Who Are We?
Cakes & Ale are an Oxford-based theatre company which formed in 2002, dedicated to staging the plays of Shakespeare in ways that are both simple and good to look at.
Because we tour each production around several different venues both inside and out of doors we have to behave like a troupe of travelling players, turning up and staging the play at a moment's notice. Our aim is for a Cakes & Ale productions to appear fresh, lively and spontaneous. It's a hugely challenging and rewarding experience for everyone involved - including the audience, if the critics are to be believed! John O'Connor's Cakes and Ale World Tour 2002 should give you some idea of the seat-of-your-pants ride the company has had so far!
This summer's Cakes & Ale production of All's Well That Ends Well has a special purpose. Its aim is to raise money for Douglas House, the recently opened Oxford respice for young people with life-limiting illnesses or life-threatening disabilities. Apart from covering costs, all the proceeds from the Oxfordshire performances this year's production will be going towards this extremely deserving cause. To learn more about Douglas House, read Kathryn Ellis's article below. Our performance in Lower Brockhampton is in aid of local hospice appeals, and the shows at Llanhennock will be providing some much-needed financial assistance to of our cast members, Matt Addis, who is shortly to begin a course at Mountview drama school.
Please come back and visit the website again to learn more about where the company goes from here!
Cakes and Ale World Tour 2002
By John O'Connor
If you're the kind of person who likes to be in productions where you know exactly which entrance you're coming on from, how big the stage is to the nearest centimetre, what lighting you've got and where the audience are sitting - then the following account might take years off your life.
Picture the scene. It is six o'clock and you have just arrived in Woodstock. At seven thirty you are due to perform Twelfth Night in front of a paying audience in the Museum garden. Maria doesn't yet know whether the upstage entrance she made in Wheatley exists or not (because neither director could recall yesterday whether the garden wall had a gateway in it), Malvolio hasn't got a clue where his 'dark room' scene will take place (at Kidlington he had to scream his lines through double-glazing as the window got stuck), and Viola doesn't know whether she's delivering her soliloquies to an audience that's on three sides, two sides or straight in front. The SM tells a sceptical Malvolio that he'll have absolutely no trouble appearing from the top of that tree (and proves as much by shinning up it herself), someone else realises that the lighting cables aren't long enough; and, just to stop us from relaxing too much, it starts to rain.
You might recall that cliché of Hollywood movies where Judy Garland or somebody suddenly says, 'Hey, guys, why don't we do the show right here?' Something similar happened in the marquee that had been conveniently left in the museum garden after a wedding. Within seconds of the decision having been taken to perform under cover, two of the cast were to be seen rigging scaffolding poles and canvas to make us a backdrop with three entrances (the rear curtain was supported by a step-ladder) and then the whole team were recruited to shift a wooden dance-floor using poles as rollers in a scene that resembled one of those Tony Robinson Let's-Show-People-How-the-Pyramids-Were-Built documentaries on BBC 2. The acting area and auditorium were ready at seven-twenty and that's when the audience started to arrive. No tech. No run-through. No notes. Just get on and do it. Glorious fun.
Cakes & Ale Theatre Company was formed as part of a fund-raising scheme to send Deborah Morris off to drama school. But, as I observed at an early meeting - somewhat wittily, I thought - it was also designed to be fun-raising. We simply wanted to have a good time, being together and playing around with Shakespeare. Which, as they almost say in the Ronseal ads, is exactly what we did.
One rehearsal in particular will stay in my mind as one of the most exciting we can recall from any production. It simply consisted of Feste and Malvolio playing the darkened room scene (4.2) over and over for three hours in as many different ways as we all thought feasible: Malvolio angry, then destroyed, then unbowed... Feste gleeful, then vindictive, then neutral... What happens if Malvolio is actually mad? It's an unlikely interpretation, but try it and see what happens to Feste - and to the rest of the play. I can honestly say that when we started that rehearsal, none of us had any preconceptions about what the scene 'meant' or how it 'ought' to be played. And we never actually blocked it until the first performance - because we were waiting to see what opportunities each venue provided. At Wheatley Manor, we placed Malvolio in an upstairs window; for the Old Fire Station we had asked for a spotlight coming straight down from above. It was a fantastic effect - but from a completely different play: far too harsh, like something out of Kafka or 1984. So we placed him on the balcony with his yellow-stockinged legs hanging over the edge... Now I'm not lauding this process because it led to a brilliant performance (though I did admire it greatly), but I do maintain that it capitalised on the talents of two extremely skilful and perceptive actors; while enabling them to perform their roles anywhere and in a variety of different ways. Feste, for example, toned down his Act 5 vengefulness several notches when we moved to the indoor venue; while Malvolio was constantly adjusting the degree to which he was 'broken' as he left the stage.
After a week in the OFS, we were due to perform at Kidlington rectory the next evening. We duly arrived at two o'clock. By three, the directors and cast had decided that, rather than play with our backs to the shrubbery, as originally planned, we'd use the terrace outside the house. This meant re-timing pretty well every entrance (good for counteracting that famous Eleventh Performance Complacency, we thought...) and getting the rector - the splendidly supportive Anthony Ellis - to nail up some trestle tables to mask the props area. It was the Lord Chamberlain's Men meets Ground Force... Just love the decking, Master Burbage!
And what do we think we've established - at least, to our own satisfaction? That you can 'tour' a production, so long as you keep it simple and put someone in charge of securing the performing licences. That touring - even if it's only a handful of sites around the county - is tremendously exciting and a completely different experience from playing only one venue. That you don't need twelve solid weeks of rehearsals to put on a show (four of us were involved in rehearsing a production of Macbeth until a week before our first performance, while Malvolio was in two other plays and hardly rehearsed at all). That the most satisfying rehearsals are those in which actors are encouraged to experiment. And that, if your aims are genuinely charitable, people will go out of their way to help - and you can make a tidy sum.
Douglas House: A Summary, by Katherine Ellis
The Starfish
The story of the starfish illustrates the motivation of the respice, and has
become its emblem.
As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead
of him picking up starfish and slinging them into the sea.
Finally catching up with the youth, he asked him why he was doing this. The
answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning
sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish"
countered the other. "How can your effort make any difference?"
The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety
in the waves.
"It makes a difference to this one" he said.
The Concept
Having cared for terminally ill children Sister Frances Dominica knew a
special sort of place was required to respond to their needs, and Helen
House became the first Children's Hospice, in Oxford twenty-one years ago.
From her years of experience there, grew a realisation that there was
another need for a similar place focussed on the needs of an older age
group. It became her next dream to see a 'Respice' providing a Hospice
/Respite Centre for young people between the ages of 18 and 40, and their
families. After over three years of fundraising, Douglas House has become
a reality, and expects to welcome its first young visitors in July, 2003.
The Building
What strikes you immediately on entering, is the space, light and
Colour: this is no ordinary building. In fact the people who are to use it
have obviously had their say in the planning. Thus there is space for
wheelchairs, there is a strikingly modern décor, there is even a back-lit
bar! The rooms for the young visitors each have a specially designed
bathroom, fitted with a hoist to make life as easy as possible. There is a
music room, and a hydrotherapy pool big enough to include the family, in an
exotic setting. There is an activity area with a pool table, and even a
beauty parlour!
Upstairs is designed for the families to have a private two-roomed unit, and
a shared kitchen and sitting room. There is also a conservatory leading to
a roof-garden. A larger room can be adapted to various uses including a cinema!
The grounds have been beautifully landscaped, and include a private patio
area leading from each bedroom, which looks out on to a garden with a water
fountain. The surrounding walls ensure that it is a peaceful place to be.
The Care Provided
There is, of course, to be a full team of medically-qualified staff on hand
at all times, who are the key to providing desperately-needed respite for
the families. As with all those who work here, they are a jolly lot. Such
is the spirit of the place that the corridors are filled with smiles.
The Residents
Many of the young people are suffering from degenerative diseases. Progress
in medical care has meant that some of the visitors to Helen House have
outgrown it. It is not hard to see that a young adult of 18 no longer fits
into a place designed for small children. The restrictions of living in a
wheelchair become even more pressing at this age; while others are meeting
their friends at the pub or the club, these young people are unable to join
in. During their visit the aim of Douglas House is to enable them to do some
of these things, normally taken for granted - hence the bar (serving soft
drinks), the games area, the music room, equipped with drum-kit, electric
guitar and amplifiers, the pool table with room to negotiate around in
wheelchairs. It is hoped that there will be computers in each room for games
and communication .
To quote Sister Frances "There is a lot of living to do!"
Dounglas and Penny
Penny suffered from Batten's Disease and was a regular visitor to Helen
House. Her brother Douglas was later also diagnosed with the disease. He
died at the age of 24. Their parents laid the foundation stone for Douglas
House.
Douglas House is funded entirely from voluntary contributions, and it is
therefore essential that these keep coming in, in order for it to be able to
maintain this care.
Douglas House,110 St.Mary¹s Road, Oxford, OX4 1QD
Tel: 01865 794749, Fax:01865 791322
Click here for the Douglas House website.
Click here to email Douglas house.
Registered Charity Number. 1085951
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