For me Shakespeare has always been a real enjoyment. Of course there are some I like less than others but on the whole I have always found them very enjoyable. I know lots of my friends never really gave them a go and with the language used they discarded them from the off; missing then the amazing stories behind the words which I can see could be hard to decipher if you don’t have the will.

Once you get past that potential barrier all you see are the amazing tales Shakespeare wove and it’s testament to those stories of course that we are still telling them today. We have traditional Shakespeare performances but amongst them adaptions and ‘versions of’ are everywhere! It’s almost easier to return to a Shakespeare when no new story can be thought of I think! Only the other day I watched a contemporary film based on the play King Lear. And a very enjoyable film it was too! I thoroughly recommend ‘A Thousand Acres’ which deviated from but nodded to the famous story!

I’ve seen lots of Shakespear in the past, I’ve even seen it in New York in the Central Park open air theatre which was a real treat but I think of all the plays my favourite is Twelfth Night’. I’ve loved it since school when I took a Viola speech on as one of main audition pieces. I loved the story, found it funny and enjoyed performing parts of it. I think it took me a while to work out the story though, it is fairly difficult and with lots of areas which could cause confusion. It’s a play I would have been taking Florence and Jimmy to when they are much older. One I want to share with them but perhaps not for just yet. And then…

I was invited to the Re-Imagined version of Twelfth Night being shown at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre. A version of the play which has been especially tailored to be understood by all those aged 6 years and over. Well Florence at four isn’t in the right age bracket still but as a seasoned theatre goer and very interested in stories with the ability to pay great attention and I thought we would give it a go…

I explained a little about Shakespeare to her but I didn’t go into detail of the story. I told her the language used is often difficult to understand but that this version will have been made easier. We went in, me wondering how they would do it and her with absolutely no expectation at all really, just looking forward to seeing something at the theatre. I was a little worried she wouldn’t understand and would be bored. I didn’t want her to not enjoy it and have it put her off.

The theatre itself is very exciting being open air and for the first half we were lucky with the weather! Florence was thrilled with her programme which she and I looked at as we waited for the play to begin. On the back it has a page with all the instruments that will be used and asks you to look out for them throughout which we really enjoyed. It also has lots of other touches which are interesting for children like pointing out who is who in the production team and what their role is!

As soon as it started with actor Ian Johnstone (Feste and Antonio) asking us in the audience to perform Mexican waves with whooshing noises to create the sea sound we knew we were in for a treat. We felt involved and I think that is a key to immediately getting the interest of children.

The story was acted out in gentle yet exciting ways which drew you in as a member of the audience. The areas of confusion, girls dressing up as boys and supposedly looking EXACTLY like another boy and other characters switching between roles were done in such a way that it was absolutely clear! I know Florence was in no doubt as to what was going on! In fact, I wasn’t really sure until consulting the programme if Malvolio and Orsion WERE played by the same actor and it’s all credit to Nick Malinowski who is the actor that absolutely plays both!

Sarah Ridgeway who plays Viola was just lovely with a beautiful voice and Guy Lewis playing her brother Sebastian as well as Sir Andrew Aguecheek was a brilliant comic. All the cast were wonderful and had little perfect moments like when Vera Chok as Maria chucks a bag of doggy doo into the audience and Wayne Carter as Sir Toby Belch had many beautiful drunken funnies! Olivia played by Riann Steele (who also played many little roles in between) was very good also and I really felt the whole cast were working in unison. Clearly led by the brilliant Ian Johnstone although they really were and ensemble switching instruments and costumes with much ease.

The story was easy to follow, the language was still Shakespearian and the speeches were present including my favourite from Twelfth Night where Viola uncovers that Olivia is in love with her thinking she is Cesario (a man) and works out that because she is in love with Orsino who also thinks she is a man but he is in love with Olivia this will be a very tricky situation to untie! Whenever anyone fell in love the wonderful set clearly showed it by dinging a Love O-Meter!

Florence clearly understood the story and enjoyed it very much – we are still singing the little ditties from it. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend you ignore the age 6+ rating if you know you have a little one who could easily soak this up! What a brilliant introduction to Shakespeare and one which absolutely won’t scare them away in future!

The set is fabulous and we loved being outside. We did get a bit wet in the second half but it was all worth it!

Twelfth Night Re-Inagined is on at the regents Park Open Air Theatre until 12th July 2014. To find out more and to book tickets please see www.openairtheatre.com.

We were sent tickets in return for an honest review.

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