy more.

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