There is no full Chepstow
Festival this year,
There is a great
programme of open-air theatre in
Chepstow Castle
and events at the Drill
Hall
Other events which are normally
staged as part of the festival will also take place this
year
There is no full Chepstow
Festival this year,
There is a great
programme of open-air theatre in
Chepstow Castle
and events at the Drill
Hall
Other events which are normally
staged as part of the festival will also take place this
year
Theatre in Chepstow Castle Summer 2019
Chepstow Festival presents a feast of outdoor theatre from mid June to mid July in the spectacular surroundings of Chepstow Castle, with seven productions spread over the weeks that promise to satisfy a wide range of appetites and audiences. One of the pleasures of an evening at Theatre in the Castle is enjoying a leisurely picnic with friends and family too so the experience becomes a real feast!
There are two productions especially for young people that are great family shows, enjoyed as much by adults as children. Illyria bring to life a tale from the Arabian Nights, Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, with their usual brilliant staging and skilful effects it's packed with cliff-hangers, larger-than-life characters, laughs galore, and the most magical cave you’ve ever seen! Heartbreak Productions have another adaptation of best selling author David Walliams' books, a tale full of forbidden fun, Gangsta Granny, the grandma with a secret life as international jewel thief.
The works of two great women writers from the 19th century feature this summer. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published just over 100 years ago and never out of print since, is given the Illyria treatment featuring a fully orchestrated musical score, a cast of professional actor singers, spectacular stage effects, puppetry – and flashes of the wickedly dark humour for which Illyria is justly celebrated. Emily Brontë's classic tale of love and revenge, Wuthering Heights, is adapted by Heartbreak Productions, who invite the audience on a search for the restless spirits of Cathy and Heathcliff amongst the ruins of their home on the moors. By contrast the same company bring an evening of sparkling entertainment, nostalgic music, and delicious one liners with Noël Coward's celebrated 1930 comedy Private Lives.
A programme of outdoor theatre could not be complete without Shakespeare, designed for touring troupes playing beneath the sky over 400 years ago. Heartbreak has updated the tale of star crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet to a 21st century red-carpet event where the two warring families are notorious celebs amid a social media buzz. Illyria play Shakespeare as close to the original in content and Elizabethan style, performing the text uncut with 5 actors and including live music and song, renowned for their clarity, quality and ingenuity this year they turn to The Tempest, Shakespeare's final play, lyrical thought-provoking and raucously funny.
Illyria complies with the Equity Union's Outdoor Touring Theatre Guidelines and ensures that all its actors are paid a fair living wage and treated with respect and dignity.
Outdoor theatre in the spectacular setting of Chepstow Castle. Heartbreak Productions have updated the tale of Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet to a 21st century red-carpet event where the two warring families are notorious celebs amid a social media buzz. With the media reporting their every move tensions are running high. There’s only one question on everybody’s lips – will these two families behave, or will it be another fiery battle at dawn as the fabulous feud continues? Set in the here and now, and mixing in some modern language, music, and technology, this production explores how one of the most celebrated tales of passionate love would play out in the 21st century. So bring a chair and pack the picnic (after you’ve uploaded it to Instagram, obvs!). Dress to impress and remember to charge your phone, as tweeting, snapchat, and selfies are highly advisable. After all, if you haven’t posted it online, has it really even happened?
Recommended Age: 8+
running Time: 2 hours inc interval
Sunday 16 June Private Lives
Heartbreak Productions bring an evening of sparkling entertainment, nostalgic music, and delicious one liners with Noël Coward's celebrated 1930 comedy Private Lives. In a smart hotel in the fashionable French resort of Deauville among the guests are two honeymooning couples, Elyot and Sibyl Chase and Amanda and Victor Prynne. Before Elyot married Sibyl and Victor married Amanda, Elyot and Amanda were married to each other, and unfortunately, they have been booked into rooms with adjacent balconies. Really, though, what could go wrong?
Recommended Age:8+
Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes including interval
Friday 28 June Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë's classic tale of love and revenge, Wuthering Heights, is adapted by Heartbreak Productions, who invite the audience on a search for the restless spirits of Cathy and Heathcliff amongst the ruins of their home on the moors.. Heathcliff was an orphan raised amongst the Earnshaw family at their home Wuthering Heights. He developed an intense and unearthly bond with Mr. Earnshaw’s passionate daughter, Cathy. Driven apart by Cathy’s ambition for social elevation, Heathcliff turns vengeful and sets out to enact a torturous scheme of revenge on the next generation of Earnshaws. Heartbreak Productions set out to unveil the mystery of their unruly and passionate love affair that is reputed to extend beyond the grave. Prepare for an evening of thrills, chills, and ghostly spirits as together we exhume a ghostly tale of wandering spirits and reckless liaisons.
Recommended Age: 9+
Running Time: 2 hours 20 mins including interval
Saturday 29 June Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
This family show is as much fun for adults as the young people it's designed for! Illyria bring to life this tale from the Arabian Nights, Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, with their usual brilliant staging and skilful effects it's packed with cliff-hangers, larger-than-life characters, laughs galore, and the most magical cave you’ve ever seen! Young Ali Baba stumbles across an enchanted cave when he overhears the magic words that open it: “Open Sesame!”. Inside the cave he finds untold amounts of gold and jewels, and takes some of it home to show his wife. But what will he do when she chides him for stealing? Can he keep the secret from his jealous brother? And when the Robber King comes looking for the missing treasure supported by an army of 40 angry thieves – will he and his family survive? Don't miss this fantastic show! Perfect summer fun for thieves and vagabonds aged 5+.
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes (including a 20 minute interval)
Friday 5 July The Tempest
llyria play Shakespeare as close to the original in content and Elizabethan style and staging, performing the text uncut with 5 actors - it’s swift, it’s polished and it’s spoken beautifully - and including live music and song. Renowned for their clarity, quality and ingenuity this year they turn to The Tempest, Shakespeare's final play, lyrical thought-provoking and raucously funny. More than 400 years after it was written it still has the capacity to surprise! The magician Prospero is marooned on an island with his daughter Miranda. With the assistance of a powerful air spirit he keeps in servitude, he conjures up a storm to shipwreck his enemies on the shore of the island. Inexorably they are driven towards the centre of the island to answer to Prospero – until Prospero learns that in spite of everything Miranda has met and fallen in love with Ferdinand, the son of his enemy. Which is greater – his thirst for revenge or his aptitude for forgiveness?
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes (including a 20 minute interval)
Thursday 18 July Gangsta Granny
For the second of Chepstow Festival's season's family shows, Heartbreak Productions have another adaptation of best selling author David Walliams' books, a tale full of forbidden fun, Gangsta Granny, the grandma with a secret life.. Meet Ben, an 11 year old want-to-be plumber fed up with spending his Friday nights at Granny’s. All she wants to do is play Scrabble and eat cabbage – not exactly his idea of fun! Hungry and bored Ben goes searching for something more edible in the kitchen and stumbles upon an old biscuit tin. The tin holds more than just digestives, however; it contains Granny’s biggest secret. Ben’s Granny is an international jewel thief, and she needs his help to pull off her biggest heist yet, stealing the crown jewels!
Heartbreak Productions invites you to join Ben, and his Gangsta Granny on their grandest adventure. This exciting escapade will be very hungry work, so come prepared with picnics!
Recommended Age: 7+
Running Time: 2 Hours including interval
Saturday 20 July Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is given the Illyria treatment featuring a fully orchestrated musical score, professional actor singers, spectacular stage effects, puppetry – and flashes of the wickedly dark humour for which Illyria is justly celebrated. Mary Shelley’s novel was published in 1818 when she was just 21, and has never been out of print. Brilliant young student Viktor Frankenstein discovers how to endow dead organic matter with life itself. It is one thing to stitch together an anatomically complete organism, but quite another when it becomes a living, breathing creature that shows intelligence, feels torment – and demands answers of its creator. Viktor, disgusted by his creation and unable to face the consequences of bringing it into the world, returns home to Switzerland. But the Monster relentlessly tracks him down..
The show contains mature themes but is suitable for all ages 5+.
Running time: 2 hours (including a 20 minute interval)
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