It’s a model that has worked for 42 years and shows no sign of abating, but Mikron is still a novel concept by anyone’s standards. And proving as popular as ever... and as topical as always.

The narrowboat which winds its way from Yorkshire and back every summer, taking in 140 venues on the way, is due to hit Oxfordshire’s riverbanks this week.Yes, the Mikron season is upon us and with it two new productions to enjoy over the next few months, starting on Wednesday at The Oxford Science Park with Beyond The Veil, an exploration of everything bee-related, with a murder/mystery plot thrown in free.

“Bees are very similar to people — they are hard workers, have a tendency to be vicious, work best in groups and if they don’t the whole show collapses,” Mikron director Pete Toon tells me.

Next up is Don’t Shoot the Messenger!, a comical whistle-stop history of the postal service, which is not only funny but coincidentally very topical. “It was inspired by a bloke in our village who tried to rob the post office,” Pete says. “Having just had a panic button installed, the old lady pushed it and her husband emerged to say she’d stood on it again only to find himself face-to-face with a robber. I think it was like something out of The League Of Gentlemen because they baffled the robber so much he gave up,” he laughed.

“It is fascinating because Henry VIII started it off when he wanted to send a letter to someone, and our postal service is still the envy of the world because it works ... or it did. If the Royal Mail disappears it would be like losing the NHS, what would we do without it?” Pete asks.

Whether it’s losing the world’s bee population or our ability to post letters, Mikron are always one step ahead: “We tackle the big stories behind the smaller things,” Pete says, “but while our plays are always very informative we make sure there’s lots of light entertainment at the same time because humour is the best way to get people to listen to you.”

Mikron also manages to attract a hugely loyal audience, and the non-theatre-going crowd. “So many people who watch us in beer gardens come up afterwards and say: ‘we don’t like theatre but we liked that,’” Pete says.

Mikron’s boat-led existence means they already run a lean operation. The eight-man team is made up of four actors and four backroom staff who keep Mikron afloat as they drift from village to village, performing as they go. Some venues are ticketed, but more often than not, Mikron just passes a bucket around the audience and they pay what they can.

The rain doesn’t seem to have deterred anyone. “It’s that English thing of not letting the rain spoil anything. Besides, huddling under their umbrellas makes it more intimate.”

Such is their popularity that this year they even had to turn venues down, although some have remained a constant, like Thrupp “where you can set your watch by us”.

Already booking next season’s shows — the first is about slow cooking and ice cream and the second on behind the front lines of the Great War — Pete is in meetings this week for 2015’s show about the WI centenary, meaning Mikron is here to stay. This is largely due to their pride and joy, Tyseley the working narrowboat providing the company’s transport and accommodation. It once took sand to Birmingham and returned with Guinness, before being converted into a restaurant in the 1960s and finally ending up under the Mikron wing.

“We talk to her like she’s a person,” Pete tells me.

So with a blockbuster of a season ahead of them Mikron is raring to go. “I think people like having a professional theatre company turning up in their pub garden,” Pete says, “People seem to like unusual venues and we are unique, being the only theatre company doing this which is canal-related and political with a small ‘p’.”

 

 Don’t Shoot the Messenger! Tuesday: Waterfont Cafe, Benson
Beyond The Veil, Wednesday at The Oxford Science Park.
In August, Mikron travels to Abingdon, Wolvercote Green, Eynsham, Thrupp, Kidlington, Enslow Bridge, North Aston, Aynho, Adderbury and Cropredy.
Visit mikron.org.uk