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Sheep Town at The Mart Theatre Skipton in 2007

Sheep Town Theatre Company is delighted to announce that as of January 2007 we will be the new resident theatre company at Skipton’s Mart Theatre. This will involve five shows during 2007 and regular workshops for both adults and children.

Phantom of the Skies

20-21 April 2007
Skipton Auction Mart
by Chris Gorman

Now, I must declare some interest here. It was my reports in the Craven Herald of ghostly World War Two aeroplanes over the skies of Barnoldswick which provided the inspiration for this story. The editor was highly sceptical but the story drew a big response and received wider publicity.

The Sheep Town Theatre's latest production, Phantom of the Skies, investigated the phenomena of ghostly WW2 bombers haunting Craven's skies and asked could the apparition of a warplane from the past be a warning against the bellicose follies of the present?

Tackling the issue with mirth and mystery, the play told the story of two rural police constables whose Heatbeat-like existence is shattered when, on a particularly quite night, the low flying spectre of a Lancaster bomber swoops upon their patrol car.

Unsure what to make of their phantasmic experience, the officers, played by Thomas Aldersley and Hannah Jane, take wildly different approaches, egged on by the attitudes of their respective partners.

Jackie (Hannah Jane) is encouraged to go public with what she has seen by her supportive but conspiracy theorist boyfriend (Kenan Ally), while Thomas' seductive super-bitch wife, played by Elizabeth Thomson, stops at nothing to keep her hubby quiet.

Along with events of the past recorded in Government cover-ups, one of the intriguing explanations suggested by the play is that the sightings are there to remind the living of the sacrifices made by the dead in previous wars.

The play's writer, Joe Atack, puts forward the theory that ghosts of one of the world's worst-ever conflicts are returning to remind us of the human cost of sending troops into battle — especially under morally dubious auspices.

And the real-life timing of the sightings seem to support the theory.

In one of the first to be reported in the Herald, a retired policewoman saw what appeared to be a Lancaster bomber emerging from the mist above Barnoldswick in January 2004.

But speaking to the Herald, Mr. Aldersley said that the play's writer was careful not to treat the issue of the Iraq war lightly.

He also said that, boosted by the previous production of Veg Boy, the weekend's performances at Skipton's Mart Theatre had been very successful.

He said: "We had a good turnout and for us, it's a case of building up an audience in this first year. "It's good to get people through the doors and hopefully they'll keep coming back but it's really hard to get people off their sofas!"

And on the subject of the ghost planes, Mr. Aldersley is keeping an open mind. "Something's happening. But as to what it is, I've no idea," he said.

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