Testing creative ideas in unexpected places
Plus the North Kent Folkways Revival, Die Hard as panto, we review Don Vincenzo, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Ideas Test has proactively supported arts projects in Medway and Swale since 2012. As they prepare for their next period, we look at their work, how they started, what’s gone well, what they’ve learnt, and what comes next. Further down, we look at the North Kent Folkways Revival launch at the Medway Little Theatre that featured a very special guest, an upcoming Die Hard panto, a review of Don Vincenzo in Rochester, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
Testing creative ideas in unexpected places
Ideas Test is a Creative People and Places project, and there are now 39 across England. The Medway and Swale group started in 2012 and was one of the original 21. As part of an Arts Council initiative, they work in areas with low culture engagement, with Ideas Test essentially starting as an audience engagement project.
Culture is increasingly seen as a middle-class activity, with many people never having been to a theatre or a gallery. At the same time, creative activities have been eroded from school curriculums, with opportunities to get involved either as a participant or audience member have been shrinking. The Arts Council set up the scheme to work in areas where people were not being reached.
Medway’s Ideas Test became a charity about three years ago to help with fundraising efforts. Initially, it was intended as a 10-year project, but the Arts Council have extended the project until 2026, and they are in the process of securing funding until 2029. Having that funding makes them part of the national portfolio as well. They initially launched in Swale but were encouraged to move over to Medway, which has twice the population. They adopted a hyperlocal approach rather than focusing the activities out of the building they work from.
Very rarely working in traditional venues, they have put on events in disused churches, as well as libraries and schools. As a result, they end up going to where people are and working to deliver programmes of activity with organisations such as Icon Theatre, Square Pegs Arts, and Electric Medway.
They have also been running the Medway Arts and Homelessness Forum, a partnership project with Medway Council and Arts and Homelessness International. It's a space for people who have lived experience of homelessness, both street sleepers and the hidden homeless, and for artists and organisations interested in the link between arts and homelessness. It is intended as a safe space to discuss projects they'd like to see happening and support members in seeing local productions and raising self-esteem.
This year, they worked to help deliver the Luton Lights event and have received Shard Prosperity Fund money to deliver it again next year, which they hope will be a bigger and better event. They also participated in the Medway Light Nights, including in Rochester, where large projections were on a wall by the Cathedral, showing the diversity of people across Medway. A constant ambition is to do projects that children will see and remember when they grow up.
Inevitably, as an organisation, they have also met with frustrations. They acknowledge that, as an action learning organisation, they often learn more from events that went badly than went well. They have been part of the Medway Creative Health Project, working in the Luton and Brompton areas. Their initiation event, ‘Imagination Day’, was poorly attended. They held a big debrief, using a website called Failspace to look at the project and analyse what happened. A key finding was the language and imagery they used in the advertising, with residents reporting that they saw the flyer but didn’t think the event would be for them.
This has led to them rethinking their other events, being person-focused and jargon-lite. They also know that any project working with a community has to be open to ending differently than intended. Ideas Test has learnt that they have got to know people so that residents will recognise the team and the brand, understand what they are doing, and enjoy it.
What counts as success shouldn’t always be numbers, but sometimes it is. People want to come along to an event and not be the only person there. For Ideas Test, real success is if the project has an afterlife, providing stepping stones for individuals and communities to create things independently, having the agency and creating changes for where they live.
You can learn more about Ideas Test and their upcoming projects via their website.
In brief
🏥 Medway Maritime Hospital is offering young patients innovative relaxation techniques to ease surgery-related anxiety. This recently included playing chess with one patient while he underwent a procedure.
🎭 Some actual Brook Theatre news this week as work is a step closer now a contractor has been selected. Medway Council has awarded a £10.8m contract to Thomas Linden Ltd to carry out much of the refurbishment work.
🏡 Medway resident Stuart Bourne, who used to be a gardener at Buckingham Palace, has started his own Substack newsletter. Bourne to Garden features tips to make your gardening easier.
🌳 Work on a new public park within the Chatham Waters development has begun. The park will run through the middle of the site, with 80 trees planted and a community garden for residents installed.
⚽ Gillingham Football Club has re-established its community foundation to support projects outside the team. The previous foundation was closed during the covid pandemic under the previous owner.
North Kent Folkways Revival launch at Medway Little Theatre with a very special guest
Billy Childish recently held a new album launch at the Medway Little Theatre in what is becoming a regular event. This edition featured an evening of poetry, folk, blues, and a work in progress from a friend to promote the new double album release of The North Kent Folkways Revival, the new folk group formed with Billy from members of the Singing Loins.
First up is the poetry aspect of the evening, in the form of founding Medway Poet Bill Lewis. He reads from his poetry collections, including ‘My 1960s’ from ‘This Love Like a Rage Without Anger’, inspired by overheard conversation, shamanism, and his travels. Bill continues his set with work that mixes myth, magical realism and autobiography, including a reading of ‘I Was A Ten-Year-Old Dalek Killer’. He also performed his ‘Shaman Song’ with his cow horn rattle from the Seneca Tribe, which has become a staple of his sets. “Is this a dream I’m dreaming/or am I only dreaming I am in a dream/Is this a song I’m singing/or am I just a song that is being sung?”
Next up was ‘Special Guest’ and friend of Billy, the one and only Stewart Lee. Anybody who has seen a show by Lee or read his work will know that sometimes the challenge can be recognising the accidental mistakes from the deliberate ones. He comes onto the stage and instantly needs to restart as shuffling and paper collecting disrupts his flow. This becomes a 3-minute bit about how he starts his show, why he needs to restart, and that he doesn’t want people to know he was performing in Rochester as he usually performs to the North London Liberal Elites. Stewart goes on to perform possible jokes for a new from his papers. One joke that Stewart loses faith in during the telling goes down so well amongst the audience. He is confused about whether it should stay in, agonising that Rochester is ruining his confidence in the show. Time will tell whether Medway has managed to have a lasting impact on his show.
Then was the main event with Wild Billy Childish and The North Kent Folkways Revival performing several Childish classics. There is a brief change in the song order so that Bill Lewis can join them onstage for a performance of ‘Pocahontas’ before he gets his cab home. The band plays with gusto, and the enjoyment on stage is infectious through the audience. There is much foot stamping, excellent fiddle playing, and Olly Allen belying his youth with his confidence on stage. Allen and Shepherd play guitar and mandolin respectively with great energy, enthusiasm, and enjoyment. Once they can all agree on the timing, that is. Local folk music at its best.
For the night's grand finale, Billy returned to the stage with The Chatham Singers, his wife Juju on vocals and bass, long-term collaborator and gentleman amateur Wolf Howard on drums, and eventually Jim Riley, late to the stage, on the harmonica. Here was Billy playing gritty blues and capping a great night for the crowd. Overall, it was another great night of poetry, folk and blues at the Medway Little Theatre. Here is hoping for more such events in 2025.
The North Kent Folkways Revival Double LP Boxset is now out of stock, but the individual albums, The Speech of Karatakus and Cape Trafalgar, are available here from L-13.
Die Hard: In panto form
This December, for one night only at Spotlites Theatre, comes Die Hard: The Panto! Written by Nucleus Arts’ David Stokes, who will also be playing the role of John McClane. “I was bullied into it by the cast”, he says. Spotlites are looking forward to this, theatre director Kieron Riddell tells us, because “although the theatre has seen shows performed for over 25 years, Die Hard will be the first panto ever performed at Spotlites.”
Joining them for this experience is Rainbows of Medway’s Shea Coffey, who seems to be to blame for it all. “I challenged David Stokes to write a panto version of Die Hard”, states Shea. David adds that he “had written the scripts for the earlier two pantos performed by Medway Pride Radio.” Shea admits that she didn’t think he would manage it, “but he’s a talented guy and has done an amazing job.” David reflects that it was the hardest panto that he’s written.
Early drafts came out more like Die Hard: The Parody, so David returned to basics and stuck to the panto beat sheet, trimming the story and characters to fit panto expectations. With the panto on for one night, there is the risk that, as Shea says, “it might be an event that passes into ‘Medway legend.’” It is being recorded with the live audience and will be available later on the Rainbows Over Medway Mixcloud. It will also be played on Medway Pride Radio over Christmas.
What can audiences expect from the experience? “They’ll scream, they’ll howl, they will sell their firstborn to be let out early!” jokes Shea. “Expect chaos, laughs, mishaps and a true sense of confusion. The Chatham-centered story that an 80s blockbuster was possibly inspired by will see hostage situations and dramatic rescues!” adds Kieron. David has loftier ambitions for the show: “Craziness, cheap jokes, poor acting, dodgy accents and the butchering of a classic, but also a lot of fun, belly laughs and maybe, just maybe the definitive answer on whether it's a Christmas movie or not.”
All of which does raise the essential question. Is Die Hard a Christmas panto? David offers a clear position on this: “Whether the source is a Christmas movie is a big, contentious question. We even have a song about it. It is a Christmas panto… however, probably... almost certainly... I think... except there's not much Christmas-y, but then it's set at Christmas... I'm 50:50 on it.” Shea gives perhaps the definitive answer, pointing out that “Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie because it’s set at Christmas, it’s a Christmas movie because it’s a tinsel-covered family social obligation that you didn’t want to attend, but you find spiralling into a never-ending nightmare.”
The best way to experience the chaos is to book a ticket for the show via Spotlites Theatre. Tickets are pay what you can, with a suggested price of £5.
Out to Lunch: Don Vincenzo
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to Don Vincenzo in Rochester…
A mainstay of Rochester High Street is this Italian restaurant around the halfway point. I got there a little late, but they were happy to accommodate me as long as I ordered promptly, which is fair enough. The restaurant is open, though over two tiers, which led to me sitting next to a slightly weird internal glass wall.
Deciding quickly that I wanted pasta, my eyes settled on the ravioli di porcini. You might expect wild mushrooms in pasta squares, but Vincenzo is mixing things up by serving semi-circles. This was served in a butter and sage sauce with garnish. I skipped a starter, not even getting a portion of olives.
With a healthy serving of parmesan on top, this meal was simple but full of flavour. The pasta was firm to the bite but smooth to eat. The mushroom filling was delicate but generous and came together nicely with the sauce. I can’t remember exactly what the garnish was, but it was strong, and I braved through it.
Don Vincenzo is somewhere you should go if you are looking for a nice Italian meal for lunch. There is a reason it has stayed on the High Street so long. Just give yourself plenty of time to have a starter as well.
Events this week
📚 Until 30 Nov - Medway River Lit // Month-long series of weekend events across Medway featuring writing masterclasses, panels, poetry, drama and more. Various locations. Highlights:
🗣️ Sat 30 Nov - Writer Talk: Ben Aaronovitch. Final event of the festival with returning author of the Rivers of London series. Rochester Library. Pay what you can.
🎁 Sat 30 Nov - Halpern Unique Makers' Bazaar of Uncommon Gifts // Perfect opportunity to buy something special and unique for the people you love. Halpern Gallery, Chatham. Free
🎁 Sun 1 Dec - African and Caribbean Festive Market // African and Caribbean inspired products and services, inspirational ideas for gifts. Corn Exchange, Rochester. Free.
🎸 Thu 5 Dec - Lupen Crook // Intimate acoustic show from legendary Medway musician and artist. Three Sheets To The Wind, Rochester. Tickets £8.
🎭 5 - 14 Dec - It’s A Wonderful Life // Stage production of the Christmas classic. Medway Little Theatre, Rochester. Tickets £12.
More Authority
Rumours are swirling about an elected Kent and Medway mayor, as well as a local government reorganisation that would likely see Medway merge with other councils. We asked Medway Council Leader Vince Maple what this would likely mean for our towns, and whether he’d be interested in the new top job.
Remember that our Medwayish shop contains a wide range of Medway-related gifts and products designed by local creatives. We have books, mugs, t-shirts, prints, and other fun bits and pieces. We have some special Black Friday discounts on our classic prints this week. Check it out and find a bargain gift for the Medway fan in your life.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Implicit Narrative by Stuart Turner and The Flat Earth Society and 2 Nites in Rochester by Wild Billy Childish: The Chatham Singers & The Singing Loins.