(4 / 5)

Summer is here and despite a lapse in sunshine, there’s nothing like watching history in such a cultural setting. In the middle of Cardiff Castle, surrounded by its brick walls, we were encouraged to sit on the gardens and in our own chairs, enjoying picnics and little tipples while British Theatre unfolds.

It’s surely a testament to Shakespeare and his wonderful writing that we are still taking his plays and producing our own adaptations.  It is of course also down to the performers to bring it alive.

Often companies to revive the well known plays to a modern audience will base it in a familiar setting for them to relate to and get other generations involved. And there’s no quabble that there are beautiful renditions in this manner. However, sometimes it’s just what you need to see his plays produced in the original way they were.

There was an essence of The Globe about the setting (despite us sitting down).  While the heavens wanted to open no one moved, rooted to the ground.  The company did what is very rare to see these days and had an all male cast – back to the roots, men were the ladies and doubling up was continuous. Such brilliant actors, this only added to the comedy and the men playing women did the right amount of ‘hamming up’ for comedy and reflect the writing without ruining the character or the illusion. Transitioning to other male characters, they easily transformed their voices and persona to counteract previous characters, showing the brilliance of these performers.

Benedict was especially funny. A evidently talented and comical actor, he executed his actions and the text with the right intention and was by far the most hilarious on stage – one time flinging himself across the stage and surprising other actors into corpsing. Some see this as a bad aspect but audiences enjoy seeing the performer’s finding things humorous and showing their enjoyment of what they are doing.

The Lord Chamberlain’s men will be continuing to tour this wonderful production. Spice up your Summer with some old fashioned fun. If you’re unable to experience The Globe, this production is a close second.

(3 / 5)

In the heart of Dartmoor, tales of murder, mystery and mythical creatures has haunted the moors for decades. Thanks for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, my family home is full of these attributes and fame, however it has been little explored on site in the form of theatre.

With the moors in the distance and the back drop of the Moorland House Hotel, Yelverton, I took my Sherlock fanatic parents to witness this infamous fictional tale.

Open air theatre I find is always quite a difficult type of theatre.  You have very little prop and staging to use as touring with this is very difficult as well as little access to the lighting, sounds and special effects we experience in indoor performances.  Chapterhouse- well known for their many outdoor travelling theatre productions luckily has this under control and still lead us to enjoy the changing scenery and premises with the use of song and professionally conducted actors.

Sherlock Holmes as a character I find is very difficult and quite an achievement to be able to play. I am never entirely sure who he is meant to be. Adaptations from the older days show him to be very serious and controlling while recent performances make him a little more eccentric than usual and almost comical.  Chapterhouse played upon both of these, at times Holmes being almost a buffoon in his performance to other times a leader and quite demanding. Whether this is Sherlock or not is entirely up to interpretation- myself is still on the fence of who I think he should be.

To support this take on the story to stage , the use of a man dressed in a pantomime dog’s costume and play upon the writing was used for comedy and the audience really seemed to enjoy this. Whether this is appropriate for such a genre of writing I am unsure but without access to means that in house theatres could produce, maybe this comical view is a good way to address that.

Overall I did enjoy this production. It certainly felt that while we were viewing a story on a cold Moor (while in reality is the sunny Summer)that we were involved in the story, and with the real Moor nearby, who knows what could be lurking on our exit!