A SPECTACULAR and scaly 11 metre high dragon emerges from behind a grassy hillock and begins breathing fire and flinging fireworks at the brave peasants and haughty knights who have been battling beneath it.

Horses fly past at breath-taking speed and a goat nibbles on a fish curing in front of the lake.

It is a marvellous moment of historical madness on a panoramic stage in Bishop Auckland, and suddenly the world seems to be beginning to recover from Covid – you know that post-pandemic normality is returning when the craziness of Kynren opens up for the summer season.

After being shut completely in 2020, yesterday the cast performed their final dress rehearsal of their new show before it opens on Saturday.

It is a 50-minute performance called Fina and the Golden Cape which will either be a standalone attraction for those wanting an afternoon in the 11Arches park, or it will be an appetiser for those attending the evening extravaganza.

As well as the fearsome firesome dragon, the new show features clashing swords, flashing horses and grazing goats in a time-honoured battle between good and evil. It includes a cast of 50 volunteers plus the voices of Hugh Bonneville, Rory Kinnear and Ben Miller, and three amazing international stunt riders.

“We need the return of the feelgood factor after the pandemic,” said Anne-Isabelle Daulon, the chief executive of 11Arches who has created the new show with Kynren’s resident equine expert Anna Warnecke. “We need escapism, and we hope people will come out of here feeling exhilarated.”

11Arches is beneath an old railway viaduct on the northern outskirts of Bishop Auckland. There’s a tingle of excitement as you descend the bank from the bridge into the enchanted loop of the Wear where for four years until the pandemic struck the nightshow had been performed. In the show 1,000 volunteers bring 2,000 years of spell-binding British history to life, ending with a fantastic firework finale.

For this season, as well as the nightshow, there is the daypark, which opens at midday, with a Viking Village and Lair, a Dancing Waters display, a maze and an immersive library where fictional things go terribly wrong, plus the new show, which is performed on the large stage at 4pm.

“We had no revenue last year and we received no public money so it has been very difficult, but Jonathan Ruffer (the financier turned philanthropist who has bankrolled Kynren and the transformation of Auckland Castle) pledged to give us the money to ensure we were in a position to open the park this year,” said Ms Daulon. “It was important for us not to give up on our dream. Now we need our audiences, like every other cultural place in the country.”

The new show is set in an unspecified era when the peasants come under attack from a pantomime villain, King Marek, aided by his Dark Rangers and his comic conductor, Brom (voiced by comedian Ben Miller). The peasants fight back with their heroine, Fina, winning jousting matches and scarily fast chariot races against the best of the Dark Rangers.

But the battle is unequal, and Fina is taken prisoner, forcing the peasants to utilise the unreliable magical spells of blacksmith Hephy (voiced by Bonneville).

The spells, though, only summon up the dragon, who has to be defeated – and Fina is the hero of the hour as the peasants and the rangers unite to see off the evil, fire-breathing beast, and everyone celebrates with amazing equestrian stunts and feats of strength and agility straight from the gymnastics floor of the Olympics.

The 50 minutes of the show fly by, and with an exciting day-long attraction plus the nightshow, plus the increasing pulling power of Auckland Castle, it is hoped that visitors will want to stay locally and inject money into the local economy.

Ironically, when an outdoor nightshow was first mooted a decade ago, critics said the northern climate of County Durham would be its downfall. But having survived the pandemic and entered into the era of staycations, the healthy fresh air setting could be the making of Kynren. This riotous romp through 2,000 years of British history, which for 2021 comes with added dragons, feels extremely right for now.

  • The 11Arches park is open for six Saturdays this year from August 7 to September 11. Admission to the daypark is £10 for children and £15.50 for adults if booked online in advance. The Kynren nightshow is also performed on the six Saturdays, with tickets from £25 to £59 – although there are deals if daypark and nightshow are booked together. Go to 11arches.com for details.

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