Oxford Canal Festival 2024
September 2024 saw the 4th Oxford Canal Festival, a jam packed day organised entirely by volunteers, and brimming with music, poetry, delicious foods, arts, crafts and all manner of canal-themed merry making.
The weather was mixed, but the day was a triumph, and we extend a massive thank you to everyone involved - From outstanding community organiser Bill Manville, to the kids who came and filled Aristotle rec with screams of delight as they leapt about on the hay bales. The festival raised a brilliant £1234 for the Kilsby Boat Project, as well as providing us with a wonderful opportunity to showcase some ideas we have been working on….
We premiered a new micro theatrical experience!
Within the walls of a zipped-up blackout tent we performed The Boatman’s Chapel from the Kilsby Crankie Theatre (the Crankie is a backlit wooden box, within which a very long illustrated scroll is cranked, and a story revealed through shadow play and puppetry).
We told the little known tale of Oxford’s floating chapel, a converted Thames Barge that served as a chapel and school for the boating families of Oxford for nearly 30 years in the 19th century. With artwork by Karis Harrington, poetry from Sophie Stanley, and music from the Three Idle Women it showcased both the way in which we hope Kilsby will inspire artists to make work ( a feedback loop, whirring between people being creative and people hearing tales from the past), and the type of performances Kilsby will physically be able to host (intimate, low tech and interactive).
We gathered feedback from our audiences and were buoyed up by their responses:
I had never heard of Oxford’s floating chapel before today’s show - I so enjoyed the pitch-perfect way that the story was told - wonderfully creative storytelling - more please!
Beautiful antidote to fast entertainment.
Gives Oxford a softer edge - away from academia.
Perfect just as it is. I cried in a good way. Keep telling canal history!
This is absolutely magical and utterly compelling - I felt like a child again, tangled up in a fairytale.
That was so beautiful, mesmerising. Makes me feel more connected to this place and the people that came before.
Thanks go to everyone who took a chance and stepped inside our microtheatre, and to the volunteers who made the whole day happen.
