Shakespeare in Love and War

Given the constraints that we have all had to endure over the past 18 months, it was a real pleasure to be invited to review this production.  SATG had to cancel their production of Twelfth Night back in 2020 and this is a lovely (and lively) substitution.

Performing in the courtyard of this venerable hotel brings its own issues but, in this instance, the benefit of performing outdoors (even with social distancing) came to the fore.  Fortunately, it was a balmy summer evening making the whole experience a real joy.

Richard Brown has written a one act play that encapsulates the best bits of Shakespeare’s work, I had to confess that, although I do like Shakespeare’s work, I am not an aficionado.  He said I was exactly the type of audience member he had in mind when he wrote it, and I must agree with him   It is a fast paced romp through many of the Bard’s plays and well done to the cast (and the audience) for keeping up.

The cast were all excellent, switching from character to character in a flash with small, limited costume changes to accentuate this.  Reuben Milne played the flamboyant ‘Director’ carrying out a Narrator style role.  I loved his performance.   Many may not have noticed his by-play, running lines and gestures alongside the actors, I did, and it was a treat to watch.  Maggie Redgrave ably supported him as the ‘Stage Manager’ and she had some great ‘put down’ lines that she delivered with great aplomb.

There were some notable highlights in the performance; James Barwise with the famous Henry V speech, both the balcony and death scenes from Romeo (played well by Jordan White) and Juliet (delightfully played by Georgie Bickerdike).  Ryan Coetsee played the fool very convincingly, with some great facial expressions.  One of the joys of this venue is that we were very close to the cast, so this was very effective.  Ryan also sang well with original music by Ian Favell.   Simon and Charlotte Maylor, as real life husband and wife, were played the scenes where close contact was essential and their delivery of the extract from Taming of the Shrew was very entertaining.  Ashton Cull gave very convincing and well observed performances as Sir Toby Belch and Falstaff.  Rebecca Gilbert swept up a lot of the remaining female parts and her performances were varied and effective.  Finally, Lynne Livingstone, having played many of the other female parts available, came into her own as Malvolia (a gender swapped version of Malvolio) and delivered the famous (infamous) letter in Twelfth Night.

I loved the asides and interjections referencing the current situation and the use of a very small number of props created everything that was needed.

Not being an aficionado might have helped me as I was able to watch the play without considering what had been left out.  I suspect Shakespeare purists may have had a bit more difficulty!  But it was a lovely evening in very pleasant company, exactly the antidote needed at the end of a long and tedious 18 months.

I must finish by congratulating everyone at SATG for putting on this production.  The organisation was impeccable, the FOH people were helpful in finding us our seats in a socially distanced audience space and it was just lovely to be back watching live a performance again.

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