The significance of the calfskin-bound vintage journal was not obvious to the casual observer. Yet the name was unmistakeable: Slingsby Westbury Bethel, born Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 1861. Slingsby, young family friend of the father of Nonsense Literature, Edward Lear. Slingsby, inspiration and namesake for one of Lear’s Four Little People Who Went Round the World. Bound to this destiny, the boy indeed went on to navigate the globe. His journal is a portal to other times and places; Slingsby was a story-gatherer, recording the myths, legends and lore of folk encountered across baking deserts, thrumming jungles, glittering cities and mist-shrouded seas. Today, this precious volume is guarded by a theatre company named in Slingsby’s honour. The original manuscript is under lock and key but its extraordinary stories escape like smoke, one by one. Inhabiting our contemporary band of artistic adventurers, Slingsby’s tales of wonder take form before you on the stage.