INTERVIEW: RAY MEARS - WE ARE NATURE TOUR
Q: What is the theme of your leaf, it tasted of apple peel. And I’ve new show We Are Nature which never looked back. That was when is touring the UK in the spring? I really started to get a kick out of being outdoors. I remember that day A : T h i s i s a s h o w a b o u t also seeing some baby Jays on the rediscovering nature and exploring ground. So, things connected. The the true depths of our sensory joy of the subject that I’m involved capacity. It’s about rediscovering in is that you never stop learning. ourselves, rediscovering who we I’m still learning now. are and exploring capabilities which have been passed down to Q: Can you tell us about your us from our ancestors. theatre show? Q: When did you first fall in love with nature? A: When I was about seven or eight and I started to learn about edible plants. In those days, there was no internet, you couldn’t look on YouTube for information, which was a good thing. So, I went to the library. At first, all the books were very botanical and a bit mysterious to a 7-year-old. me. But then a book came on to the shelves which had photographs in it. I gingerly took that book out into the countryside looking for edible plants, and I came across this plant in the woods called wood sorrel. I took ages to study it before I plucked up the courage to try it, which is how it is if you’ve got no one to teach you apart from a book. But when I finally tried the
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supermarket for example, you drive there, and you know exactly where to look for the road signs. When you go inside, and you look for a special offer - there’s a bright dayglow star telling you ‘This is a special offer’. But in nature, everything is far more subtle - more cryptic and camouflaged. To see things in nature you must learn to use your senses to find the wildlife that is hiding. Once you start to do this you discover that the whole process is massively A: This show is all about thinking rewarding because you are scratching and feeling the depth of our ability an itch you didn’t know you had. and turning up the volume of the senses that we normally suppress. Even in an urban setting the increased Effectively ‘tuning in and turning situational awareness that you gain on’ to nature. from the things we will be talking about can help to make you safe. I will be showing how we can reconnect with an evolutionary Q: What can audiences expect from heritage that stretches right back the show? to the earliest of our ancestors. We have these abilities which are handed Together with the audience we will down by each generation for most go on a voyage of discovery of our of our species’ history. These skills senses. But it won’t be limited to just were essential for survival, and I that - we will be talking about a lot would argue that they still are. It’s more – how we can read a landscape, never been more important than the kind of equipment that we can to feel, understand and connect to use to ‘supercharge’ our senses, and nature than now. how we can use these skills, not only for our own enjoyment and benefit With today’s fast-paced life and the but also to protect wildlife which is rise of technology, everything is such an integral part of the British made very easy. When you go to the countryside.
