Shakespeare al fresco

Creating an atmosphere: The Lord Chamberlain's Men play in the open

THERE’S something quite refined about spending a summer’s evening watching a performance of a Shakespeare play in the fading daylight. Throw in picnic and a jug of Pimms and it’s pretty much got the quintessential British summer evening.

Shakespeare productions have historically been performed outdoors. The famous Globe theatre, built in London in 1599, was built without a roof, meaning the actors often had to shout their lines and use exaggerated gestures to get over the disrupted acoustics. Outdoor performances of the Bard’s work came back into fashion in 1950s New York, when actors began staging performances in Central Park. It’s a tradition that continues today and New Yorkers can often be seen queuing around the block for hours on end to get a ticket. It’s a trend that is also growing here in Wales.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men have kicked off the Cardiff Festival programme of events with an open-air performance at the city’s castle since 2004. Past productions have included A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night.

This year they performed The Tempest, Shakespeare’s last play, on July 1 and 2. The Tempest is both a comedy and romance, but perhaps one of the playwright’s more unusual works, featuring spirits and magic. The story begins when King Alonso of Naples and his men encounter a terrible storm (or Tempest) while returning from his daughter’s wedding in Africa. The men are stranded on a strange island, inhabited by magician Prospero, his daughter Miranda and a strange spirit named Ariel. Prospero was the Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio, conspiring with Alonso, usurped his position. Prospero uses Ariel and the spirits to meddle in his daughter’s love life, while Alonso’s men stumble around the island, getting drunk and into various scrapes, until Prospero is finally reinstated as the Duke of Milan and ensures a safe journey home for the men.

Named after William Shakespeare’s original troupe of travelling players, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men pledge to follow the same principles of the Bard himself: “Clear, bold and dynamic storytelling in the open air, seasoned with a healthy dose of music, songs and comedy”. The troupe is made up of seven experienced actors and musicians who tour to more than 80 venues around the UK over the summer.

The troupe’s small cast has its pluses and minuses. Men playing woman (as was done in Shakespeare’s day) can be incredibly funny. However, despite sticking quite faithfully to the script, it also meant that large parts of the play were cut, as the actors were forced to double up their parts.

The best parts of the production were the slapstick scenes, which were well choreographed. Personally, The Tempest wasn’t as enjoyable as the other performances by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, but it’s not my favourite of Shakespeare’s works. However, the play is likely to see a resurgence in interest with the imminent release of the film, starring Helen Mirren and Russell Brand.

The winning factor in this event is the spectacular backdrop of Cardiff Castle. As daylight fades the small stage is lit up with spotlights and the castle buildings in the background are illuminated too. The audience (sat on their own camp chairs or picnic blankets) can huddle up and watch the action. It is of course, all in the open air and the play must go on – even in the terrible weather. I gather the audience the night before I went were completely soaked. But we were lucky, and only endured a slight chill at the end.

Less than two weeks later I found myself heading over to the Welsh History Museum in St Fagans for the Everyman Theatre’s performance of Much Ado About Nothing. Founded in 1942, Everyman has held a open air summer festival since 1983 – a mixture of Shakespeare, musicals and plays for younger audiences.

Everyman calls itself “Cardiff’s liveliest and most adventurous theatre company”, so it’s only right that their performance should be something out of the ordinary. And this is definitely what the audience got.

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. The play centres around  gossip, rumour, and  misunderstandings. Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, while later in the play Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar by the villan, Don John. However, the evil trickery is discovered and Claudio and Hero eventually get married, with everyone celebrating at the end.

Everyman set their version of this play in 1940s Messina, featuring British and American allied troops. It meant some fantastic period costumes for the females, forces uniforms for the men and the addition of 40s music, giving an excuse for the actors to lindy-hop and swing dance around the stage. The director’s substitution of nuns replacing the characters of the night watchmen was a rather hilarious turn, if a little out of keeping with the original play – the Mother Superior had a distinctly northern accent and one of the nuns was even named sister Mary Cheesecake.

The actor playing Benedick was the star of the show. He bounced off his co-star Beatrice and played to the audience with his ridiculous dance moves and silly declarations that he would never marry.

What I also enjoyed about this performance was that the audience is given proper seating, undercover, making it more comfortable, particularly if it rains. The lighting at the end was stunning, illuminating the impressive trees in the background. It wasn’t, however, as stunning or as atmospheric backdrop of Cardiff Castle.

If you like something different, an Everyman production is probably for you. But I preferred the traditional Shakespeare ethos of the Lord Chamberlain’s men, in the stunning castle grounds.

Everyman’s summer festival continues until July 31^st with productions of HMS Pinafore and Winnie the Pooh. Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night is at Tredegar House in Newport from Monday 19th – Saturday 24th July.