Wind in The Willows

Scarborough Theatre Company have yet again provided a unique and interesting performance with a
truly immersive experience being had by all. The show’s producer, Alex Weatherhill, has not only put this
show together but also has re written this lovely children’s classic and given it a new twist, with an
adapted script and new songs, while keeping the beloved story. This shows was put together to highlight
wildlife and conservation which was well presented with the entire experience being performed outdoors,
which really added to the ambience of the show. Paige Skillbeck has worked within the theatre company
to produce lovely information and activity packs based around the animals featured in the show.
The staging was simple yet very effective with two elevated area surrounded by a small group of tents.
Props were used exceedingly well to portray a great variety of scene changes without the need for
extensive scenery. This included using blue fabric to represent the river; cartwheels, canopy and hobby
horse to represent a caravan and cardboard panels, umbrellas and steering wheels to be a car.
After seeing a superb performance by Martin Richardson in Hunchback of Notre Dame, it was nice to see
some more of his performing talent by accompanying the show throughout with a keyboard. The music
was gentle and at a lovely volume as not to drown the cast out. Martin worked well with cast and adapted
to any changes that needed to happen as occasionally happens with live shows.
It was nice to see that all the cast were made up of students either from or studying in Scarborough with
all of them studying an element of performing arts at some degree. Phoebe Cheshire who played Toad
was very lively and eccentric which those of you who know Wind in the Willows will agree is very much
Toads persona. After watching Kian Moore play Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame you would
not believe the difference this young actor makes to his own acting to then portray the nervous and polite
Mole. Eddie Golden who played Ratty brought a great level of dynamics to this character and kept his
level of energy up all the way through the show which was shared by the rest of the cast. Georgia
Samuels played a very authoritative and slightly quirky badger and really led the audience participation
sections. Helena Graham who played Chief Weasel portrayed the character with a great deal of swagger
and self-assuredness. Although Josh Simpson (otter), Heather Taylor (Wee Zel) and Lewis Winter (Big
Zel) had slightly smaller roles than the rest of the cast they were never off stage and audiences’ eyes
were drawn to them throughout.
The costumes of the show were very well thought out with all the cast having their own look but with
certain elements that made the group cohesive. Great use was made of hats and bands decorated to
represent different animals which were subtle but obvious enough to help distinguish between.
Noticeable was the mice costumes which although were very small in size made an impact to this section
of the show.
The cast and crew behind this show were clearly enthusiastic of the piece of theatre they have created
and with fun audience participation elements, the audience shared in their laughs. I’d like to end by
wishing the cast every success with their future projects and various degrees and hope to see them
doing what they love best very soon.

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