Up Your Nimrod

Description

‘Up Your Nimrod’ is the story of a close-knit Cornish community taking on greedy construction giant, Nimrod, owned by narcissistic property tycoon, Joe King. King has persuaded the cash-strapped parish council to sell their village hall. Unbeknownst to them King already owns nearby land and now has precious access rights for his grotesque new plan; Cornwall’s biggest second-home sky-scraper. Protagonist Lamorna Brown, a clumsy Brown Owl and oracle of village gossip, soon uncovers King’s plan. Brown gathers her loyal troop of Brownies to stage a protest. A freak gust of wind sends their campfire flames out of control. Pixie Sixer, Tamsin, 10, shouts panicked instructions in Cornish; her mother tongue. This is a moment of revelation for Brown as she remembers an old planning loophole which stipulates planning forms can be written in Kernewek (Cornish). Unlucky for King! There’s no Google Translate, only Tamsin! Using ambiguous translation and a trusty pet lizard, King’s plans are scuppered. A rare newt is called ‘Pedrevan’ in Cornish (though any scaly reptile, however common, would be called the same). With the site declared of significant zoological importance, King’s plans are disrupted, the Hall is preserved and Brown Owl returns to her community space.

Biblical Connection

The Story of Babel is central to the Old Testament worldview. After the Great Flood, an egotistical Babylonian King, Nimrod, persuades his people to build a tower, strong enough to withstand further floods, and tall enough to access the heavens (and other gods). In so doing they believe that they will have the power to bypass God’s Will. God counteracts this threat, not by destructive might, but by dividing and dispersing Nimrod’s followers through the creation of language barriers. From there, in Exodus, God establishes His chosen people, the followers of His Laws. At its heart it’s an allegory for God’s desire that we turn our back on false gods (personal ambition, pride and greed) and follow His Truths alone (community, humility and guardianship of His creation). In our adaptation, proud and narcissistic Joe King’s greedy ambitions are defeated, not by aggression or might, but by the quirky use of language barriers by a humble coastal community banding together to protect God’s world. Wind and fire imagery depicting the presence of God is common in the Old Testament, as well as in Acts2, Pentecost. In our story, we have used wind and fire at the moment of revelation for Brown.