Subscribe to our Newsletter |
News from the GeoparkIntroducing: The GeoQuest Tour10 May 2010
This May marks the arrival of three "GeoQuestors" who will embark on a journey of exploration through the English Riviera Geopark over the course of one week. The Questors - dressed in exclusively-designed costumes - will lead a performance walk of the Bay on foot, exploring, mapping and collecting stories of the Geopark and its communities along the way.The performance walk, entitled ‘GeoQuest', will tour the Bay from the Valley of the Rocks at Watcombe, Torquay to Berry Head in Brixham and back in celebration of our unique landscape, history and communities. GeoQuest is the signature event of this year's Geopark Festival and runs from Tuesday 25th to Monday 31st May. The three guides - musician/composer Hugh Nankivell, writer Phil Smith and performer Tony Lidington - will follow the arc of the bay on foot by day, researching, creating and telling stories and songs about the land and the communities as they pass. By night they will bring those stories to life in a series of evening performances at key English Riviera Geopark sites, including, Kents Cavern, Torre Abbey, Occombe Farm, Berry Head and Torquay Museum. There will also be additional performances at the Palace Theatre in Paignton and the YMCA at Goodrington. Each evening's entertainment starts with a free guided walk, from the venue, at 6pm, followed by a ticketed 8pm performance by the artists, a talk by a Geopark expert and a shared meal of locally produced food. After the evening performances the "Questors" will then bed down at the venue for the night, ready to continue on their journey the following day. The Dartington Hall Trust's Matthew Linley, who is producing the project, said: "GeoQuest is a great opportunity for some of the Bay's brilliant artists to get out and about in the community and for the people of Torbay to get to know their Geopark better. We hope everyone who meets the artists in their colourful costumes on the streets and paths of Torbay will join in and be part of this unique journey. Everyone has a story to tell about their home - we want to collect and pass on as many of these as possible!" During the course of the week the encounters the artists have with the public en route, and the stories they uncover and reveal, will inform and help shape each evening's performance - before ultimately becoming part of a GeoCultural map of the Bay. Nick Powe, Chair of the English Riviera Geopark Organisation, said: "What makes GeoQuest so special is that it's unique to the English Riviera Global Geopark. No other Global Geopark in the world has done anything like this before. GeoQuest will express the connection between geology, landscape and people in a unique way. It's going to be visually exciting, artistic and above all inspiring. There are only 67 Global Geoparks in the world. These are areas recognised by UNESCO as places that use their outstanding world-class geology to inspire people and communities, in a way that is beneficial locally. GeoQuest embraces all of this." Early evening guided walks are open to all. Tickets for the evening events cost £3 to £7, inclusive of an evening meal, and are available by calling 01803 847070 or booking online at www.dartington.org/geoquest where a full event programme can also be viewed. |