I was offered some complimentary tickets to the opening evening of the “Legion” event organised by Rough Castle Experiences last Wednesday. It is described as a family night like no other. At The Antonine Wall you can take a walk back through time to see a magical woodland and performances by experts in theatrical combat and aerial artistry.

The history was to be brought to life by a sate of art sound and light technologies, live action and lots of imagination. Unfortunately, lots of imagination was a rather large understatement. I was rather underwhelmed, but I find it hard to put my finger on exactly why this was. The actors that were meant to be pushing the story along as you wandered through the trail just failed to convey what their part was. If this was so that they didn’t ‘break character’ the stewards also gave no commentary and there were no signs describing what the point of some of the pieces were either.

So you kinda felt lost with the story while wandering the woods with some lighting and at one point a projector displaying a film that was meant to set the scene. There was also an unnecessarily long delay in seeing the acrobatic piece, which coincided with a “retail opportunity”. I was glad that my ticket was complimentary as I would have felt ripped off if I had paid £18 for an adult ticket. To charge £3 for hot water and a tea-bag while waiting on a performance was a touch rough.

I wish I was the sort of person that could let little things go, but this photograph kind of summed it all up for me. Good intentions that fell short. If nothing else it made me laugh, and take a photograph, I may also have tweeted it, instagram might also have been involved. It was exceptional. I accept that this is small minded of me, I will work exceptionally hard at being better.

Anyway, I took some photographs and video for your viewing pleasure! Thanks for reading.