Dilton Marsh Arts Trust once again scooped a winner by recently presenting ‘Bard Heads’ performed by the Will Theatre company.
This is a group who have cleverly taken some of William Shakespeare’s well known characters from some of his popular plays and imagined what might have happened next.
The first monologue ‘The Dust Behind The Door’ was written and performed by Jules Hobbs. Her part was that of Hermia from’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ having a mid-life crisis in her kitchen.
Married to Lysander while her best friend Helena has married Demetrius she is haunted still by the happening years ago when a mischievous sprite Puck messed up their love lives. With the appearance of a robin in the garden (Puck was also known as Robin Goodfellow) Hermia’s mind becomes confused about whom she loves, while Helena turns to drink thinking her husband loves another. Thankfully the couples return to their happiness as the robin flies away. The talented Jules Hobbs played Hermia superbly and drew laughter from an audience held in suspense. The second performance of the evening was that of Richard Curnow playing Malvolio in ‘The Whirligig of Time’ written by Richard himself. (The whirligig is a spinning top marking the comeuppance afflicted on Malvolio.) He is on an anger management course pacing the tower of Illyria three months after the end of ‘Twelfth Night’ having sworn to get revenge on his tormentors.
Malvolio is a self-obsessed melancholic who despises fun, so Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Maria tricked him into believing Countess Olivia loved him and would be thrilled if he wore yellow cross gartered stockings, a colour she despises.
Richard held the audience captivated as they had glimpses of Malvolio’s childhood which made the man he became. Both monologues showed the talent of these two actors and the range of emotions which they conveyed left their audience wanting more.
Liz Lee
