TWENTY-FIVE years of Stomping around the globe still hasn’t blunted Fraser Harrison’s enthusiasm for the unexpected art of entertainment using dustbins, brooms, matchboxes and lighters.

“It will be 25 years since we went to the Edinburgh Festival in August. I remember when Luke Cresswell first asked me to do it as a three-week experiment to see if it had legs and we could sustain a theatre show where the narrative was purely rhythmic,” says Harrison.

He was one of the original seven-piece when Cresswell and Steve McNicholas first came up with the idea of making entertainment with everyday objects.

“The success is constantly and pleasantly surprising,” says the Glasgow-born trumpeter, who is now the casting director for the London and European productions of Stomp. The multi-million-pound franchise is back out on the road in the UK and visits Newcastle Theatre Royal for a week on Monday.

“The original ideas of the show came from busking and it took the essence of that performance and took that idea one step further. A drummer could use a lamppost, a fence or a dustbin and it was that idea of finding genuine found objects to create a show that was originally 40 minutes long. Now, it’s an hour and 40 minutes so it has grown a bit.

“It’s the sounds of the city if you just take a minute to stop and listen to the civic cacophony. A big part of the appeal is that we keep the audience smiling because there is an accessibility where if it’s a person playing a broom or a dustbin, there is no barrier. A person can look and say, ‘I could do that, or at least have a go at that’. It might not involve ten years in classical music training. Sometimes when you see a classical music orchestra, some people can see that barrier because we are so far removed from ever doing that.

“Everyone can have that thought, ‘I won’t ever be sweeping the kitchen same way ever again’. One way or another the majority of people might try that differently in future. It might be shaking the car keys or even hearing the beat in their steps. It’s all an aspect of the show,” Harrison says.

He finally hung up his Stomp performing boots two years ago, but has immediately also got involved with Cresswell and McNicholas’ latest production called The Lost & Found Orchestra involving the cast playing a host of found objects.

“The nicest thing for me is the longevity of Stomp and there always seems to be another audience coming through and those that keep coming back. I kid you not, you see the show at the beginning of the week at Newcastle and at the end of the week and you will see a different show. That applies in general to live shows, but with Stomp you can follow different characters’ journeys,” says Harrison.

He likes the fact that all the original creators of the show are still involved and Stomp hasn’t been franchised “and given away”.

“We still look after the core intentions even though we’re performing in five cities in the world. I remember sitting in the pub with Luke discussing the first performance and he said the idea was to go to London then New York and Paris. I remember practically spitting my pint out, this was us messing around with tea towels and brooms in a little rehearsal room. It sounded so ridiculous and far removed, but it shows how perseverance and foresight has all been proved right,” says Harrison.

He jokes that casting the shows is a bit of a juggling act and thinks that around 200 performers have earned the right to be part of the Stompers family.

“Stomp is a very physical show and some people can end up on the road for five or six years and other folk come in and realise after a year that the physicality is taking its toll of their body. Some folk will go to the gym straight after a show and some go to Jim’s Bar,” says Harrison.

The show levels ability with drummers coming in with different perspectives to an actor or a dancer. Once they are in the show there is a symbiotic process of the dancer showing the drummer how to stretch and use his body and the drummer can help the dancer with the rhythmic side of the performance.

“For me, I only ever missed a couple of shows over the years because I stubbed my toe off-stage and I pulled something in my back while taking a bow. How ironic is that. The most common injuries on Stomp are lower back and torn meniscus in the knee. I don’t anyone pretends that this is an easy show to do,” Harrison says.

He says he retired at 50 because he didn’t want to be the Mick Jagger of Stomp.

“If I’m honest, I did my last Stomp show at 50 and felt, ‘Do I need to be doing this?’ I don’t think it’s a younger person’s game, because the annoying thing is that some of the 21-year-olds get injured after three months.

“I think we’ll be Stomping off to heaven, or to hell... that’s where all the good people are.”

n Stomp, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Monday to Friday. Box Office: 08448-112121 theatreroyal.co.uk