Peter Searles
20 February 2002
Peter Searles “Anybody been to Bolivia?” Peter Searles asked the full house downstairs at Windows Arts Centre. “Anyone want to go? Well, you might change your mind after you hear this.” When Searles last came to Bath, a couple of years ago, he gave us Through Peru, a reportedly true tale of his South American adventures, or at least the beginnings of them. This time he was back as part of the Fringe Festival with Bolivia & Beyond, further tales of his adventures that he swears are not of the tall variety. The story starts in the Cross Keys, an English pub in the depths of Peru, with Searles playing darts with Pierre, a red-bearded adventurer from South Africa en route to Houston where he aims to become the first Afrikaan into space. From there, the wildly entertaining tale took us onto the set of a punk Peruvian version of Cinderella, inside a nightmarish Bolivian jail, and into the arms of a local female police lieutenant intent on a shotgun marriage. The goal of the two adventurers is to find the lost world of Shamballah, but to find out whether they achieve it, you’ll have to meet up with Searles on his travels. Find out when he’s next in town at www.petersearles.com. And the highlight of the night? I guess it had to be the recipe for boiled tarantula, told entirely in Spanish, but all too understandable.
Matthew Zuckerman