The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has long established itself as the largest arts festival in the world. Over 3000 shows head to the Scottish city each year, performing in excess of 50,000 times in over 300 venues; the magnitude of the event is immense. The Festival invites both established acts and unknown artists to perform, showcasing theatre, comedy, dance, circus and cabaret to name a few! Shiplake’s very own troupe of thespians, the Scruffy Penguin Theatre Company, took to the road and headed to Scotland, to perform in the increasingly popular event. Performing a piece entitled Alice, the crew of 11 actors, accompanied by Head of Drama Mrs Jenny Nunes and teacher Mrs Sian Pearson enjoyed an intense experience as a travelling theatre company, performing in front of a live audience each day of the Festival and generating interest and intrigue on the city streets.
The group stayed in Scotland for six days in the middle of August, putting on the 50 minute show for packed audiences. Each day saw the Shiplake pupils take to the stage of the Lime Studio, at Nicolson Square, delighting the audience with a witty and clever adaption of Lewis Carroll’s classic favourite, Alice in Wonderland, full of fun and frolic. Particularly memorable moments of the often wacky and fantastical play included Tom Coates as the Duchess, in a fit of rage, pick up the stool and smash it on the floor, and James Hargreaves, in character as the White Rabbit, onstage warming up the audience before each show, inviting them into the outlandish, wondrous world of the inhabitants of Wonderland. An audience member commented that ‘the fantastical storyline was ‘outstanding, brought to life with magical inspiration.’ Another member of the audience said, quite simply, that the show ‘was WONDERFUL; frenetic, amazing madness…in short, excellent.’
As well as performing to a packed audience each evening, the team had their hands full during the day, turning the streets of Edinburgh into an extended stage in order to spread the word of the performance. Katie Webster, who was performing as Alice, went out in full character to greet children and encourage families to come and see the piece, as well as asking people to wake up the Dormouse (hilariously portrayed by Jamal Springer Lynch) who kept ‘falling asleep’ on the streets! George Atkinson, who was portraying the March Hare, ran through the streets shouting ‘butter!’ whilst Ollie Brown as Tweedledee and Alfie Sheppard as Tweedledum, asked people on the streets for food and to help them play croquet; the city was well and truly taken over by the Shiplake thespians.
Ollie Riley as the Mad Hatter, Angus Meldrum as the Red Queen, George Martin as the Frog Footman and Anton Renouf as the Cheshire Cat joined the rest of the cast onstage each day, giving entrancing performances that left audience members greatly impressed. Indeed, one audience member commented on the ‘fantastic, amazing performances’, with another expounding that Alice was ‘the best show I’ve seen here in many years… roll on next year’s show!’
