Beowulf

BEOWULF

A family friendly adaptation of the legendary tale by Quill & Inkling Theatre Company, at St Michael’s Church, Longstanton.

I’ve been aware of Quill & Inkling Theatre Company but to my shame I’ve never managed to get along to one of their productions, so I was delighted to receive an invite to come along to see Beowulf in one of the last venues of its far-reaching summer tour.

"It appears to be some sort of baked good! Delicious!"

A tale of myths, legends, bravery and monsters - I was also pleased to be able to take my two little monsters (10 and 14) along for the show.

I knew nothing of the story before this, and neither did the boys, but with the lovely setting of St Michael’s Church giving a fitting medieval feel to the proceedings, we were excited to see what it would entail. I knew a little of the elements within the show up front, but I deliberately didn’t tell the boys much about it. Helpfully for us all, the programme includes a nice summary of each act, setting up the key elements in advance.

As we arrived, we were greeted by John Giller, already in character as his version of the storyteller - with jovial and welcoming energy, and we were brought very quickly into the tone of the evening in a lovely way. He was playfully greeting everyone as they arrived, and even before the show had started a wonderful buzz had been whipped up inside the modest church’s pews. A further highlight for everyone was when John procured some “delicious baked goods, jam dodgers or something” from someone in the audience and distributed them amongst the cast. (They all turned down our offers of Skittles though - far too modern I guess…)

I also really liked that he asked - and remembered - both the boys’ names, a very nice way to bring them into the atmosphere more directly.

The show started with a nicely themed housekeeping announcement - “Beware of the hot lanterns! Take any instant tapestries you like! Get ready to cheer throughout the show!” - and then got underway properly, bringing the other two performers to the stage at this point too. By combination of some very nicely designed and implemented audio cues, and the trio’s commanding voices, the attention of the room was then captured and held. Props to this very talented three-strong cast, the venue had requested no interval, so they barely had a break at all from the quite demanding show, aside from 5mins to get prepared for the second act - but none of them showed any signs of weariness from this.

Alisha with the impressive and fearsome puppet of Grendel

John Giller, aside from providing the excellent greetings, plays a variety of characters in the show on top of his shared role as the storyteller. He takes easily in his stride the drunken tavern patron; the sneering royal adviser; the noble, wise, and oft also drunken King; and several other villagers along the way. All of them with his playful charm seeping through the keenly observed mannerisms of each character.

Maisie Fulcher primarily takes on the mantle of Beowulf in the first half, though she does get plenty of opportunities for other smaller characters too. The fact that she is the smallest in stature of the trio does not seem to bother at all, and she gives us a powerful and dynamic turn as the bold hero of the title, with some playful mischief in her takes on the storyteller and a few bardic moments - shunned by the other characters.

Alisha Hart completes the cast, and is another keenly observing shapeshifter, taking us through a more considered play on the storyteller role, via sagely Queen, meddling townspeople and a wily but ultimately quite damp thief in act two. She also takes on the largest share of the puppetry in the show, first as the towering beast that is Grendel, then later as the (literally) fiery dragon. The movements are so finely realised in each that it’s a thoroughly impressive rendition of both of these fearsome creatures, bringing them very majestically to life on stage.

I can’t claim to be able to tell you everything that was said, it is a very wordy play, naturally considering the source material. I know my boys slightly lost focus a few times (partly from the text but also partly from the hard wooden seats and the feet of people behind) but despite those moments of story-loss - the passion and energy of the cast was magnetic throughout meaning it was still a great pleasure to watch. I really enjoyed that each instance of travelling was nicely animated with a dance or movement rather than being jump cut as is often the trend with smaller scale theatre such as this - taking the time to fill out those details was a very nice touch. For me, it could have done with a few more laughs - there were some really nice moments, but too few and far between. My favourite was the fast-paced and cheeky switching between scenes in Act Two, each with an increasingly exhausted “Meanwhile…”

One of the two fiery moments in the show! (Tricky to catch in an "instant tapestry" though...)

There was however a lot done with not very much - minimal props, simple costumes, modest staging (puppets aside) but altogether making for a very engaging piece of theatre still. I knew that there were some fire effects featured in this show, and when we arrived to find that we were going to be sitting inside the church rather than outside as we had expected I did worry that they wouldn’t be able to go ahead with those, but to our collective surprise and delight they were still included. Unlike some companies who can be a bit gratuitous with their special effects (and I’m also guilty of that myself, with my comedy group’s smoke machines) the inclusion of fire in this show really elevated the piece; especially in its second half, which due to its shorter nature didn’t quite feel quite as boldly dramatic as the first, but it soon found its spectacle again in the fiery finale.

In the interval I overheard a few people discussing the differences in this version of Beowulf to versions they had seen, and I think that’s one of the great things about Writer/Director Ivan Wilkinson’s work - it’s always a fresh perspective on these classic tales. In the past they have included Don Quixote, The Prisoner of Zenda and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Looking briefly at the company at large, Quill & Inkling are also well renowned for their other inclusive and immersive performances, with educational workshops running throughout the year and promenade shows tailor made to the needs of the venues with their Storychest shows.

RAWR!!

All in all, a very wonderful evening of theatre, the cheers of the crowd were well earned throughout, and the thundering applause at the end was a testament to the work that had been put in by the whole team - on stage and off. Another really nice touch was the cast making time after their bows for photos with any audience members who wanted them, also giving my youngest the chance to hold a sword and let loose his primal shouting - nicely tiring him out for the journey home. Brilliant fun all round.

👹👹👹👹 / 5

There aren’t many performances of Beowulf left, but catch one if you can - the tour ends 25/08/24.
Find dates and venues here

(And do keep an eye on the company, they’re always a delight!)