Midsummer Night's Dream

Magic in the gardens

Last year, we decided not to perform our usual outdoor theatre show in St Leonard’s Gardens, writes HOT’s John Knowles and it paid off, returning this year, renewed and invigorated with many of the original cast (in new roles) and new blood. We are proud to say that the show was a triumph. With sell out performances, amazing reviews and a wealth of positive comments, A Midsummer Night’s Dream proved to be our most successful show to date.

Many people commented on the quality of acting and directing (and several made favourable comparisons to the Globe, which is indeed flattering). Plenty more commented on the obvious warmth and generosity that comes across from the company and more than a few wonder why we don’t tour the shows we create – and in truth it has crossed our minds. But in essence, we are what we are, a group of local performers who love creating shows in St Leonard’s Gardens. We try to keep the prices affordable and we aim to create the best we can on a shoe string. Of course, we’d love the money to do a bigger production number or to actually pay ourselves a living wage, but in the end, we do it because we love it and we want to entertain, you, our community and I think we achieved that.

Next year is the 450th anniversary of the bard’s birthday and we would love to pull out all the stops, to raise the bar that little bit higher.  We’d love to find a sponsor to support the production costs of the show (insurance alone costs us nearly two hundred pounds). In the meantime, a huge thanks goes out to those in the local community who sold tickets for us for free, who let us use the lodge to store all our kit and use as a green room, who housed us when it rained and who let us rehearse in their back rooms. All of you made it possible.  See you in 2014.

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