The Canterbury Tales — Guildford Shakespeare Company
14 – 29 July 2023, The Astolat Pavilion, Stoke Park, Guildford
 
A fun-filled, playful evening for everyone.
 
Ever sat in a classroom feeling bored to tears by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales? The multi-talented GSC have come up with a sparkling, hilarious antidote to memories of dry lessons: an evening of brilliant entertainment. Here in song, dance, puppetry and comic acting they tell seven of Chaucer’s pilgrims’ stories of honour rewarded and greed and vanity punished, while in the audience we’re constantly involved, consulted for our votes, and even contribute our own voices to the organised mayhem on the stage. Little or no ‘fourth wall’ here.
 
The script is based on their 2014 show, which we saw in St Mary’s Church, but it has been updated for the open air setting of the Astolat Pavilion, and feels if anything more like a mediaeval fairground show, despite including twenty-first century electronic audio media. The telling of ‘The Miller’s Tale’, starring Rosalind Blessed, had us in fits of laughter, not only at Ms Blessed’s wonderfully comic Miller, but by the witty use of sound effects
 
One of my favourite tales was the company’s musical version of ‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ with Matt Pinches narrating as a duck who looked very much like Rod Hull’s Emu, with Chanticleer the rooster, his seven wives and a sly fox, all played by huge puppets steered and voiced by Rosalind Blessed, Will Arundell, Nikita Johal and Sarah Gobran. The hen backing-group to the songs sung by Will and Rosalind was a great invention!
 
Will Arundell’s lovely singing voice, musical skills and flair for comic timing are great assets in his various roles, whether as a knight, a scoundrel or a rooster. Nikita Johal proved herself very versatile again — from sinuous, sexy princess, to little old woman, magician or rapacious fox, she’s full of delightful energy. Rosalind Blessed is a constant source of fun and humour and Matt Pinches, the only member of the company who was in the original 2014 show, has a fund of invention and comedy. And Sarah Gobran in red catsuit is the fifth — but not the least —star of the show — we’re so used to seeing her in breeches roles, we absolutely loved her satirical portrayal of the worldly, patronising Wife of Bath!
 
Brought up to date and yet true to the spirit of mediaeval storytelling, this ‘Canterbury Tales’ is a masterpiece of comedy and theatrical invention. Even if you’ve never studied Chaucer, and even if you’re a Chaucer scholar, and whatever your age, you will love this show.

Janice Dempsey
18th July 2023
This review was first published online in Essential Surrey

‘Henry V’ by William Shakespeare.  Adapted by Caroline Devlin
The Guildford Shakespeare Company
15th June – 29th July 2023

A brilliant adaptation —a vigorous, fast-paced history of the battle royal at Agincourt, in the gothic shadow of Guilford Cathedral.  Theatre at its best.

Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O, the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
[Henry V, The Prologue]
 
The stage that the Guildford Shakespeare Company have erected at Guildford Cathedral this summer certainly can bring to life this patriotic English play. With a cast of only five actors, who play 32 different parts between them, this is a brilliant adaptation: fast-paced, clear story-telling, spiced with humour and thought-provoking observations about leadership in war and peace.
 
Briefly, the plot concerns the newly-crowned King Henry V who as a young prince has earned a reputation as a tearway, but who now intends to take on his responsibilities as king. Insulted by the Dauphin of France because of his recent past behaviour he is enraged and decides to take action to regain control of land Britain owns in France, travels across to France with a small army and seizes the town of Harfleur. The huge French army engages with them and, despite all odds, at the famous battle of Agincourt the French capitulate and a peace treaty is negotiated.
 
As always, GSC have utilised the venue to enhance the production. The gothic style of Guildford Cathedral’s exterior becomes in turn the courts of England and France, a rowdy Southampton tavern, the beseiged town of Harfleur and, with imaginative light projections as the sun sets over Guildford, the bloody battlefield of Agincourt. (Unexpectedly, on the night we were there, the heatwave over Guildford broke and for a moment we in the audience feared a reinactment ot the stormy night of the battle of Agincourt, but it passed quickly over.)
 
True to the narrative thread in the play, we are urged to walk the few steps to each scene by the actors themselves. In Shakespeare’s wonderful lines we’re exhorted to visualise stormy seas, creaking rigging, cold fearful dawn and raging battlefield. These poetic interjections ‘breaking the fourth wall’ are one of the most engaging aspects of the play.
 
King Henry is played magnificently by Gavin Fowler, with dignity and passion as he sets out his leadership plans, with humility as he moves among the common soldiers incognito, with ferocity as he threatens Harfleur, and with charm as he woos Catherine, the French princess through whom he seals peace between France and England. He’s also hilarious as a drunken bawd in the tavern scene.
 
Sarah Gobran, playing a range of male characters including the King of France, is alternately regal and measured, fierce and vengeful, treacherous and loyal, always convincing. Matt Pinches succeeds in portraying the effete arrogance of the Dauphin, the oily pomposity of Bishop of Canterbury and making the audience howl with laughter as a drunken soldier of fortune in the tavern scene — his antics with Pistol, Bardolph and the other ruffians are absolutely priceless. Will Arundell’s performance as Pistol and other tough characters on both sides of the channel is taut and energetic, driving scenes of conflict with precision, ferocity and flair. Nikita Johal is effective as chronicler and councillor, and very funny when as Princess Catherine she tries to learn English under  Matt Pinches’ guidance as Alice, her lady-in-waiting.                                                                                                                              

This review was first published online in Essential Surrey

CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Adapted by Glyn Maxwell from the play by Edmond Rostand
Guildburys Theatre in Merrist Wood
19 – 22 July 2023

Most people have heard of Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17th Century character who was known
for his enormous nose, but I for one didn’t realise that he was a real person, not a character
from romantic fiction. For their Picnic Theatre in Merrist Wood this year, Guildburys have
chosen to enact a story of unrequited, unselfish love, bravery, legendary swordsmanship
and literary talent that was written about him by Edmond Rostand 150 years later — and
what a tour de force they’ve made of it! We fall in love with Cyrano as he quips his way
through the hypocrisies of church and state, fights a hundred duels simultaneously, and
answers with cutting wit the taunts and cruel jokes his rivals make about his enormous
nose. Despite his less than romantic appearance he writes his way into the arms of his
childhood love. He dies, aged only thirty-six, by an unknown hand.
​
The historic Cyrano was a poet as well as a playwright, a satirist and an outspoken critic of
the church and the aristocracy, who made many enemies. He fought in the French army in
the Siege of Arras in 1640. Glyn Maxwell, himself a poet, has adapted Rostand’s play to
emphasise the literary element in the real Cyrano’s life, and we chuckled at the many jokes
he includes about the status of the poet in society, then and today. Duelling with words as
well as swords, Cyrano withstands all criticism of his looks but yearns to be loved by Roxane,
his cousin, who loves a more handsome, rather inarticulate soldier, Christian (Gabi King). To
help them both, and protect her from Count Antoine de Guiche, the (initially at least)
dastardly aristocrat claiming droit de seigneur from Roxane, Cyrano writes poems for
Christian to enable him to woo Roxanne, but when he tries to teach his friend to write
poetry himself, the results are hilarious.

Paul Baverstock’s performance as Cyrano is brilliant: he electrifies the atmosphere with his
boldness and his throwaway delivery of witty riposts. The ensemble performances are very
strong too. Richard Walter plays the Parisian pastrycook Ragueneau, jovial, larger than life
and dispensing cakes to the down-at-heel poets who are Cyrano’s supporters and the
motley group of Gascoigne Cadets. Amie Felton portrays Roxane as a giggly airhead craving
flattery in poetry, and Neil James as Count Antoine bears an uncanny likeness to Jacob Rees-
Mogg in the first half of the play — he relaxes into a more respectful equal of Cyrano in the
second half — another memorable performance.

This is a wonderful evening of theatre in the romantic woodland outside Merrist Wood
House. We laughed, we almost cried, and we learned — what more could we ask?
Guildburys have again chosen and performed a play full of surprises, inventive direction and
brilliant performances.​

This review was first published online in Essential Surrey

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Merrist Wood, Guildford 13th – 16th July 2022
5 STARS
 
The Guildbury’s open-air production based on Jules Verne’s fantasy/adventure novel is a miracle of invention and wit. With only his powerful faith in Bradshaw’s Railway Guide (the Bible of Victorian travellers) £20,000 in cash and his faithful manservant Jean Passepartout, Phileas Fogg, a rich, routine-bound business man, sets off to win a wager and prove to his friends that he can travel round the world using steam and locomotive power (there was no air flight at the time, despite the 20th century Disney movie of the story). There are many complicated diversions en route, and a surprise at the end.
 
A huge undertaking — almost equal in its demands to those met by Eddie Woolrich, Guildbury’s director of this adaptation for the theatre by American playwright Laura Eason. Wisely following her advice on staging such a long and eventful journey, he creates London, Paris, Brindisi, Bombay, Hongkong, San Francisco and the boats and trains (and an elephant) between them in true theatrical style. They’re conjured up using the simplest of props, the most assured acting and the wittiest stage-management.
 
The two main characters are brilliantly brought to life by Richard Copperwaite as Phileas Fogg and Joe Hall as Passepartout. Written by a Frenchman, Phileas Fogg is a parody of British 19th colonialism: pedantic, stiff, humourless, arrogant, prejudiced and blinkered to all but his goal to succeed — but not totally immune to modifing his outlook through encounters with the world outside Britain. Copperwaite carries this role off with tremendous commitment, contrasting perfectly with Joe Hall’s Passepartout, who is the archetypal opposite, always open to new encounters and experiences, and easily distracted! Joe’s performance as a victim of a Chinese drug den is priceless, as are his rash interventions when his master is threatened, and his gormless bewilderment in other tight spots.
 
Jonathan Arundel as the bungling Scotland Yard detective following Fogg is a great parody of the English — always sportingly admitting ‘I deserved that’ when he’s knocked down by Passepartout! — and Amie Felton as Mrs Aouda the Indian widow whom they rescue in Bombay is suitably mild-mannered.
 
The ensemble company give tireless support to the central characters, as gentlemen, citizens of the various cities they visit, sailors, ruffians and bureaucrats and consuls.
 
There are wonderful moments of comedy and wit. The elephant ride stands out for me, as does the ‘human pyramid’ that Passepartout demonstrates as a circus performer. The fight scenes are great, and Fogg becoming ‘man of action’ in a storm at sea is memorably funny. I loved a brief witty reference to the red hot-air balloon of the Disney film, too.
 
In one of the hottest July weeks of this century, we picnicked, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed this immersion in true theatre. There may be some tickets left — why not grab some of them and journey to Merrist Wood grounds this week to join in the fun?
Tickets: https://www.guildburys.com/guidburys-picnic-theatre-around-the-world-in-80-daysjuly-13-16/

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ — Guildford Shakespeare Company
 
Rack’s Close, Guildford, 16th June – 2nd July 2022
 
Five stars
 
A magical feast of fun and laughter — GSC does it again.
 
‘If you go down to the woods today…’ you won’t find bears as in A A Milne’s song, but you will find magic all this month. Rack’s Close, Guildford’s best-kept-secret forest, is the venue for the GSC’s latest production. On an idyllic Midsummer’s Day eve we were absolutely enchanted by this scintillating ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, directed by Abigail Anderson.
 
Anderson writes that she aims to make the story ‘clear and exciting’, and she succeeds superlatively. I’ve seen many productions of the ‘Dream’, but never been engaged so fully from the outset with the personalities and motivations of the characters in this fast-moving, farcical and intricate plot. In Scene I the exposition of the four young lovers’ relationships and problems is achieved speedily and dramatically, and Helena (Annabelle Terry) makes her stormy entrance, foreshadowing even more furiously feisty behaviour when the four become hopelessly entangled under the influence of the magic drugs of the spirits of Nature in the forest beyond Athenian civilisation.
 
This is followed up immediately by the introduction of the Mechanicals, who provide Shakespeare’s satire on literary romantic love and the world of play-writing and production —'Pyramus and Thisbe’ — and the iconic character of Bottom the weaver (Rosalind Blessed.) We in the audience loved being cast as potential actors and cheered with the rest when Snug (Dewi Mutiara Sarginson) sat next to us and was chosen to play ‘Lion’ (later in the play the Lion was quite a star!)
 
The main theme is the madness (and comedy) that romantic love can lead to when human society’s expectations are overturned by natural impulses (personified by the fairy court’s interference with human relationships in the forest on the magic night of Midsummer.) In Anderson’s production this modern interpretation of the reality of magic and the supernatural world is beautifully balanced with the beliefs of the 16th Century in magic, spells and sprites.
 
The whole cast is brilliant: I’d single out for special mention the outrageously funny Bottom played with huge gusto by Rosalind Blessed; Annabelle Terry, the dangerously scorned Helena (and the hilariously assertive Wall); and Daniel Kriler, a mischievous Puck who ‘puts a girdle round about the Earth’ using some intriguing  modes of transport.
 
‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ is always a comic highlight, and is so in this production, but it takes a fresh approach to bring to the climactic fight among the four young lovers the kind of knockabout comedy we saw in Rack’s Close this evening —they literally ‘tear strips off one another’!
 
Matt Eaton’s inventive soundscapes included invisible munchkin fairies (perhaps unfairly making Shakespeare’s incantations rather hard to follow) and a very convincing dawn chorus.