The Mystery Bus.
You know as much as you’re supposed to. It’s a bus. And it’s a mystery.
If you’ve experienced the Mystery Bus, it’s quite likely that you’ve returned on more than one occasion and, on return visits, dragged friends and family members along with you. Sadly (luckily?) the Mystery Bus is not for children.
The MIB are not all bad
Despite the fact that we station scary Russian security guards out front (the infamous Men In Black – MIB – the antithesis of the Woodford spirit and some of the most entertaining street theatre you’ll see) every year we get children aboard. Quite often they’ll claim to be with random hippie pseudo-parents or guardians in the queue and the adults often cooperate. When asked to confirm the relationship, they’ll LIE. I feel certain there are damaged children out there! Little kids in boardies and t-shirts and flip flops; wannabe Woodfordians who get up to all sorts of mischief because they’ve outgrown the Children’s Festival and haven’t yet grown into anything else. For these kids, there are Dippin’ Dots, Spaghetti Junction, Circadia, illegal busking after they’ve visited Circadia and the challenge of getting a seat on the Mystery Bus.
Dippin' Dots. Ice cream. Dots. Into which you dip.
I don’t mind telling you that the bus is stationary. It doesn’t go anywhere. You would have to be a magic mushroom munching hippie to assume otherwise. Oh, wait. Right. So the bus is stationary (except it’s moved each year, to a new, exciting spot, to be kept out of the way during the months of the year that the site is unused. We usually plan a special expedition to trek and find it before Boxing Day). On the bus, you are privy to an intimate live, acoustic set by a headline act from the festival line-up. The talent is unreal and artists of the likes of Mr Percival, Adem Scriven and Jesca Hoop return again and again. Amongst artist circles it’s one of the best gigs of the festival.It’s brief, it’s fun, it’s original and it’s in air conditioning!
Pre-show, there’s a show; this year it was an obscure all-female interpretive dance group (the Leggy Lesbians from Lithuania)
LACTATE
Okay, yeah, you got me. So it was a great backstory. It certainly got the punters in the door.
It’s gotta be one of the FUNNEST gigs of the festival. Every year the pre-show is different and we’ve got a doozy planned for next year!
There is just no stopping the evil genius of SRT’s Artistic Director, Simon Denver!
Bustles by kelseyscreations.net
Swamp Thing
Nathan Kaye
See you on the bus next year, suckers!
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