Blackadder The Third – Everyman Festival

*I received a free ticket, for the purpose of an honest review. All opinions are my own, photos were provided for me to use in my review if wanted* 
 

What a location!

 

Last night was the opening night of the Everyman Festival, and was kicked off by the very funny Blackadder the Third.

 

Just before it all opened up – I was very early!

As it was the opening of the Festival I thought I’d start with a little about the ‘venue’. It’s in a beautiful location, Sophia Gardens, and last nights weather certainly helped. If you’re not a big fan of traditional theatres or you’re looking for a relaxed first time theatre experience, this is definitely one to try!
Although the weather helped, it’s not a problem if it’s not so great. The ‘theatre’ itself has under cover seating for watching the performances, and there’s also areas around the bar with under cover seating for before the show, during the interval and also post show. 

Mums night off – treating myself to a Pimm’s!

On site there are toilets (I know some people were concerned about this) a licensed bar, an ice cream stall and also a pizza stand which makes and cooks pizza fresh to order. I can confirm this is a must visit! Although I may need to check again at the next show…just to check consistency of course!

Was as delicious as it looks

Now back to the show!
The fear with watching a play based on a very famous television series is of course that it won’t be the same or as good as the original. Well I can confirm it is! The actors didn’t try too hard to be an impression of the originals, which I found can often go wrong, but it was easy to watch and not be wishing for the original cast. 

There were a few hiccups with lines, but nothing you couldn’t expect from an opening night, and they were dealt with humour and it didn’t take from the performance at all.

The set was used very cleverly, and was able to create different areas for scenes, although the nature of the play meant that if a completely different scene wasn’t created, it adds to the humour of the play.
Lighting wasn’t needed so much in the usual way, as the performance is outside, it’s mostly just white lighting used to keep everything seen as the sunset. There was some colour used in the second half when it was slightly darker, but it didn’t really add anything different to the play itself.

Occasional issues with the sound effects and music coming in slowly or late, however they were very slight and didn’t detract much from the performance. I don’t think the cast had any microphones, certainly not on them but no stage miss either, and the majority of the dialogue was very clear.

The show was excellent, very funny and the ending in particular leaves you with that fantastic feel good feeling. I’m not going to tell how it ends, but I suggest you go along and find out!
Overall it was a fantastic evening, thouroughly enjoyed by all of the audience from what I overheard, and certainly by me! 

I’m really looking forward to seeing the other productions and seeing how they’re staged differently. 

 

For more information and to book tickets online visit the Everyman Festival website:

everymanfestival.co.uk or call the box office on 0333 6663366.

 

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Let me know if you go, and what you think!
Mrs H xxx