By Mark Green

Published at 11:26, Thursday, 25 February 2010

MOUNTAIN-top tales, dramatic dance and topical songs launch spring at Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake.

The new shows can’t guarantee a change in the weather, but they will send you home humming a tune, with a spring in your step and warmed by tales of derring-do.

In Top of the World on Monday, Spike Theatre promise to take you on a journey of re-discovery, transporting you back to 1953 when beekeeper Edmund Hillary and porter Tenzing Norgay began their treacherous ascent of Everest.

Taking inspiration from the two men’s biographies and the Oscar-nominated documentary The Conquest of Everest, there’s projected animation, puppetry and lots of (fake) snow to whisk you away from your seat to the top of the world on this epic tale of adventure.

On Tuesday, the stunning contemporary choreography of Ludus Dance takes to the main stage.

ID:me features four different doorways and four different lives. Behind each front door a dancer moves to a unique rhythm.

Humorous characters, emotive music, witty choreography and incisive social comment combine to engage both the young and the young at heart alike.

For those who like infectious tunes and topical, biting lyrics, former chart-toppers Chumbawumba will be playing at the theatre on Wednesday.

Famous for their left-wing politics and for soaking Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at The Brits, the band will be showcasing their new album ABCDEFG. The band sweep through several hundred years of what music means to people and what it means to them.

New songs cover such diverse topics as wearing iPods in public places, censorship of music under repressive regimes and the power of the voice.

They are joined by O’Hooley and Tidow, whose contemporary folk songs offer a melancholic and sometimes uncomfortable take on life.

If you are under 26, you can get a free ticket to see Top of the World and ID:Me.

Tickets are available for all these events. Visit www.theatrebythelake.com or call the box office on 017687 74411.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk