I love supporting local events, so I was thrilled to see outdoor theatre company Illyria Theatre putting on a production in the gardens at Drum Castle.
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| The stage was small, but set behind the beautiful Drum Castle (photo my own) |
As you can see from the photo, the staging unit was small - although they used all of it! There are steps toward the back of the fixture which lead up to a balcony, and this was used for much of the performance. At the beginning, a "mast" was brought up here and a sheet held up, transforming the entire fixture into a ship. Actors who were not on stage came around the sides and threw buckets of water at the stage, while the actors on stage swayed together in the motion of a ship, creating the effect of a shipwreck. The whole scene was imaginative and exciting and achieved a kind of meta-theatricality by drawing attention to the clever staging.
All of the actors doubled up and played multiple roles (the entire play was done with only 5 actors), and the characters were so well developed that it was easy to forget that they were doubling up like this.
It was wonderful to see a female "Prospera". For me, this highlighted how universal the character is, and the most important aspects of her were her bond with Miranda and her power over the island.
