The Man Engine Puppet At King Edward Mining Museum, Cornwall

We have finally caught sight of The Man Engine Puppet.

Sadly, we haven't managed to see his transformation to his full 10 metre or so standing height, he has proved so popular ... 16,000 people in Camborne by all accounts, we just haven't got anywhere near seeing this marvelous trick of theatre.
We thought we would try to do so at a venue nearby. But we did a reccy and found that the roads around would be closed from 3 - 8 pm. A rural venue, we just couldn't be doing the miles of walking required and the potential crowds in a small space. So we opted to watch his procession and "crouching" performance at The King Edward Mining Museum near Troon... on Wednesday afternoon.

Oh, I do likes a bit of theatre. And this is a jolly fine thing. Lots of work. Made in Camborne, dreamed up by Will Coleman of Golden Tree Productions.
It would appear there are hoped-for plans take His Mechanical Marvelousness  across the seas ... to follow the diaspora of the Cornish miners in the 19th century... Mexico, America, Australia? Where they be going I do wonder?

Some of The Old Man's ancestors were Cornish miners. One of his great grandmothers was born in Brazil. But you wouldn't know to look at him, would you. Me? Sorry my dears... I am not Cornish, so I shall just hush up now.

Hoping To Catch Sight Of "The Man Engine"

sometime soon ...cos who can resist the prospect of being in the presence of a 40 foot high mechanical puppet?

Well. Not I.

This marvelous, powered, puppet of a Cornish miner started its tour of heritage mining sites and towns, from West Devon to Cornwall, earlier on this week and the tour finishes at Geevor on Sat 6th August. Unfortunately it won't be "transforming" to full height at all of its stopping places precisely because of the mining history it celebrates ... some sites won't bear its weight because of the underlying tunnels and workings. But plenty of celebrations are planned for its route ... with Penzance throwing in a Steam Punk fancy dress theme for spectators. Find out more about its progress at The Man Engine site.

The Old Man and me wish it well and hope to clap eyes on its noisy, fumy glory.

Travels With Our Film Life: West Cornwall, 1895 - "Tin"

Well, we didn't have to travel far for this one...a few miles down the road to be precise....
and a bit of time travel back to the 19th century tin mines, churches and mermaids of West Penwith.

We did indeed get ourselves to the local picture house alongside 40 or so others to watch Miracle Theatre's "Tin". And so successful has it been... the cinema chain has put on second showings and extended the run. (Get it while you can...in certain salubrious cinemas.)

It's a gem of a low-cost movie... using quite a degree of green-screen digital scenes via the skills of St. Just-based animation company Spider Eye. Can one have an intimate melodrama? Think that's what it is. A tight-laced, religious mine captain, his invalid mother and their pretty housemaid...add the owner of a struggling tin mine and the swindling ways of bankers (boo!), a love lorn vicar and a traveling opera company bringing "Fidelio" to the Cornish masses.... and you do have plenty of adventure.
It is said that the banking swindle was based on a real-life "accountancy error" (eh-hem) what be written up as a novel by Edward Bosanketh in 1888. (It is rumoured the bank concerned bought up all copies they could find and did destroy them. Well, I never.... Obviously one or two got through.) Lovely performances all round... though the "walking" against a digital background did leave a bit to be desired, mind... Hats off to many and a special doff to Steve Jacobs's anguished Parsimonia, invalid mother of Ben Dyson's thoroughly repressed mine captain, Rundle.
The Old Man be beside himself to hear Ben Luxon and we all do wear a candle on our heads in celebration.