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A thrilling show of horsemanship |
Kynren – the largest outdoor show in The UK
Kynren is an outdoor spectacle of epic proportions, which bursts into the summer night sky in the unlikely location of the small County Durham town of Bishop Auckland, in Northern England.
The concept of Kynren is based on the Grand Parc du Puy du Fou in France. This is a huge medieval live action theme park dedicated to the history of our Gallic cousins across the channel.
Kynren follows a rough story line of a young local boy Arthur who goes back through a time portal to witness highlights of our great English history.
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Knights of the round table |
It is like watching a huge live movie set with hundreds of people acting out scenes from the last 2,000 years. It has the most amazing live technical effects I’ve ever seen. There are light animations, evocative original music, fireworks. Live animals race across the massive field in front of your eyes.
If you ever felt you were getting just a bit sick of all that CGI at the cinema, Kynren is the perfect antidote.
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Words from God |
Kynren – volunteers take to the stage
More than 1,000 local volunteers are involved as cast and crew -many are children from local schools. They rise to the challenge of the most impressive feats of mass choreography to be seen since the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. There is also an extraordinary cast of animals. Fabulous horses, sheep, goats, cattle and even ducks join in the performance. They seem to enjoy things every bit as much as the humans. Watching the beautiful white horses racing across the enormous landscaped stage the size of five football fields, jousting in coloured livery, or heading off with their knights into battle is quite thrilling.
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Star sheep |
The energy of the whole event was exceptional. The man made lake in the middle of the performance area was used to great effect with huge set pieces rising out of it, as if from nowhere. A life sized Viking ship, appears at one point and later a series of arches. These represent the tunnels of the coal mines of the industrial revolution. Characters walk across the water and set pieces with water jets and incredible lighting effects bring the lake to life. At one point giant jets of water created illuminated arches evoking the title of this incredible event.
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Miners head off underground |
Auckland castle is the majestic backdrop.
The windows of Auckland castle are ablaze with lights in the background. The people of County Durham acquit themselves with a pride and enthusiasm which was impossible not to warm to. Everyone was involved, all shapes and sizes, including a tiny tot of about three who determinedly kept up the performance pace in the set piece. With such a distance to cover across the stage for the soldiers, the villagers, the farmers, the miners, the courtiers, dawdling was not an option and everyone skipped (with varying degrees of success) and ran and danced with practised speed.
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Fireworks over West Auckland
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Serious skipping |
Kynren a modern day Ben HurKynren evokes those huge Hollywood heyday blockbusters of the late 1950’s with thousands of extras. Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments spring to mind. It is a real feast for the eyes, the ears and the heart. I especially loved the horses. There were 34 of them – all housed on site, including elegant Lusitanos from Portugal and Spain for riding. Wielkopolski carriage horses from Poland and Kladrubers from the Czech Republic are also in the show. There were also eight heavyweight Percherons from Normandy, to pull the carts and wagons on stage. All the horses were grey in order stand out at night. |
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| Horse power |
Kynren in the top ten must see events
Kynren is listed by Rough Guides as one of the world’s top 10 must-see tourist attractions. It is a surprising and delightful way to spend a summer evening in England. Everyone sits outside in huge banked seating. You do need to wrap up as it can still get chilly once darkness has descended. We wind our way back up to the car, past the food village and the ‘proper’ toilets and the lovely landscaped wild flower banks. Everyone was quietly in awe of what they had just seen. The super friendly greeters made everyone feel at home. They were so obviously proud of being involved with such a special event, it was quite moving. There wasn’t a spare seat in the 8,000 stadium – dubbed the Tribune -either.
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| A flaming procession |
Ruffer. Eleven Arches is one of two charities he has established in Bishop Auckland, the other being Auckland Castle Trust. Together, the aim of the charities is to establish Bishop Auckland as an international tourist destination, attracting visitors and investment which will contribute to the fortune of the area and empower the community. If anyone can do it – he can. Kynren will be back in 2017 with more large scale spectacle so watch this space!