a pmac production e pr e%& a enture · occasionally to be found, script in hand, in one of its...

Written and performed by Peter Macqueen as Millican Dalton

“ Free am I as the buzzard mewing by day or the owlhooting at night. Freedom is everything

The Professor of AdventureA PMac Production

17974 POA PROGRAMME COLLECTED_PRINT.qxp_v 02/03/2017 16:52

Born: 20 April 1867. Nenthead, Alston,Cumberland. Sixth of seven children toWilliam and Frances Dalton (neeMillican), Quakers.

School: Nenthead; Brookfield (Friends),Wigton.

Lived: 1867–1881 (indoors):Cumberland, Middlesex, Essex. 1895–1947 (outdoors): Epping Forest,Borrowdale Valley, Chiltern Hills.

Occupation: 1883–1904 Insuranceclerk; 1904–1946 Mountain guide,philosopher, teacher, adventurer,equality campaigner, pacifist, inventor,Socialist, pioneer in life.

Lifestyle: “Simple lifer”, outdoorsman,vegetarian, teetotaler, self–sufficient.

Interests: Climbing, coffee, cigarettes,camping, cooking, sewing, raft–making,nature.

Died: 5 May 1947, aged 79, AmershamHospital.

“Day after day I went tothe office at the sametime. I felt stifled. Thiswas not the life for me”

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MILLICAN DALTONTHE BORROWDALE HERMIT, ROBINSON CRUSOE, ROB ROY, SINBAD, CAVEMAN OF BORROWDALE, ROBIN HOOD, THE PROFESSOR OF ADVENTURE.


CastMillican DaltonPETER MACQUEEN

The action takes place over threeacts. The setting is a cave inBorrowdale during the winter of 1940-41.

There will be one interval of 20 minutes.

Director and DramaturgStefan EscreetSet & Costume DesignerMartin JohnsScenic Imagery and Graphics Matt Hall

Lighting DesignerAndrew J LindsaySound Designer Maura GuthrieSet Built byTop Show Scenic Construction

A special thanks to:Eunice and John PottsKeswick MuseumFRCCIvy CainJake JenkinsonAlan HubbardIrvine HuntThe Keswick ReminderFiona Cox Ian Forest, Patric Gilchrist,Rachel Swift. All the Staff at Theatre by the Lake. Infinite Design

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re The Professor of AdventureWritten and performed by Peter Macqueen as Millican Dalton

3

“You’re never alonewith nature as yourcompanion.”


During a seven month stay in Keswick,Cumbria in 2007, my first summer seasonat the Theatre by the Lake, I wasoccasionally to be found, script in hand,in one of its many pubs. There are manypubs in Keswick and most of them sportblack and white photographs ofredoubtable Edwardian gents in tweedsuits and hob-nail boots climbing the fells.There are also grainy images of moreeccentric characters scaling a crag inboxing gloves or standing on their headsatop precipitous pinnacles. One photoalways stuck in my mind. Of course, Iwas drawn to the obvious individuality ofthe subject – sitting on a home-made raftof branches, twigs and oil drums, dressedin shorts and a hat with a feather in it, acigarette protruding from his beardedface - but it was his demeanour thatreally captivated me.He wasn’t grinningfor the camera, showing off or beingdeliberately eccentric; he seemedunaware of the photographic attention,his focus ahead, calm and content,floating peacefully under the trees. Theramshackle nature of his craft pointed toa journey that might not last long, butthe relaxed and comfortable air of the‘Skipper’, at one with his surroundingsand in control, suggested otherwise. Whowas this man? What was his story?

Fast forward to April 2015. I had justperformed the last of a 17 date tour of myone man show Old Herbaceous. OldHerbaceous opened his greenhouse door,at my suggestion, in the theatre’s Studioin spring 2013 and has toured with his

geraniums all over the country ever since.Packing my greenhouse set into thegarage for later engagements, I returnedto Theatre by the Lake for another threeplay summer season – onstage with other actors! Aone man production washard work, but immenselyenjoyable and rewarding.So I wanted to find anothershow to tour. In fact I wantedto write one. But what couldbe my subject this time... orwho?

Millican Dalton was born andschooled in Cumberland,moved with his family toLondon after his father’s deathwhere he worked in the city for20 years. After which he gave it all up tospend the next 43 years in ‘Search ofRomance and Freedom’ (the title ofMatthew Entwistle’s excellent biographywhich has been the bedrock of myresearch – thanks Matt!). Millican Dalton– the name alone was worthy of the stage.His grandfather was called TinniswoodMillican!

The more I found out about the man onthe raft who had so transfixed me, themore I realised he could be my subject.Eccentric, colourful, idiosyncratic – butthis was no cranky old loner, outcastfrom human society; nor was he areligious zealot given to a life of pioussolitude. This was a well-educated manof great intellect, physical prowess and

‘FROM PUBTO CAVE’PETER MACQUEEN’S SEARCH FOR MILLICAN

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considerable practical skills;sociable, well respected as amountaineer and guide andregarded as an amiable, smilingfigure wherever he parked hisbike...if somewhat pungent! Hehad a dogged determination tofollow his own path, free from theconformity of society’sexpectations – I liked that. Asearch for happiness throughcontact with nature – I liked that.Living a life in the great outdoors– I liked that. But this was no idlemodern day, glamping boast, noBear Ghrylls/Ray Mears inspired'passing whim – it was his way oflife for over forty years! That Ifound extraordinary. That takessome commitment. Living on yourown, out in the elements fornearly half a century? Surely that

must take its toll. How do youfunction physically, mentally,emotionally? How do you remain sane?

“You can’t feel lonely with nature as your companion...I find the simplest life is thehappiest...Freedom is everything.”So said Millican. But what if thatfreedom is challenged, that lifecomplicated, that happinessthreatened? What if you havechosen to remain in your cave inBorrowdale, to spend your firstwinter there, persuaded byHitler's blitz further south and theKeswick ARP warden arrives toorder you to extinguish yourcandle and fire? What then? I wonder...

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“Use is everything.We eat too much.Put a man to itand see what hecan put up with.” T

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A memento given to avisitor to his cave by

Millican Dalton


MEET THE CREATIVE TEAMT

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Peter Macqueen,Writer and PerformerPeter was brought up inLeicestershire, readdrama at ManchesterUniversity, ‘trained’ atthe Bristol Old VicTheatre School and

after far too long living in London,moved to Cumbria with his family in2011. He has worked in theatres all overthe country and abroad but has beensomething of a regular at Theatre by theLake in Keswick in recent yearsappearing in over 20 productions,including: The Inspector in An InspectorCalls; Scrooge in A Christmas Carol;Michael in Someone To Watch Over Me;Merlin in The Lady of the Lake; George inWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

In 2013, after a successful jointproduction with TbtL, he embarked on arural tour of a one man play – OldHerbaceous – which seems to beongoing! This experience prompted himto write his own one man show – TheProfessor of Adventure – his debut as awriter, which also started life as a jointproduction with TbtL in the spring of2016, selling out before it opened! Arural tour of the North followed andPeter aims to introduce The Professor toa wider audience further afield.

Stefan Escreet,DirectorStefan is a director, actorand radio producer. Hehas directed for The Gap,Mikron Theatre, theNew Vic, Watford Palace,M6 Theatre, Quondam

Theatre Co, Brewery Arts, ChesterGateway, Royal Welsh College of Music &Drama, Manchester School of Theatre.He was Associate Director at Theatre bythe Lake, Keswick where he directed over

40 productions and led on New Writing.As a radio producer he has worked onmany productions for BBC Radio 4. He isalso visiting tutor in Radio Acting forManchester School of Theatre. Morerecently he has set up ‘Ragged EdgeProductions’, whose first play ‘The ChefShow’ by Nick Ahad toured small scalenorthern venues and theatres to muchacclaim.

Martin Johns, DesignerMartin trained atWimbledon School ofArt and the MotleyTheatre Design courseand started his career atthe Belgrade Theatre,

Coventry. He became Head of Design forthe Tyneside Theatre Company, YorkTheatre Royal and Leicester HaymarketTheatre. He designed the set for the WestEnd production of ‘Me and My Girl’ at theAdelphi, which went on to be seen acrossthe world. Other West End showsinclude: Master Class (OldVic/Wyndhams); Passion Play(Wyndhams); West Side Story (HerMajesty's ); The Hired Man (Astoria); TheEntertainer (Shaftsbury); Brigadoon(Victoria Palace); Mack & Mabel(Piccadilly Theatre); The Romans inBritain (National Theatre). From 1999-2016 Martin was Resident Designer atTheatre by the Lake, Keswick anddesigned over 100 shows.


“Life simple butcomplete isthe ideal.....I find that thesimplest life isthe happiest.”

“Perhaps he was wiser than most of us, and his long and happy lifeindeed trod a pathway to the stars.” Mabel Barker on MD

www.pmacproductions.co.uk


a pmac production e pr e%& a enture · occasionally to be found, script in hand, in one of its...

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