REVIEW ‘ROMEO AND JULIET’ – July/August 2008

It was an idea ambitious, exciting, dynamic in scope; to take a space apparently not intended for a stage, and call it one; to place an actor in that space and set the magic of theatre in motion.

The opening street scene, in which rival gangs exploded into the High Street with their jeers and leers, disrupting with riotous and intimidating ease the News Reporter’s prologue, proved most exciting and striking.  These Capulets and Montagues, only seconds past seeming one with the general public, spilled dangerously into this place, raising the stakes, making theatre.

The scene of Juliet’s apparent suicide, set in her ‘bedroom’ (upstairs in the Guildhall) also deserves a mention.  Seated on rows facing a giant double bed, cushioned by a blood-red carpet or an ornate chair, we squeezed into this space with uncomfortable intimacy to witness the Nurse and mother’s discovery of their deadened charge and daughter.  I was the rubber-necker on the motorway, the spectator-voyeur of performance art, the guilty onlooker, delighted and appalled by the scene I had been invited to witness.  The moment touched me as all great theatre should.

There was much in this production to its merit, much to be developed and explored should The Pranksters return to the complex challenge of filling Guildford’s range of open spaces.

Extracts from review by Madeline Clements – Surrey Advertiser

Review ‘Lark Rise’ Guildford Castle Grounds July 2009

The Pranksters’ summer show was simply charming, beautifully presented with tenderness and humour. Returning to the Castle Grounds after their innovative promenade production last year, the company was keen to try something different. They successfully rose to the challenge and evoked nostalgia for a bygone age, albeit it a time when living was hard and people were keenly aware that change was coming.

The play ends with a brutal reminder of what 1914 would bring. Director Jenny Haynes peopled the village of Lark Rise with a delightful cast of real ‘characters’, and although the action takes place over just one day, we found ourselves really involved with the people we met there. With a few simple props and some admirable mime, the whole world of the village in a farming community was created before our eyes. At one point, so convinced were we that the actors were really looking at a bird, that we all craned to see – a magical moment.   The whole company is to be congratulated on a great piece of ensemble work, but special mention must go to Philip Hutchinson, who demonstrated versatility in a number of roles and was Musical Director. The simple setting of the songs, sung lustily by the whole company (and some of the audience) made this a really special production. Jane MacIntyre

Posted by Guildford Amateur Theatre Association on 15 September 2009