Reviews

“ PICK OF THE MONTH: OPEN-AIR THEATRE.”

“A Preston theatre company is taking Shakespeare on the open road for the fourth year running. Dean Taylor Productions will be performing at eleven stately halls and buildings across the North West including Turton Tower, Whalley Abbey and Haigh Hall.
“WHAT’S ON” LANCASHIRE LIFE, JUNE EDITION.


“ From last Saturday to Monday they delighted audiences with six performances of “A Comedy of Errors” in the picturesque setting of Burton Manor.
Judging by the pain-spattered Saturday evening show this effort was every bit as good as the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring productions I have seen at the EPIC in Ellesmere Port over recent years”
-PHIL ROBINSON,CHESHIRE NEWS JULY 11TH.

“TEMPEST RUINS BARD’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT”
“An open air performance of Shakespeare’s “A COMEDY OF ERRORS” lived up to its name as actors and audience member’s withstood thunderstorms, flashfloods, and a power cut.
-BOLTON EVENING NEWS. JULY 7TH.

“WILL WOULD HAVE BEEN A HAPPY MAN”
“Superb cast : Great word play”
“The poise and assurance of the actors was a credit, furthermore, the setting of Astley Park,Chorley, would I am sure have made William Shakespeare a very happy man” 
“It would be unfair of me to single out any individual performance, all were truly captivating.”
“Congratulations to Dean and cast for a wonderful night’s entertainment”
-BRENDA BARTLETT,THE CHORLEY GUARDIAN,JULY 15TH.


“A fabulously entertaining and exuberant depiction of mistaken identities and cheekiness.”
“It is a joy to witness real actors thrilling an audience with traditional theatre- authentically reproducing something close to the way it was meant to be played”
“The costumes are phenomenal”
“How perfect this piece of theatre was-totally professional and a privilege to experience”
- GEORGE COOKE, REVIEW SHAKESPEARE.JULY 20TH

“THE TEMPEST RUINS THE BARD’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT”
“The play had been successfully performed in the Hall’s (Rivington) sunny grounds hours earlier on Wednesday afternoon………A spokesman for United Utilities which supplies the power for Rivington: The power cut affected 2898 homes in the area. A high-voltage overhead line had been struck by lightening.”
-BOLTON EVENING NEW,JULY 7TH.

“Some delightful musical interludes were provided by Serenna Wagner and Chris Gill”
“Brigid Lohrey ……….the heaving-bosomed courtesan”
“Most of the laughs came from Tim Scragg as one half of one set of twins, Dromio of Ephesics, whose spindly limbs flailed to magnificent comedic effect”
- PHIL ROBINSON,CHESHIRE NEWS,JULY 11TH.

“ACTORS IN DRAMA OF TURTON TOWER”
“The Company took to the streets of Bolton yesterday to raise awareness of the 15th century tower’s fight for survival……In February Lancashire County Council voted to stop funding from 2008 as part of a cost cutting exercise”
-BOLTON EVENING NEWS JULY 12TH.

“David Rex made a fine Egeon”
“Richard Calder as Antipholus of Syracuse and Peter Sundby as Antipholus of Ephesus both brought supreme believability and deftness to their roles”
“Delightful and effective as respectively Adriana and Luciana were Carol Carpenter and Katey Siddall”
“Tony Bond unexpectedly set the comic tone when he failed to have his character of the Duke of Ephesus on stage for the opening scene. A quick re-start of the action solved the problem”
-PHIL ROBINSON,CHESHIRE NEWS,JULY 11TH.

“THE TEMPEST RUINS THE BARD’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT”
“The actors received three standing ovations when they finished the show over an hour behind schedule at 10.35pm.
-LANCASHIRE EVENING POST,JULY 8TH.


“THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR” 2005: JUNE/ JULY.

“ THE BARD IN THE PARK”
“ Mr Taylor said, ‘When I saw the venue I knew it was perfect and I believe that this will be the first time Shakespeare has ever been performed at Haigh Hall” 
‘ The popular play will be played across 10 venues in the North West over six weeks.”

- BARD’S MERRY WIVES COME TO TOWN “
“The ghosts of Skipton Castle are set to share their home with characters from Shakespeare next weekend”
-THE CRAVEN HERALD AND PIONEER JUNE 17TH.

“AN AMUSING NIGHT WITH MERRY WIVES”
“A perfect weekends entertainment when Dean Taylor’s strolling players took to the lawns of Turton Tower” “Falstaff was played for laughs by Michael Goodenough, a bear of a man, who milked every scene and bombarded the audience with his ad libs and saucy looks.”
- LYN ASHWELL, THE BOLTON EVENING NEWS. JULY 18TH.

“AL FRESCO SHAKESPEARE TO WORDEN PARK”
- “WHAT’S ON “ – PRESTON CITIZEN,JULY 7TH.

“There was an Antipodean flavour with Mistress Quickly, the go-between, played by Brigid Lohrey, whose “Neighbours” twang worked a dream.”
“Slender – played in perfect ‘Carry-on’ mode by Tim Scragg”
“Falstaff brought the house down when a garden bench collapsed beneath him- not in Shakespeare’s script! “
- LYN ASHWELL, THE BOLTON EVENING NEWS,JULY 18TH”

“AS YOU LIKE IT” 2004 JUNE “ THE BARD IS BACK “

“ An open air Shakespeare festival seems likely to become an annual event at historic Hoghton Tower, back this month following the success of last year’s production.
From June 10th to 27th there will be 29 promenade style performances of the comedy………”
“The two is famously linked with Shakespeare. It is widely believed by historians and academics that the bard spent considerable time in Lancashire and at Hoghton Tower in particular when he was a budding playwright teaching the children of the de Hoghton family.”
-“SHAKESPEARE LIFE: LANCASHIRE LIFE “– JUNE 2004.




“ROMANTIC COMEDY THAT IS TO THE MANOR BORN”
“ A romantic comedy of manners well served here by an exuberant cast more than able to play it for love and laughs.
Helen Longworth is a feisty Rosalind and brings an infectious joy to the central character’s wooing of Orlando, another strong performance from Liam Evans-Ford.” 
- DAVID UPTON,LANCASHIRE EVENING POST,JUNE 10TH.


“OUTDOOR THEATRE BRINGS THE BARD TO LIFE.”
“If you have a spare Summer evening, give watering the lawn a miss and pack your portable chair and head for the Tower.”
“The laughs were saved for Touchstone, played by Knight Mantell who brought more than a touch of the Frankie Howerds to his performance along with some brilliant randy leers!”
“The daft shepherd Corin (Tony Bond) looked like a dopey Bill Oddie, but along with BIG Ears the sheep – a star in the making – almost stole the show.”
-LYN ASHWELL, BOLTON EVENING NEWS, JUNE 10TH.


“YOU’LL LIKE THIS SHAKESPEARE IN THE OPEN”
“Again the show was a delight and a triumph”
“Director and actor Dean Taylor presented a worthy cast rounded off with the inclusion of a real dog and a well-behaved sheep.”
“Mantell’s bawdy though eloquent courting of the buxom goat-herd Audrey,Dee Stone-Tewings, had the audience in tucks.”
“This cast did not let the master down. Doubtless even this excellent standard will continue to improve.” 
“Flute music and the distant ringing of church bells……”
- LINDA DUNLEAVY,BURY TIMES,JUNE 10TH. 

“TWELFTH NIGHT” 2003: JUNE-JULY.
“BARD DAY’S WORK AS TWELFTH NIGHT RETURNS”

“After nearly 400 years the Bard will be back in town at Hoghton Tower…….”
“The festival is down to a unique collaboration between the trustees of Hoghton Tower and Preston-based theatrical director Dean Taylor.”
“Certain performances will be staged to assist those with sensory difficulties, an extra challenge for sign-language interpreter Michael Boe,
Setting the scene for deaf audiences while faithfully interpreting the Elizabethan English of Shakespeare’s prose.”
-DAVID UPTON,LANCASHIRE EVENING POST,JUNE 23RD.

“ RICH INTERPRETATION IN PERFECT SETTING”
“Christopher Roberts Sir Toby Belch is wonderfully mischievous and dissolute.”
“The players, richly costumed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, bestride the tower’s dramatic flagstones and lawns, intertwine the action through ornamental box-trees, convert the wilderness garden into Olivia’s house and blend poor old Malvolio’s yellow-gartered humiliation inn and around the owl turret.”
“Hugo Chandor is the very standard of princely equilibrium…..with the one blind spot. When Chapman’s Olivia is resolutely resisting until fate takes a hand.”
“Performances throughout are excellent, Knight Mantell stealing the show as the crusty and luckless steward.”
- MEL MORRIS, LANCASHIRE EVENING POST, JULY 2ND


“A TREAT NOT TO BE MISSED”
“ I urge anybody who is interested in the classics to see the production currently playing at Hoghton Tower. It was a perfect night.”
- PAMELA WHITE (MRS), LETTER TO LANCASHIRE EVENING TELEGRAPH,JULY 3RD.