You’ve no doubt heard tell of the huge success of The Common Lot’s free, outdoors performances last summer of 1549 Ketts Rebellion. Hilarious, educational, and most importantly a true story based in our own fine city, it was loved by all. The Common Lot, a collective of amateur Norwich actors have put together a brand new show, this time about the proud, 1000 year strong history of strangers in Norwich. With variety turns like Mr Noverre’s Famous Polka, Thomas Whall The Singing Mayor and Homage To Magdalen Street, all based on actual truths, seeing these fantastic show has to be on your list of things to do this month. I caught up with The Common Lot’s original creator, Simon Floyd to find out more.


How did Te Common Lot start? I came back into theatre as a sort of fresh start after some family issues, and set up Te Common Lot to put on Boudicca: Te Pantomime in 2014, and we’ve done various things since then. I’m quite good at persuading people to come and try doing something worthy, and I’m really good mates with Te Nimmo Twins so I’ve got some experience and contacts in the city which helped. Can you tell me about your new show, Come Yew In? We felt it was important to highlight Norwich’s history of welcoming incomers especially the massive influx of Dutch in the 1560’s which gave the city huge prosperity from the weaving trade. Te story of immigration and migration into the city through history is an important one to tell given the current climate, so that’s why we’re doing it. It’s a variety show spanning a thousand years of history. Have you spoken to anyone who has come into Norwich as a ‘stranger’? We have actually got three refugees in this show who have experienced integrating into Norwich first hand. Two of the guys have been made homeless during the course of the show through no fault of their own, and it’s been genuinely awful. We’ve had to really step up as a company and find out what you can do about something like that, not just to help him but to help others. We’re not just standing up there saying “everyone’s welcome in our city” whilst one of our cast is homeless. It’s real and current and pretty bloody serious. We’ve talked to Refugees At Home who have been helpful, and also New Routes. Can you tell me about who the ‘strangers’ were who Strangers Hall is named after? Te Dutch and Flemish were called ‘strangers’. 30 families of artisan weavers were invited here in the 1560’s by Elizabeth I from the Lowlands, and then because of the Catholic persecution of the Protestants they all fled and came to


18 / JULY 2017 / OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK


Norwich because that’s where they’d found safety already. So there were 4,000 of them who came into Norwich, a third of the population at the time. Norwich was a trilingual city for 200 years – Flemish, Dutch and English spoken on the streets. During those years following, the prosperity of Norwich had a great deal to do with the weavers coming in. One of the stories we’re telling in the show is about that, how Norwich coped with that many people coming in in one go. We’re not a massively diverse city from the outside but inwardly, in our genes, we are. History, particularly of Norwich, seems to be at the forefront of your passions. How do you generally come up with the themes for your plays? We always want to tell stories of place, and it’s important to us to make theatre that is free and also relevant to people. Teatre without walls, really, with a broad appeal, so it’s outside, and people can bring a rug and their kids. Tis month we’re going onto the Mile Cross, Larkman and Lakenham estates to do the show. I’m really into popular theatre that has a point, tells a story rather than just be entertaining, so it’s trying to appeal to everyone but also educating and entertaining. Tere’s something very touching about seeing a play about the city which you love and live in. Yes, absolutely. Te best compliment I got about 1549 Ketts Rebellion was a guy who told me “After seeing that show I walked back through the city and I saw it in a completely different light.” Tings like if you look up, you’ll see the windows are really high in the old buildings because the weavers needed the sunlight, things that people just don’t notice. We’re so rich in history here in Norwich, there are all sorts of ideas we’ve had for shows.


LIZZ PAGE Read this interview in full at outlineonline.co.uk


CATCH THE FREE, OUTSIDE PERFORMANCES OF COME YEW IN AT THE FOLLOWING PLACES THIS MONTH..


1 July / 2.30pm & 7.30pm Ketts Heights 2 July / 2.30pm Cow Tower 4 July / 7.30pm Peterson Park, Mile Cross 5 July / 7.30pm Cadge Road Community Centre 6 July / 7.30pm Jubilee Park, Lakenham 7 July / 7.30pm Whiffler Theatre, Castle Gardens 8 July / 1pm Whiffler Theatre, Castle Gardens 9 July / 2.30pm Whiffler Theatre, Castle Gardens


Find out more at thecommonlot.org Photos by Bert Eke


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48