The stage is set

...in the Studio Theatre at Cheltenham Everyman for a Gloucestershire Midwinter, produced by Hammerpuzzle theatre company. The piece follows four travellers as they journey home for Christmas, retelling each other's memories of home. Poetry, music and mumming connected to Gloucestershire are all featured. Yes, I remember Adlestrop...

My favourites were the description of carol singing in the street in Hawkesbury Upton, and the singing of In the Bleak Midwinter (Holst, the composer, was born in Cheltenham).

'To remember is to write a story about the past for the glory of today'. Thus ran a line from the play.

My own memories flew back to 1992: following a procession around a small town (Uherstske Hradiste?) in the country then known as Czechoslovakia, while revellers dressed in traditional costume, fuelled by a rum or grog from a small barrel on wheels, knocked on the door of a maiden' s house. When she emerged, they all danced together, before trundling the barrel off to the next house. This was to celebrate the feast of St Martin, he who cut his cloak in half to give it to a beggar.

This play, combined with the company of a friend, AK; a pre-matinee lunch at Vinnie's, the vegan restaurant; and tea at Nero's after the show, followed by light shopping, made for a beautiful interval in an otherwise hectic week.

Speaking as one who adores live performance and the oral tradition, my advice is: don't miss this show, or Hammerpuzzle's other offering, the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, co-running at the studio theatre on various dates in December.