Midsummer Night's Dream by the Castle Players @ Bowes Museum

Surely just as Shakespeare intended !

There's little that can compare to a British summers' eve; the smell of cut grass, the smack of leather on willow, the distant drone of a tractor bailing hay.  Well, that's the idealistic view, the one we all hold dear as a lifelong memory, but all too often the reality is made up of dodging the rain &  shivering in the cold breeze.  Now after last nights show I have a new benchmark for an ideal summer night - sitting in the open air watching the Castle Players perform yet another masterpiece of Shakespearean majesty.

I don't think there could be anywhere in the world that would have provided a better venue for this show; the magnificent Bowes museum behind us, the dappled sunlight over the open

air 'stage' in front and the sense, even before the show started, that we were in for something quite magical.  The Castle Players, quite rightly, have built a reputation for being one of the very best companies when it comes to producing open air theatre; their use of the natural surroundings is quite brilliant and their ability to draw in the audience into an intimate space and yet to preserve the grandeur not limited by curtains, wings and stage screens is unique in the modern day of technical gadgetry. Add to this the complete joy and enthusiasm with which each and every cast member performs and it leaves you feeling quite humbled in the fact that they are, after all, an amateur production company (although purely only in name).

I learned from watching last years show that it's very difficult to single any of the cast out for individual praise; this is not me being conditionally sycophantic, they all DO play their roles to the highest level and ensure that the show overall is much much more than the sum of it's parts.  Having said that, the Director, Simon Pell deserves credit for his vision, creativity and willingness to allow a more organic flow to the show than previous versions I have seen - it was this which added to the magic of the evening and drew out the essence of Shakespeare's most fantastical of plays.

The soundscape produced for this latest offering was simply stunning - I had doubted that it would be possible to produce a soundtrack in the open air which would be wide and deep enough to truly envelope the audience but I was very wrong indeed.  Composed and recorded by Andy Yeadon, we were held in awe from the very first note, not once did the sound distort or feel strained and the acoustics, for all that we were sat outside, were as crystal clear as from any high fidelity multi speaker surround sound system.

As they proved last year by being invited to perform for the RSC Cultural Olympiad Open Stages Festival in Stratford, The Castle Players are recognised across the country as one of the very best; on the strength of this years production that reputation can only be further enhanced - a true credit to the North East and one which we can be very proud of.

Shows sell out almost as soon as tickets go on sale (and rightly so) so I'm afraid that if you haven't got tickets for this summer's production then you may be out of luck - check out their website at www.castleplayers.co.uk for details.  

What I can say is that there are two more productions confirmed - The Hound of The Baskervilles for their Winter production and Romeo & Juliet for next Summer's outdoor show (which is already writ large in my diary).  Till then, I can but dream of a midsummers eve, not too distant but one which will live long in the memory.

The Governess @ Darlington Civic

Set in 1860, the tale of The Governess centres around the disappearance of a young infant from his bed and the ensuing turmoil which befell almost everyone concerned.  As is par for the course for Victorian drama and mystery, not is all it initially appears to be, and very soon we are given an insight into some of the usual rather shadier goings on in houses of wealth and prestige.  I'm not sure why, but most tales of this period take great pleasure in portraying the now stereotypical blend; driven master of the house who has at least one lover 'on the staff'; the put upon/ ill /misunderstood wife; a couple of older children who cry out for their parents attentions (usually in the form of rebellious behaviour) and of course the all seeing, all knowing but never saying housekeeper.

Written by Patrick Hamilton (who is perhaps better known for Gaslight) this tale follows the aforementioned formula very, very closely, which is a shame as it means it also follows the now cliched telegraphed plot, lack of twists and monotonously paced slow-burn lead to the final, fully expected reveal.  There is never quite enough depth to each character to allow the audience to form an emotional attachment and because of this they also have no opinion on the outcome.

The first act plays out the relationships between the Ethel Fry, the titular Governess (Jenny Seagrove) , her young charge Ellen (Lydia Orange) and Mr George Drew (Colin Buchanan).  There are glimpses of some repressed sadism in the way Ms Seagrove portrays Fry, but not enough to really feel that she is dangerous.  Likewise, Mr Drew is a driven, successful, no nonsense 'master of the house' yet he seems lost and unsure of what he is when alone with Fry.  It is somewhat unfortunate for the attempted building of tension that Ellen turns out to be an all-seeing somnambulist who, despite the best endeavours of Fry, manages to pretty much give the end game away before the close of act one, leaving the audience just waiting to collectively murmur "thought so".

The 2nd act is somewhat better, all for the introduction of Peter Bowles as DI Rough - the Victorian version of Columbo without the brown mac.  Mr Bowles brings his much more insightful character to life with humour, matter of fact deductions and timing which held the audience even though they still knew whodunit.  The end scene, with Fry confronted by her crime, sees her descend into a bizarre, poetry quoting regression - a sort of lite version of a mental breakdown.

If you're looking for something to rival Oscar Wilde's word plays, or The Woman in Blacks scares, or Dickens depth of characters then this play really isn't for you; if however you want another good Victorian tale set in an Upstairs/Downstairs style house which won't tax the brain then this will certainly fill your evening (or at least part of it).