As the evening sun dips below the tree line, spreading a warm, orange glow across the yacht-filled river snaking its way across the valley below, the assembled audience feels a sense of anticipation – a tingle of excitement. There’s magic in the air.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare’s comic tale of romance, mischief and woodland sprites, is being brought to life at Sutton Hoo this summer, by theatre company Red Rose Chain.
After 25 years of Theatre in the Forest, this annual festival of open-air theatre has established a reputation for bringing together audiences of all ages and backgrounds in a joyous evening centred around some inventive reworkings of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.
For artistic director Jo Carrick, Theatre in the Forest’s greatest achievement is not only getting people along who don’t normally go to theatre, but also getting them to enjoy something that many people perceive as challenging.
'People think you need to learn a special language to enjoy Shakespeare. People think that Shakespeare is difficult or it isn’t for normal people. I have always wanted to challenge that belief – Shakespeare is for everyone and always has been.
'Audiences at The Globe (during Shakespeare’s lifetime) didn’t need to understand every word to enjoy the play or follow the action. It was all in the presentation and the fact that the actors engaged with everyone in the theatre, from the groundlings at the front to the wealthier patrons in the seats at the back.
'This is what Theatre in the Forest is all about; engaging audiences, making people realise that Shakespeare is fun. Shakespeare can be silly, it does have laughs, but it can also be tense and scary – just like any other play.
'I love the fact that we have audiences that are new to Shakespeare and others who are real Shakespeare fanatics. Our productions are designed to reach out and interact with the audience, to really involve them.
'Our actors develop a genuine relationship with individual members of the audience over the course of the evening; that’s why they are out there meeting the audience before the start of the play. They are laughing and joking as everyone arrives. The rapport between the actors and the audience is already in place before the play begins.'
Jo maintains theatre is all about magic, but A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems particularly supernatural when performed in a woodland setting. 'You feel you are part of the experience from the very beginning. You feel you are part of the action – you’re there with the characters.'
Puppets often play a larger-than-life role in Jo’s productions and this year is no exception. A cluster of fairy queen Titania's entourage are large, ethereal beings which should capture the audience’s imaginations.
They have been designed especially for the production by leading West End model-makers Nick Barnes Puppetry, who created Life of Pi on Broadway. They made the Witches for Theatre in the Forest's Macbeth and last year year made two sheep and a little boy for A Winter’s Tale. This year it’s going to be rather full-on for the puppetry.
'We had a R and D week here and they went away and created these wonderful giants from the ideas that we came up during that week. It’s a brilliant partnership. They may work on massive West End shows, but they enjoy coming here because of the creative freedom they are allowed. They can have fun and have crazy ideas. The hand-sculpted faces are amazing and give each puppet a distinct personality.
'Cobweb, Moth, Peaseblossom and Mustardseed will be played by these giant puppets operated by the actors. They're really impressive. Cobweb has a five meter reach, so it will be a memorable part of the play. Their faces have great expressions.'
Although Theatre in the Forest, has become a summer institution in Suffolk, its origins were almost accidental and it certainly wasn't intended to become an annual event.
The first Theatre in the Forest had more to do with The X Files than Shakespeare, as Red Rose Chain did a site-specific, theatrical investigation of Bentwaters’ UFO incident, staged where it happened in Rendlesham Forest.
'We had a £5,000 grant from the Arts Council to take an artistic experience out into interesting and unusual places, and I thought that a play about the UFO incident at Rendlesham would not only draw in the crowds but it would be a challenge for us as well.'
The event was such a success, both creatively and in terms of audience numbers, that Jo decided to make the pop-up outdoor theatre experience a regular feature of the Red Rose Chain calendar.
Over the next decade Rendlesham became home to the now re-named Theatre in the Forest, which turned into a celebration of Shakespeare. 'We started with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will be completely reimagined this year, and within a few years we were playing to 10,000 people each summer. It just grew and grew.'
After 12 years, looking for a new challenge, Jo moved the production to Jimmy’s Farm, just outside Ipswich, where they built an outdoor stage in a natural bowl in the woodland, giving the pop-up arena a distinctly immersive feel as the trees surrounded audiences on all sides. Actors made their entrances through the greenery giving the whole evening a magical, slightly surreal feel.
'It was lovely at Jimmy’s Farm. We were there for seven years before we moved to Sutton Hoo. They (the National Trust) invited us to relocate because they really wanted us. They were looking to offer their visitors something different during the summer and they liked what we did. They were so enthusiastic, so helpful, so supportive, and it’s allowed us to reconnect with the audiences who used to enjoy our performances at Rendlesham.'
This year, because Time Team are carrying out archaeological excavations the Mid-Summer set has had to be constructed away from the usual spot, but it has proved to be a blessing in disguise. The stage has now been wrapped around a well-established sweet chestnut tree, which really does make this year’s production a piece of theatre in a forest, complete with fairy treehouses and a doorway into a magical world.
Jo observes that the move to Sutton Hoo three years ago has made the summer production ‘fun’ again. 'As much as I love Theatre in the Forest, I have to admit that the size and scale of the event had made the preparations quite onerous.
'It wasn’t just the rehearsals and the script prep but all the logistics, the marketing and the venue prep meant that it was difficult to concentrate on the play.
'Now we have my A team around me, backed up with our regular freelancers who all know what’s what, and with Sutton Hoo being a National Trust site, we have so much support from their lovely volunteers that a lot of the worry has been lifted from my shoulders.
'I can properly connect with the play and with actors, and I am enjoying myself again which is great. This year is going to be a dream, I can feel it. The stage is built, I’ve written all the music, so, for once we are ahead of the game, which feels marvellous.'
Although, at times, the last 25 years has seemed like an awfully big commitment, Jo remains enormously proud of Red Rose Chain’s achievements with Theatre in the Forest.
'I just love the fact that so many people have come and experienced live theatre with us. Many have watched their first Shakespeare plays with us, have clearly enjoyed what they have seen because they keep coming back, often bringing their friends and family.
'I am there every night and I spend just as much time looking at the audience as I do the play. I love the fact that we attract a cross generational audience. We have a lot of grandparents bringing a whole group of family and friends along. We have parents who came to Theatre in the Forest as kids who now bring their own kids.
'My favourites are the teenagers who, at the beginning of the evening, are sat there barely engaging, clearly there under protest. But Theatre in the Forest is such a fun, interactive experience, that very quickly, they are drawn in, thoroughly enjoying themselves, have completely forgotten that they are grumpy teenagers, and it is just a delight to see.'
Theatre in the Forest is always evolving, says Jo. 'It may seem that 25 years is a long time, but we are constantly developing new approaches, new skills, new ways of presenting the plays. If you look back to those early performances, our approach now is very different. We are not churning the same thing out year after year. It is very much growing and still is artistically challenging.'
If marking the 25th anniversary of Theatre in the Forest wasn’t taxing enough Jo also has a London transfer of last year’s The Ungodly to prepare for. Set on the Stour estuary in 1645, in the village of Mistley, it tells the story of Manningtree-born Matthew Hopkins, self-proclaimed ‘Witchfinder General’ and religious zealot, and his crusade to eradicate witches and witchcraft from East Anglia during the puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell.
In the turbulent world of mid-17th century England, witch hunts spread through England and even influenced the Salem Witch Trials in America.The Ungodly focuses on Susan Edwards, Hopkins' stepsister.
'Susan has a choice to make,' says Jo. 'She lives in a time when witches and the devil are very real. Does she choose to believe that the powers of Satan have found their way into their homes – or instead, search for a way to help repair a community torn apart by fear, suspicion, intolerance and hysteria?
'It’s a tale that reverberates down the centuries to the world of today. Susan finds herself drawn into a fanatical movement in which terrible actions not only seem justifiable, but to the perpetrator, become natural, necessary and even noble.'
The play is being staged at the prestigious Southwark Playhouse in the autumn and the first couple of performances sold out within 48 hours.
'It was mad,' says Jo. 'The first performance went so quickly that I thought the box office software had crashed.' This is the second London transfer for one of Jo’s self-penned historical plays. In 2013, the Tower of London hosted a restaging of her 2011 play Fallen in Love, which explored Anne Boleyn’s relationship with Henry VIII and Anne's brother George.
Red Rose Chain will be restaging The Ungodly for a brief run at The Avenue Theatre in Ipswich before it transfers to London. But, before that they have some A Midsummer Night’s Dream magic to conjure up at Sutton Hoo.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted by Jo Carrick, staged by Red Rose Chain, Sutton Hoo, Woodbridge, July 24 to August 24. redrosechain.com
The Ungodly, by Jo Carrick, staged by Red Rose Chain at Southwark Playhouse, October 23 to November 16.
