THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE (Greenwich Theatre)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/the-wolves-of-willoughby-chase-stream £5

Available until: 2^nd January at 2.30pm. When you book a ticket, the only option is to purchase a 2^nd January ticket, but this is just the date when the livestream expires. It will be available to view as soon as you purchase it.

There are a lot of good plays which can be watched online at the moment and it is impossible to watch them all. But one which it would be a great shame to miss is Greenwich Theatre’s exceptional production of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. It is advertised as being for people aged six and above and I think it is probably suitable for any age above six. The adaption is very clever, the acting is of a very high standard and it seems a bit unfair to describe it as a great play for children because it is simply a great play.

The production observes social distancing and prop-passing is done cleverly with theatrical tricks (no filmed tricks – this is recorded as live) in order to keep the actors safe, but it looks completely convincing and believable. The social distancing is barely noticeable – director and designer James Haddrell has worked really hard to make the distances between the actors look natural but safe and (although I was very caught up in Russ Tunney’s wonderful adaption of the story), there was nothing I noticed that jarred or looked wrong. And I think one surprising moment would have stood out because everything else is so perfect.

There are also some very creative sound effects. I really love the simplicity of it. For example, part of the play is set on a train and the method they use for the train sound effect is really clever and sounds so much like a train. I think seeing something very simple onstage which works brilliantly is at least as exciting as seeing a magical effect that looks like it should be impossible. The wolf sound effects are really good too and they give the play a wonderful feeling of creepiness.

I wouldn’t say the play is a musical as it ‘feels’ like a play, but it does include original music by musical director David Haller, who also appears as an actor in the play. The music is really lovely and very atmospheric and it is beautifully-sung by all the cast.

There is a ‘play within a play’ opening which makes a really nice introduction to the story. It is set in a school with a number of child actors sitting at desks. They are reading the story together and they volunteer to take particular roles. It draws you into it, explains a few things and introduces some of the characters in a direct way. It can be difficult figuring out who all the characters in plays are sometimes. This really helps.

It also means that some of the very talented children are allowed to take adult roles and we accept them as adults because we saw the role being given to them and we understand why they are played by children. Although the schoolchildren only appear as themselves in the first scene, it is really good the way you get a sense of who they are, just from the way they volunteer for different roles. There’s one who has trouble speaking loudly, one girl who wants to play a man (and does it really well), a girl who is very practical and full of ideas and a boy who sits back quietly until the right role came along… a role he plays absolutely amazingly.

In the second scene, the school setting is abandoned, along with the books they were reading aloud from, but it’s not needed anymore. Several of the main characters have been introduced. The teacher character and the narration have told us about the setting, including the fictional King who is ruling the country, King James III.

The cast list doesn’t say who plays each role so I will mostly have to go by character names, but the whole cast is excellent. I do know that Anthony Spargo plays Miss Slighcarp and he makes her into a really creepy and nasty character and definitely doesn’t play for laughs. He’s a man who happens to be playing a woman and he does it really well.

The children are really good. There’s a feisty but sweet and sincere Bonnie with a very beautiful singing voice and a quieter but intelligent and not unconfident Sylvia, who also sings really well. They are the main characters and they’re onstage most of the time. Their acting is really good and they are confident and they command the stage really well.

The actor I mentioned before who is really good plays roles including Lord Willoughby and a girl called Emma. He plays such a wide range of roles and characterises them all so well – when he’s Lord Willoughby, he just is a man who is old enough to be a father. When he plays Emma, he just is female. He has a really expressive voice which really adds a lot to his characterisation.

There are far too many online productions for everyone to watch them all, but if anyone is looking for just one performance to watch, especially if you’re looking for something which a whole family can enjoy, this would be a very good choice.