© Tread the Boards 2010

“For 2010 we have invited Tread the Boards and Noble Ox Theatre to be our ‘In House’ Theatre Company. They were here last year with ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ which was a great success and a sell-out. We are delighted to welcome them to The Attic Theatre here at Cox’s Yard and we look forward to their season of work”.

 

Cox’s Yard

 

Review from Stratford Herald

Award-winning actors upstaged by an eight-year-old’s laughter

To tackle all of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets in just under 2 1/2 hours is no mean feat, but to get upstaged by an eight-yearold in the audience couldunderstandably tip any actor over the edge.Not so for the three menfrom Tread the Boards Theatre Company who were performing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare—Abridged! at theAttic Theatre in Cox’s Yard,Stratford on Sunday. They took young Molly, whose infectious laughter.and comments had the rest of the audience in stitches, in their stride—even during the famous ‘To be or not to be’ speech from Hamlet—and made her constant wonderful expressions and exclamations part of the show. The trio, John-Robert Partridge as Daniel Singer, Daniel Gough (Jess Borgeson) and Andrew Maguire (Adam Long) had made the West End smash hit their own. It was originally made famous by The Reduced Shakespeare Company, but the Tread the Boards actors, under the direction of Ash Bayliss, have created a performance which no doubt could be made famous in its own right because of their unique personalities and the added contemporary asides. Mr Bayliss’s set, a simple cloth backdrop with backstage space, worked well in what historically has proved a difficult space to perform in. The action including all of the audience and even a flipchart didn’t obscure sight-lines. But the real praise should go to the performers whose unrivalled energy captivatedShakespeare lovers and haters alike as they rollercoastered through a two-man version of Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus as a cooking show, Othello as a rap, the Histories as a rugby match and Hamlet, which was finally performed backwards. Their fast costume changes were slick as they switched from character to character and a special mention should go to Mr Maguire who managed to play all of Shakespeare’s women. They promised the audience that they would ‘laugh until they can laugh no more’ and judging from the reactions of Molly and many of the audience that night, they didn’t disappoint. This theatre company seems to be going from strength to strength—at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival it took the Dark Chat Reviews award for ‘best play’ for the The Importance of Being Earnest which had premiered at the Attic Theatre. And judging from their performance on Sunday, the company is destined for even greater things.

**** Four Star Review from Broadway Baby

 

This is a very traditional production, but none the worse for that. An almost capacity audience enjoyed themselves a great deal. Algernon and 'Jack' (Matthew Huntbach and John-Robert Partridge) gave two very good performances, and they made great use of the space – this was close to theatre-in-the-round. They energetically chased each other in pursuit of the elusive cigarette case.

 

Miss Prism (Elaine Turrell) was a delight. You did feel that she might like to climb up Dr Chasuble – even perhaps to eat him! Jay McCabe as Dr Chasuble was suitably formal in a rather nervy way, though his mannerisms could perhaps have been a little restrained. I liked having the servant, Laine (Ciaran Brown) nicking some sherry right at the start. His manner was unchangingly lugubrious - very fitting.

 

Lady Bracknell (Christine Hart) was firm and commanding, but her particularity could have been further developed. So much attention is given to her at several points, and a very strong even overpowering character is called for. Cecily Cardew (Catherine Prout) and Gwendoline Fairfax (Donna Cooper) – the one girlish and calculatedly spontaneous, the other firm and purposeful - were very good in their plotting scene together.

 

The diction was of a very high standard throughout. The company seemed to relish what they were doing, which adds to the enjoyment. If there are any tickets left for the remainder of the run, I would recommend getting hold of one.

 

 

 

***** Five Star Review from DarkChat Reviews

 

 An impeccable portrayal of the timeless Oscar Wilde classic. Legs may have dozed off, but that was more to do with the absence of sleep for over 30 hours rather than the show itself, props were minimum but effective , the costumes perfect and the acting...well, we can't begin to describe just how impressive this young cast were. Hopefully we will see more of them in the future, particularly Matthew Huntbach who could not of been more incredible as Algie. It proved to be the last night in and all too short Edinburgh run, and Tread the Boards have al ot to be proud of. Stunning!

 

 

Review from Red Brick Online

 

Tread the Boards The­atre Com­pany tackle Robert Louis Stevenson’s leg­endary tale in the apt Vic­to­rian set­ting of this charm­ing lit­tle theatre.

Local to the West Mid­lands, ‘con­tem­po­rary twists on clas­sic works’ are clearly what Tread the Boards excel in. Here they present their UK pre­mière of Noah Smith’s adap­ta­tion of Stevenson’s orig­i­nal novella.

The dual nature of man is a the­ory Dr Henry Jekyll is obsessed with, and whilst his peers scoff, his sup­pressed self, Edward Hyde, grows ever stronger and more destruc­tive as his creator’s world vis­i­bly crum­bles around him. The audi­ence are jolted into Jekyll’s descent into mad­ness, as the faces of good and evil bat­tle it out through a sin­gle man.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, the meek, bespec­ta­cled ‘pil­lar of the com­mu­nity’, under­goes a com­plete trans­for­ma­tion through res­i­dent scare actor Dan Gough, who emerges, hunched, growl­ing and wolf like as Edward Hyde. The audi­ence are quite lit­er­ally show­ered with sweat as Hyde lunges at the front row with mad­den­ing snarls.

The choices and inner tur­moil of both Jekyll and Hyde are always com­mented on by the taunt­ing voices of the ghostly clad Maid and But­ler, pro­vid­ing the audi­ence with a haunt­ing nar­ra­tive and stage direc­tions by torch light. The chill­ing effect of this is strength­ened by the sim­ple spot light­ing and inti­macy of the tiny and charm­ing Old Joint Stock theatre.

Out­stand­ing per­for­mances from the Maid and the But­ler (Jen­nifer Hodges and Andrew Maguire) pro­vide extra sparkle to the play. Their chem­istry is bril­liant, slip­ping effort­lessly between roles and accents  a Cock­ney pimp here, a Glaswe­gian police­man there, high­light­ing their ver­sa­til­ity. They add a touch of dark humour to an oth­er­wise tragic tale.

Tread the Boards delve into the ter­ri­fy­ing pos­si­bil­i­ties, and ulti­mately fatal con­se­quences, of exper­i­ment­ing with the inner self, with their chill­ing adap­ta­tion of a lit­er­ary clas­sic. Let the mon­strous face of Edward Hyde

Review from Mrs Critic Online

“The drawing room of Doctor Henry Jekyll. A well-appointed room, with three chairs, a door…and…a door.”

Wednesday 27th October saw the opening of the UK premiere of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, presented by Tread the Boards Theatre Company. Set to run over Halloween and bonfire night, this performance promises to be an eerie one, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. The show is full of scares and surprises, all of which are best experienced first-hand. Much of the fun is down to not knowing what is going to happen, and so this review isn’t going to be the spoiler kind.

The script, by Noah Smith, is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novella about the dichotomy of good and evil in the human soul. Smith’s version of the tale is a view into the lives of both Jekyll and Hyde, which brings a modern touch to the Victorian horror story. Director, John-Robert Partridge, does an excellent job of interpreting this script with a Halloween twist, and the cast work well together to do justice to his ideas. As a group, they take on their roles with incredible passion and the audience witnesses some fabulous relationships developing as the action plays out.

The role(s) of Jekyll and Hyde are played by scare actor, Dan Gough, who provides an energetic and entertaining performance. The two opposing characters are often seen as caricatures, but Gough is successful in bringing soul to both the men. As Henry Jekyll, Gough is meek and apologetic, bringing sadness to the role. In stark comparison, his portrayal of Edward Hyde often shocks the audience with explosive violence and intense passion. The most notable characters, however, have to be the Maid and the Butler, played by Jennifer Hodges and Andrew Maguire. Their connection and chemistry as a duo was fantastic, and they managed to be utterly chilling yet totally captivating in both their dialogue and movements. Together they did much to enhance the creepiness of the whole evening.

Right from the beginning of the performance, the audience are put on edge by ghoulish lighting and eerie music, and each act opens with an incredible sense of fear and foreboding. Props and scenery are minimalist and multi-purpose, which suits the venue and script, and allows for less set re-modelling between scenes. As it is, the set changes are just as entertaining and creepy as the story itself; enchanting, but in an almost hideous way. As a venue for this kind of performance, the Attic Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon seemed both apt and atmospheric. The auditorium only seats around a hundred people, so the audience are never far from the action. This also works really well for this performance, and the feeling of closeness to the players definitely enhances the sense of horror.  The Old Joint Stock is a similar venue, and so Partridge predicts that the performances held there will be just as successful as those in Stratford.

In summary? Thrilling, chilling, enchanting and captivating. Perfect for this time of year. Get your tickets now…

 

Stratford Herald

An innovative and entertaining production… The Macbeths – in all their grisly twisted descent into murderous madness – were intensely played by John-Robert Partridge and Catherine Prout. A great Addition to this year’s Fringe

 

 

Audience Comments

 

Excellently Executed, Flawless and Thoroughly Entertaining

If there are tickets left for the remainder of the run I would recommend getting hold of one

A sparkling cast – great night out for all

Absolutely Fantastic

The performances are up there with the Royal Shakespeare Company