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Roughshod Theatre Company is a professional touring theatre company created by Riding Lights in 1992 to concentrate on the grass-roots community touring which characterised the early years of Riding Lights itself. Roughshod annually reaches a live audience of around 65,000 adults and children.
To give you a feeling of Roughshod Theatre Company, and how they work, relate to their audience, Katie King of The Roughshod says.
‘ Throughout the week we did a range of work: three schools, a prison, two public performances, a youth group and church service. After four months on the road, you would think that nothing would faze us, but we had our share of challenges. For me, one of the hardest but most insightful gigs was Gill’s Youth Group on Thursday night. I have no experience working with youth, and I have had a pretty sheltered upbringing. As any of the other Shoddies will tell you I like to have a plan and stick to it. Gill, however, gave us a two-hour slot and gave us the freedom to do whatever we liked. We had to think on our feet. ‘
‘ Roughshod continues to push me out of my comfort zone, but for the better! Seeing Gill with this group of roughy-toughy teenagers made me realise that the lack of a plan was indeed the best plan. These teenagers were not at school nor were they a uniformed group that would fit easily into our pre-planned workshops. They were there to hang with their mates and easily sidetracked, so we had to keep them interested. In the end, we just played games, chatted and did a few sketches. While I often feel the need to achieve a definite purpose it was enough to simply be with these guys as Christians and talk about some of the things going on in their lives and their ideas. Gill’s way with them was a complete inspiration. While I was shocked by some of the things they said, Gill was right in there with them. I guess there are some things you just can’t plan. ‘
THE TEAM
Joe Carron, Katie King, Michael Perkins, Peter Shaw, Stephanie Wrench, Emma Bagnall, Pippa Gibb, Rob Holman.