Humour and eebygummery take the library van to East Yorkshire

L-R: James McLean, Georgina Liley, Rob Took and Catherine Warnock. Photo credit: Jobling Photography.

Top of the Wold at St Peter’s Parish Hall, Market Bosworth on 6 June 2026. Performed by The Mikron Theatre. Director: Marianne McNamara.

Review by Charles Essex

The same four actors from Mikron’s 2025 double bill of plays return to take us on a tour the East Riding of Yorkshire in a mobile library, portraying numerous characters along the way.  James McLean and Georgina Liley are the backbone of the mobile library service in this large bucolic area, bringing not just books but also hearing aid batteries to their regular ‘customers’.  Catherine Warnock from a redbrick university joins them as she researches her PhD about culture and communities.

Mikron sets the scene with a song, Rolling Stock, which cleverly combines humour and background as supervisor Rob Took maps out the routes the vans take with James and Georgina.  The list of small rural locations with eccentric names is reminiscent of Flanders and Swann’s song Slow Train.  Catherine’s character is portrayed as a rather naïve unworldly academic, to the frustration of James and Georgina.  Although Mikron plays usually have a significant divergence between characters representing two conflicting views or positions, the only antagonism is Georgina’s suspicion that Catherine is a ‘spy’ from the local government, which wants to close the mobile library service. 

There is an interesting sub plot addressing the changing way of life of rural workers, the harsh working conditions, and the effects of the loss of men in both World Wars and the effects on communities, with increasing mechanisation.  James and Georgina sing this delightfully in The Lord Giveth.  There is a very humorous sketch with Rob and Georgina as German POWs imprisoned in the area and their difficulties with Yorkshire English. 

Giving a modern slant, Rob, Georgina and James wittily describe the socially distanced Book Clubs which mushroomed as a result of COVID-19, with the knock-on effect for the library service.  There are gentle innuendos as they discuss whether different villages would choose different book genres, in a nod to I'm Sorry I Haven’t a Clue (you can imagine for Wetwang and Hornsea).

Meanwhile Catherine is becoming increasing panicked as her research has stalled and Rob gives a superb performance as the cynical, indifferent and blasé professor supervising her PhD by telephone.

The East Riding was ‘caravan capital’ of the UK and Rob and Catherine give a humorous sketch portraying caravaners in the early 1950s and the 1960s as affluence and social mores change.  Returning to farming and the economy, we hear of the end of climbing the sea cliffs to collect guillemot eggs, and the massive increase in and complexity of pea farming, a tribute to Mikron writer (Maeve Larkin) that she did this with humour.

As always, the Mikron writer, Maeve, and cast did their research and immersed themselves in East Riding life, both on and off the library van.  This full house enjoyed a laugh out loud production with excellent musicianship and acting on a par with Mikron’s high standards.

*For dates and local venues for Top of the Wold and Mikron’s other production Wensleydale Whey see their website Mikron.org.uk.