On Tour

We spent this weekend at the International Workshop Festival: two full days looking at the way we work, which is a combination of physical theatre, mime and verbal satire on the politics of South Africa. I was very nervous, but luckily the participants, who were all actors or directors, were really positive.

We first did the Mouthpeace show at the beginning of 1992, then brought it up to Edinburgh last year. As the show is only for three people, one of whom is a bonsai tree, we can tour just about anywhere.

Being on the road is wonderful, you really feel you're achieving something. This visit is my first real chance to see the place and the tour is designed so that the smaller British theatres are able to get their first taste of South African theatre. When we first performed in Edinburgh, we were very nervous and the first audience just stared at us in dead silence. But the minute the reviews came out and we won a Fringe First, everyone started to relax and laugh.

The only other place we've toured was to Namibia, but I'd love to tour round other African countries, as there's been more and more contact with them over this last year.

After the performance, I'm pretty exhausted because the show is very physical. When we're in South Africa, I've got family with me so I tend to hibernate with them quite a lot. Over here we're playing every night for six weeks, but with my teaching load I miss performing a lot and it's just great to be back on the road.

Andrew Buckland is part of the Mouthpeace Theatre Company, touring Britain until 22 Oct, at the Watermans Arts centre, London 4-15 Oct. Further info: 071-833 2180