There was a clear beginning but there was never a plan. You could say that Kneehigh was born out of adversity rather than any kind of nurturing grant-aided encouragement. Mike Shepherd had left his native Cornwall to seek the bright lights of the city. After a disparaging period of rejection by the theatre and TV world he returned to Cornwall, a place where you can 'make things happen’. He quickly forged a company to make theatre; a graphic artist, a punk guitarist and a farmer were among the itinerant individuals who started to 'cook up' shows. There were no trained actors but these first individuals quickly learnt to get their hands dirty, to turn on a sixpence and, most importantly, to tell stories to anyone, almost anywhere.
The Evolution of Kneehigh
Mike says:
“The first show was about the world’s greatest but failed stunt man. It played to family audiences literally everywhere; in schools, village halls, quarries, fields and on harboursides but never in theatres. Stunts involving ridiculous and death-defying leaps in the dark preceded shows. The work was eclectic and anarchic, a non-theatre-going audience quickly spread and Kneehigh grew. Ambition grew too, Kneehigh remained fiercely independent but determined to reach a wider world. We adopted a quote from the artist Joan Miro for a while; 'to be truly universal you must be truly local'. This aspiration remained with us and one of our proudest times was when we were playing to sell out audiences in London's West End with Brief Encounter, in Bogota, Columbia with our version of Cymbeline, Rapunzel in New York and in Cornish village halls with Blast… all at the same time. There was never a plan but new chapters continued to surprise us and our audience.
Naughtiness
The village hall ‘crowd’ in Cornwall arrives for a good night out and there is always mischief in the air. Over the years they have been a fantastic toe-tapping, responsive crowd who celebrate the ‘fizz’ of live performance and are willing to be taken on a journey and land where they least expect.
Whenever possible Kneehigh made shows at home in our barns on the coast. They are the opposite of the all-too-common ‘black box’, bleak and characterless rehearsal rooms of many theatres. The barns let in sunlight and the wind (in fact - most weather!), are filled with colour, music, food, warmth, oddities, eccentricities and delights - a Molotov cocktail of inspiration. The barns inspire a sense of glee; a word which mixes delight with naughtiness. This glee is the fuel of our village hall shows. We walk a tightrope between comedy and tragedy, and naughtiness is never far from the surface. We were pleased when we heard an audience member say after a show “well...that’s not what I expected”. We continue to be quietly proud that the press described us as ‘irreverent’ or ‘maverick’. The work was full of passion but we steered clear of taking ourselves too seriously.
The company closed in 2020. As borders closed and the economy shrunk, it became harder and harder to tour. We were a theatre company, not a grand institution or building, and as such we were ephemeral. We wanted to draw a line under what we’d done and celebrate a blessed time.
"Three cheers and bottoms up to naughtiness and a good night out!”