Accomplice

Quest, mystery, theatre, adventure, treasure hunt. Accomplice is all of these things – an immersive theatrical experience which summons participants to a location revealed mere hours before the show/adventure begins and thrusts them headfirst into a mystery in which they must play a role. From the initial location, you are given the backstory to the shady situation by the first character, and given a clue which leads to the unveiling of both the next location and narrative mystery as a whole. With each location, new character and more information, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. 

Because you never know where you are supposed to be, everything and everyone (even passersby – especially passersby in fact) becomes suspicious. It’s clever, unusual, ingenious and original, with actors who completely inhabit their roles feeding you information, blurring the lines between theatre and reality. It’s simultaneously funny, and intriguing while inspiring paranoia, curiosity, and a mania for discovery, revelation and explanation.

Weirdly, even though it's such a fabulous and inventive idea, I'm not sure it worked as well as it could have done - the story quite often got lost in all of the hunting for clues, and the relevance of the characters to the plot sometimes felt tenuous, or at least seemed that way because their performances were bigger than the content of what they were actually saying.  i also had a few cerebrally challenged people in my group who insisted on hogging the clues and not explaining them to the rest of the group, which made me want to throw a strop, but which actually resulted in me having a good old gossip away from the action while the men bickered about whose take on the clue would lead us to the next destination. a scene that's not hard to imagine. 

Still, all that aside it's exciting to be part of an adventure like this. Go and make up your mind for yourself, I say.

Accomplice runs until October 2011

Outdoor swimming

I braved the arctic temperatures of the river at Figheldean this Bank holiday weekend (above) and despite the grumblings of a nearby fisherman about the unsuitability of the water (river rats and Weil's disease... tosh, i say, he wanted the place to himself) and total submersion feeling not unlike being stabbed with thousands of tiny daggers and then doused in acid, it was lots of fun. The Sunday before i had nervously swum in a puddle masquerading as a lake in the middle of a sheep field, while recovering from the nearby festival Haselstock, so this was a definite improvement. nothing kills the hangover like a brisk dip in the open air.

i completely love swimming outside in secluded river spots or lakes when it's sunny and crisp. It's simultaneously romantic, adventurous and liberating. the end of summer tends to be good as by then the water has warmed up, and you can weave through wispy reeds or be swept along by the currents and know that when you scrabble back onto the banks, the sun will warm you in no time.

seems that's not for everyone though, and the Outdoor Swimming Society has recommended some glorious spots for autumnal swimming. not for the fainthearted, i fear... my trick is to look up where i am going on the OSS map and the find somewhere neaby. or just explore and see what i find.

1. Aveton Gifford, Devon. Enjoy the changing colours on the riverbank in this glorious shallow estuary swim - the water is shallow enough to wade, and with a sandy bottom it's like going for a glorious long snorkel.
2. Loch Oich, Great Glen, Scotland. Yellow leaves hang suspended in the water, which is black as space. A small loch: strong swimmers with a wetsuit and bright hat may be confident enough to cross it (pick a bright tree opposite). Pub lunch by a fire in Fort Augustus afterwards. 3. Tarn Hows, Lake District. Beautiful surroundings, easy entry and exit, and the water is shallow so it's warmer than some of the big lakes - particularly if the sun is out heating up the surface layer. Coffee and cake is not far away, and it's surrounded by trees so there's a cascade of colours going on.
4. Durdle Door, Dorset. Last autumn, over 30 of us swam from here to Lulworth Cove on a social swim (3.5km), after camping among crispy leaves. Required logistics (Safety boats, tide times & direction), but a dip at any stretch of this coach is glorious - in summer, the glory of Durdle Door can be ruined by too many people. KR, Wild Swim & map.
5. Sharrah Pool, Dartmoor, Devon. Moor water is never warm, but the Dart is clear, and the walk through the ancient woods here makes the swim particularly glorious. Not suitable after rainfall.
6. The Cam, Cambridgeshire. An old OSS favourite, and the dying vegetation are opening up large areas of bank at the moment. ST, Wild Swim & map.
7. Broad Haven (south), Pembrokeshire. A recent favourite, and you may well encounter seals (before they are pupping). Swim around Church Rock in flippers (beware rips), dip in, or walk along the cliffs and skinny dip in a deserted cove.
8. Nanjizel, Cornwall. Should, in my opinion, replace nearby Lands End as our marker of the wild far end of Cornwall. Recommended to me by OSS members before a recent trip, this is a place where seals own inaccessible beaches and black shags dive through clear waves along the shoreline. Nanjizel is reachable by foot, and Zawn Pyg, a 20 metre chasm in the cliffs with a light shaft that illuminates the clear Cornish water, is the swim. At low tide you can dip in the tiny rock-dammed pool (suitable for children), and in calm weather swim through the chasm. If the sea is not too big and you are a good swimmer, swim out west to a little beach and cave; or further towards interesting rock formations in the direction of Carn Boel.
9. Buscot to Kelmscott, The Thames, Oxfordshire (or part of it). Site of one of my favourite swims ever: go late in the season, enjoy the lack of people on grey days, have a big pub lunch afterwards.
10. Feshiebridge, Scottish Highlands. Clear pool of water for a brave dip, and river shoots and canyons (when water conditions suitable) for anyone in wetsuits with a senese of adventure. 11. High House Tarn, Glaramara, Lake District. See pic. Great spot for a remote wild camp, and a shallow dip. After sun, the peat makes the water surprisingly warm.

Ernesto Neto: The Edges of the World

This exhibition, by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto at the Hayward is completely bonkers. Brilliantly so. It is absolutely the thing to pop into over the summer - it'll lift your spirits, make you smile and if you bring your cozzie you can have a dip in the rooftop pool (see above, book in advance by telephone 0844 847 9910), which is a sort of bastard child of a swimming and a paddling pool.

The exhibition guide is pretty pretentious, so i quickly glazed over, but walking through the exhibition's colourful tunnels, crawling into domed caves, climbing into womb, lung and heart like constructs all made from coloured stretched fabric that looks and feels like tights, i felt like i was simultaneously underwater (jellyfish, seaweed, fish-like associations), on a spaceship (colourful domes, labyrinthine passages, alien-like blobs), crawling through bodily passages and organs (capillary like extensions to the tunnels, bundles of spices, stones and herbs dotted about the place like undigested matter or fragrant mucus) and in a kids adventure playground (turrets to climb up, rooftop pool, walls to balance and walk along).

Since Ernesto Neto has critical acclaim lavished upon him like butter on hot toast, i am sure i was supposed to glean something deeply profound from the show, but I'm not exactly sure what i took away from it. a comforting sense of return-to-the-womb security? a renewed rush of childish glee? a sharpening of my adventurous streak? who knows, but it was fun.

ERNESTO NETO: The Edges of the World

19 June to 5 September 2010

Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre

Enchanted Palace

Enchanted Palace is a sweet, magical adventure of an exhibition. Housed in the sumptuous State Apartments of Kensington Palace, where royal personages have lived for centuries, it takes up the stories of 7 princesses (whose names you discover as you weave through the labyrinth of rooms) and explores key elements of their history in imaginative displays (a ferocious fall out with a friend, a broken heart, wild rebelliousness, a dramatic accession to the throne etc).

It begins with a room of tears - a dark, melancholy bedchamber where a princess clad in a blue dress is suspended under the canopy of a blue four poster bed, surrounded by bottles of glass tears, shed for her marriage to an older man who she didn't love, and for whom she was unable to bear a much-longed for heir. Another room sees two dancing princesses, their glittering party frocks displayed in cases hidden in a whitewashed wood. The playroom sees the fairytale of the princess and the pea come to life - and a windswept dress by William Tempest appears to sweep from the walls, while down the corridor a rebellious princess in a dress by Vivienne Westwood attempts to make a controversial escape. In the grandness of the King's Drawing Room is a fabulous cabinet of curiosities - open the drawers, cupboards, flaps and slides of the magnificent 4 sided cupboard to discover eccentric curios - shell collections, severed heads, jewellery made from objects trouve, delicate paintings.

I loved the slide projections in the last room where silhouetted figures dance on the ceiling, and also the fur-lined glass cabinet - the secret den of a feral child. Look out for secrets hidden in fireplaces, behind doors, and in unexpected nooks and crannies.

So many displays were beautifully poetic - Stephen Jones hats hanging in the room of thinking, Boudicca armour hanging in the Cupola room where the centre piece is a magnificent gilt clock - like an indoor sun dial.

It's such a imaginatively thought out project, by Cornish theatre company Wildworks, definitely worth making time for - take a picnic and saunter round Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park too. Completely glorious. Late night openings 21 May, 18 June, 16 July and 20 August 2010
(Open until 21.00, last entry 20.00).