The Grimm Brothers’ Circus

Theatre Royal Bath summer workshop

Prior Park College Ball CourtStorm on the Lawn, the umbrella title for the Theatre Royal’s annual summer school production by 100 plus young people, is the only outdoor drama production each year I genuinely look forward. The vagaries of the British summer dictate that one suffers either a massive midge attack or a deluge of Biblical proportions and I think open-air theatre on the whole is a barmy idea.

But the annual Storm productions are invariably worth braving the elements for.

This year was no exception. Writer-adapter Oliver Birch took five tales from the Grimm brothers’ 200 or more originals and wove them into a continuous tale for a Big Top, with an entertaining mixture of language styles from the grandly poetic to the west country vernacular with a few lines borrowed from Dylan Thomas along the way.

Everyone was word perfect and, for the most part, audible, in the open air. They created a colourful, funny, dramatic evening. And the weather was kind on the first night at least.

The Brothers Grimm were the ring masters. Their dramatic, gothic moral tales are perfect for an exuberant, imaginative young company. And they uncovered some extraordinary dramatic talent under the direction of Amy Leach.

The sets, music, lighting and special effects – all created and rehearsed in three weeks like the rest of the show – matched the standard of the performers. The Devil, glowing red and steaming on the roof of the Ball Court was a particularly effective invention.

The whole ensemble worked hard, on stage and off, and I suspect there are several stars of the future in this circus ring.