The British summer is always a challenge and what better way to challenge it than with open air theatre, and what better place than the walled garden of the National Trust’s Lamb House? George I slept here, and American author Henry James, EF Benson (of Mapp and Lucia fame) and other authors have all lived in the 18th century house and a past tenant founded the Lamb Players in 2009.
This year’s play is “Twelfth Night”, a complex plot involving twins, women disguised as men, mistaken identities, dodgy servants – in fact the usual Shakespearean comedic ingredients. A bit like “Eastenders” really.
The cast have engaged in intensive rehearsals in London and, recently, on location in Lamb House to a compressed timetable giving, says the programme, “a particular energy and vibrancy”. In short the cast, like the audience, may not know what is going to happen next. But it should all be good fun…unless it rains. And the show will only be abandoned in “extreme conditions”.
Ample food and wine also have a role to play in the rehearsals, we are told, and wise theatregoers may choose to pack some prosecco inside their umbrellas. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2013 (shown above) apparently featured a piano in a flowerbed and it is possible the actor pictured above amongst branches is actually standing on it.
To learn more visit the website. Performances are on Friday and Saturday, August 14-15 at 6:30 (doors open) for a 7pm performance; and on Sunday at 1 for 1:30pm, and 4:30 for 5pm. Tickets are £16 and £14 for pensioners and under 16s from Grammar School Records in Rye High Street. Bring rugs or low level chairs and you can picnic in the garden after the show.