A new adventure

As yet, no great fanfare or trumpeting of a new banner headline. Technical support for this site is provided by my wife (and star of the accompanying posts, detailing our trip forty years ago) Val. But she has been far too busy with her own business to be able to devote any time to this, so – as with last year’s trip to Ethiopia, the posts will appear more or less alternately with the travel ones.

But yes, another adventure begins, this time in Western Nepal, in the small city of Dhangardhi. I will be living and working at SPA, which is, as I understand it, a boarding school, with the aim of teaching some Drama and working towards (of course!) a production. I am likely to be there for three months, that being the period of the standard visa, but also a good period of time to be working from what I assume is more or less scratch.

But actually, and probably more than with any other international project I have taken on, I know very little about what I will be facing in Nepal. The messages I have received from them have been welcoming, but very brief, and with almost no information. So I shall just have to see what I get when I get there. And in particular, I will tailor any theatrical project to the circumstances – how many, how old, how experienced, what facilities, what time I will have, what they want… It is not that I haven’t tried to get more information, but all requests are met with a warm response that I am not to worry, and that they are looking forward to having me with them. (My most recent WhatsApp message, asking for more precise information about what I do when I arrive in Dhangardhi, received a thumbs-up emoji and a “Welcome to Dhangardhi” message.)

I should explain how I found them. It was through a siter called “Workaway” which pairs people or organisations looking for volunteers/workers with people offering such work in exchange for food and accommodation. (I was alerted to the site by our very good friend, Sue, whom we first met in Borneo forty years ago, and who retains her adventurous spirit!) SPA did not actually mention theatre, but they did seem to suggest they had an outward-looking, open approach… and in general, one of the problems I have in promoting my work is that theatre is not something that occurs to them.

But Aparna, the headteacher(?) of part of the college, was enthusiastic… and so it has been arranged. I fly out this Tuesday night – that’s three days away – via Delhi, Kathmandu, and a last internal flight to Dhangardhi. Wish me luck.