A Fantasy World In The Gardens
The Age
Wednesday December 15, 1993
The Secret Garden. Rippon Lea.
PERFORMING Arts Projects makes a habit of staging plays in non- traditional theatrical venues. Their association with the National Trust's Rippon Lea estate has produced some interesting and stylised productions in the past, and this is no exception. Forsaking the grandeur of the interiors this time, they move out into the lush gardens that surround the estate.
It makes an ideal setting for Frances Hodgson Burnett's children's classic, `The Secret Garden'. Julia Britton has adapted the book into an economical script that retains the original appeal, while Kevin Hopkins's direction manages to avoid sentimentality or coyness and invests a rigorous feel to the production.
Depending on your perspective, Edwardian classics are either about the fantasy world of children or a commentary about children breaking away from the anal-retentive world of the British upper classes who ignore the emotional needs of their offspring and send them away to horrible boarding schools.
For anyone unfamiliar with `The Secret Garden', the story has these themes of children establishing autonomy from adults and constructing worlds of their own. Mary Lennox, recently orphaned, arrives at her uncle's isolated estate on the Yorkshire moors. A strong-willed girl, she rebels against his aloofness and rigidity. As she begins to explore the house and the estate, she discovers dark and mysterious secrets. Along the way she befriends a local lad, Dickon, who plays a flute and communicates with the birds and animals. She also discovers her cousin, a sickly boy, hidden away from the world by his reclusive father. The scene is set for adventure in which the children's intuition triumphs over adult fears and restrictions.
The audience follows the plot as it meanders through different parts of the Rippon Lea grounds. This is handled with precision and the audience becomes part of the story, the fantasy and the adventure.
Convincing performances from an excellent cast, led by Lisa Bailey as the feisty Mary Lennox, Helen Hopkins as Martha, and Michael Burkett as Dickon, give the play a broad appeal. The actors play to the children and not down to them, which sets `The Secret Garden' apart from most children's holiday shows.
© 1993 The Age
