This year Pentabus theatre will launch its 35th anniversary year of work with a new production of Origins. Specially commissioned by the Theatre Severn In Shrewsbury to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

“We’ve been here for 35 years adds Orla “ There aren’t many companies who have lasted that long and continue to go from strength to strength. Each year Pentabus achieves more and more ground breaking work”

At the fore front of the development of rural arts in the 1970s, initially Pentabus – so names because it served 5 counties – toured village halls, pub rooms and other small local venues, but as the years progressed and the rural arts movement became more entrenched, it was made easier for touring companies to travel nationally with their new pieces of live theatre.

Joining Pentabus in 1994 John Moreton has steered the company through many changes including extending its reach to include international projects. “Everything we do is new work and it’s important to make that distinction and that’s principally how we differ from other touring theatre companies” He says.” It makes if more interesting but also means it is a tougher job, we have to work harder to get the audiences in.”

“Our aim is to pioneer engaging, provocative and surprising work that connects people and places. At the heart of our work is our location in rural Shropshire which gives us a very particular perspective on, and relationship to the world.”

This has included pioneering and provocative new work such as Strawberry Fields a drama documentary focussing in industrial strawberry farming which explored related issues including its effect on the landscape and the size of fruit we eat and the power of the super markets, but also how small towns in Shropshire are transformed by the number of migrant workers.

White Open Spaces was another politically motivated piece, a collection of monologues in response to questions by Trevor Phillips, Chair of the commission for Racial Equality, as to whether there was passive apartheid in the English countryside.

“We invited writers from a range of ethnic backgrounds and sent them around the countryside to cattle markets and farms and asked them to write a short piece on their experience. The show went to Edinburgh, London and Stockholm and was short listed for a South Bank show award. So its amazing how an essentially local issue can take off and take on another dimensional

When Orla joined in 2007 she set about exploring who the company were what they stood for and what they meant locally and internationally. “We went through a re branding process where we changed our public face and have focussed more on marketing to let people know what we do and where we are. The company has achieved some incredible things but these were largely unsung”

Moving to Shropshire from London where she was international Associate at the Royal Court Theatre, Orla became increasingly aware that the theatre scene in London was quite small and specific.
“I felt there were a lot of exciting opportunities and things going on outside London here it is a very different creative space. Where we are based is very rural and beautiful, and people find it inspiring, which being in a busier or urban environment doesn’t quite allow.”

Future projects for Pentabus’s 35th Anniversary Season include an adaptation of Tales of the Country written by Independent columnist Brian Viner charting his experience of moving from London to the Country; and a series of short plays exploring writers’ experiences of the food culture in Ludlow.

“I hope” Orla concludes, “ that we continue to keep true to that spirit of investigation and asking the tricky questions or looking for the left filed idea or the interesting situation.”