We went to the theatre last Wednesday – to Kilworth House, the open air theatre at South Kilworth, about 20 minutes from us. It was Chantal’s first visit, but I have been before. The theatre is well established on the tour circuit, with an excellent reputation, and, apparently, it goes down well on an actor’s CV to have performed there, and in consequence many West End plays transfer to Kilworth. It probably helps that the theatre is in the grounds of a 4-star hotel. Theatre goers can enjoy a picnic in the grounds before the performance, as I have done before, but since this was a weekday evening this wasn’t an option on this occasion.
The theatre is not actually open to the sky – a canopy shelters the audience, and a separate canopy covers the stage, but nevertheless it can be a bit draughty. During an evening performance, as this one was, the audience can see the daylight fading, but since you are engrossed in the play (hopefully), you don’t really notice. In this performance, set in inner city America, it was a bit incongruous to have “noises off” when the local population of rooks cawed noisily as they settled into their night-time roost.
We went to see Sister Act – some of you may have seen the film starring Whoopi Goldberg. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance (not in the photo above – no cameras allowed!) although the general opinion among our group was that it wasn’t the best performance seen at the theatre. Nevertheless it was a nice evening, and most surprising, Chantal didn’t get cold, and I didn’t need to borrow one of the blankets offered by the theatre.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
