Outdoor entertainment - Olympian style in the Palace gardens ...

Under a Big Top in Kensington Gardens story telling comes to life ... this is the latest collaborative venture backed by Three Sixty Entertainment group ... the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the Park.

The Big Top c/o CTS Catholic Compass

Where the anticipation of a circus arriving in town, the imaginary magic it brings to children around the ring, then that envelopment of the audience within the progress of the story.

Under canvas there are no walls, little scenery (because where would you put it without blocking the audience’s view) – a dramatic space is created where everyone has equal vision ...

The Lion and the White Witch c/o The Guardian

... there is magic, circus and complex choreography ... ‘tree people’ drop from the ceiling on ropes, snow falls from the roof, mist hangs in the air ...

... this is olympian drama at its best ... where actors have to be physically fit ... they spend hours practising ... skipping, doing press-ups and back-flips ... they have to walk on stilts and bungee jump into the air ...

... their final audition was like an horrific boot camp --- for a play, a daily performance .... not a few rounds of an Olympic event.

c/o The Guardian:  Lucy and Mr Tumnus

The animation and video designer (in charge of the images projected onto the large concave canvas skin that runs all around the inside of the tent) ...

... provides the main innovation of this ‘state-of- the-art 360-degree projection effect’ which promises that ‘the theatre is literally part of the show’.

As you would expect there is a wardrobe, a lion and a witch ... the wardrobe telescopes, up and down, out of the stage ... when smoke billows out from its sides, the actors  look like they are coming out of a rocket ...

Max Humphries with his 'Aslan' design

... the lion, Aslan, has taken on a role of his own ... the puppeteer creates – discards – revises – creates – abandons – part creates – reinvents ... eventually Aslan metamorphosed – the puppeteer has succeeded  ...

... then David Suchet’s (the 'Poirot' actor) takes on the vocal role of Aslan ... he ‘met’ the three puppeteers as they put the lion through its paces to help him prepare to voice the role ...

... Suchet said it is rare for an actor to meet the character that you’ll be portraying in real life ... so having seen this shire-horse size of Panthera Leo ... we’ll be hearing Aslan in full low throttle ...

Kensington Gardens in winter

The White Witch remains true to the tale – enslaving the children, ensuring the canvas is enveloped in the dark gloomy white of perpetual winter ... while the saga unfolds, good comes to the fore and the tale is told.

You wonder what Lewis and Tolkien would have made of the theatrical productions from their stories – bearing in mind they were both Oxford University Old English and mythic scholars of the 1930s ...

Original Hardcover - 1950

Lewis seeing Narnia recreated on stage, and now in a Big Top with projected scenery where Mr Tumnus, the fawn, is tattooed with henna and woad body art ....

... or Tolkien when Maoris were seen doing the haka before battle ... perhaps gold miners doing the Gumboot Dance might have been preferable for Tolkien born in the mining region of South Africa.

Susan's picture of Cardiff Castle from Bute Gardens

Susan Sheid in her blog Prufrock’s Dilemma mentions walking in Bute Park abutting Cardiff Castle on her recent Musical Journey to Wales, when she linked the singing wafting across the air – as coming from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The link to this production of Narnia .. is that no less than 14 graduates from the Royal Welsh are all actively participating ... including Max Humphries the puppeteer, Tom Scutt the show’s designer, et al ...

So the smell of saturated grass, the trudge through the gloopy mud, the rain-lashed tent, the picnic tables outside, the tent’s soft darkness beckoning ... as Narnia comes to life – all make for a beguiling typical British tented summer show ... where anything is possible ...

Roll up, roll up ... Narnia’s come to town ....

Kensington Palace from the gardens

The Telegraph article, by Sally Williams, from which much of this information was taken – for the full detail please go here.

Susan Scheid’s blog post:  Wales Diary, Art and the Aquabus ... Susan is incredibly knowledgeable about music, art and literature and always entices with her ensemble creations for each blog post – enjoy.

Here’s the YouTube video (2.32) of the puppeteer Max Humphries taking us through the process of making Aslan for this production.

The Show:  Here are more snapshots about the production, together with the charitable arm of the enterprise ... art and as part of the 'Get London Reading' Campaign.

 Hilary Melton-Butcher

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