This is the scenery near Leyburn in Wensleydale. This is Bolton Castle.
Imagine sitting in the grounds of this 14th century castle as evening draws in, a picnic beside you, to watch The Handlebards’ version of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’. You know this will be no ordinary performance. The Handlebards are four female actors who cycle the length and breadth of the kingdom, with all they need for the tour crammed into two bicycle carriers. At each performance, they take every part in Shakespeare’s comedy of bizarre mistaken identity, family breakdown, love and lust.
So far so good. But this is England in July. We’d had two days of almost incessant rain. In a downpour, the Handlebards cycled the 26 (mainly uphill) miles from Ripon, where they’d performed at the Workhouse Museum.
The Castle has a Great Hall. Performing here rather than on a soggy greensward seemed a better idea in the circumstances. And it was. During the evening it rained. And then rained again. The audience never noticed a thing. We were too busy admiring the way four women became twenty or more people.
To become a man, all they had to do was don a codpiece adorned with a tennis or cricket ball. A selection of hats served to distinguish one character from another. Bicycle handlebars identified the wearers as sheep. Your character needs to disappear stage right to enter stage left as someone else? Easy. Leave the person whom you were addressing in charge of your hat, and s/he will continue to talk to it. With the flourish of a stick, a youth became faithful, ancient Adam. Orlando and his family were all twoubled by an inability to pwonounce the letter ‘r’. And so it went on, as one inventive twist or piece of slapstick followed another. Shakespeare would have loved it.
I’m now a Handlebards groupie. And the fun doesn’t end here. In other venues, having travelled there on other bicycles, a troupe of male actors is giving similarly irreverent treatment to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. We’re on the mailing list.
Sounds great, I am watching out for them now!
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You should. Unfortunately, they seem to be working their way even further north at the moment, but I hope they’ll be back.
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sounds absolutely delightful .. shame I’m in the wrong country for such culture and fun 🙂
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Oh, you must have some crazy acting companies too!
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in the cities they sometimes do plays in car parks .. but none going out regionally that I’ve heard of 😦
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The performance sounds really exciting and your final landscape was truly beautiful.
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It was all such good fun, and the journey through the wonderful Wensleydale scenery really added to the experience.
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Ah what a fabulous combination talented, funny women in that history laden building! Do you think the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots would have been amused too?
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Oh, definitely. All about successfully escaping lives that weren’t working so well for a better future!
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I’ll hold on to that thought as I reread the somewhat nightmare survey of a potential new home. 🤔
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Aaagh. Moving house. One of life’s most stressful moments. I really do feel your pain.
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It sounds like a night to remember – and I get a glimpse of where my favourite cheese comes from too!
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Your favourite cheese certainly comes from the area. You’ll have to make a pilgrimage: though apart from Constable Burton, there aren’t many gardens to tempt you.
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What a whimsical idea for a performance and a dry sense of humor, even for the rain….. and a fantastic venue. Summer is a state of mind I suppose and it takes a bit of creativeness to weather the storm. Love the name of the group – I agree Shakespeare would approve. Have a terrific Tuesday.
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Both outdoors and in made for great venues. It was a special evening. As I type, the rain comes tumbling down …. but it’s been a nice enough day in other ways. Happy Wednesday!
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This does sound like a lot of irresistible and inventive fun. The mistaken identities must have been most convincing. I am not surprised you are a Handlebards groupie! The last photo is stunning – the angle of the wall sets off the angles of the lines of clouds most perfectly.
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Oh, thank you. It was no weather for sitting about in, but it was definitely picturesque.
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Always good to have a handy castle just in case it rains😊. Thoroughly enjoyed your enthusiastic endorsement of this traveling theatre troupe. Sounds great fun.
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It was. And the castle was definitely the place to be.
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What total fun! Think of how much fun they must’ve had coming up with all those bits of stage business, to allow them to pull this off–amazing! Have you been to Minack Theatre in Cornwall–wouldn’t it be great to see them there??
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Yes it would. Funnily enough I got talking to a woman in the interval who loves the Minack. I’ve not been there – yet – but it seems you have. How well travelled you are!
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Not well travelled at all! I just go back to 2 or 3 place I like, over and over again! And Cornwall is one of those places!
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What great fun and beautiful setting, rain or no 😊 Stafford castle have an outdoor Shakespeare festival in the summer but not quite as off-the-wall 😉
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I think it’s quite the thing these days. We were in reach of at least three, but I decline to buy tickets till the last minute in case it rains ….. and it usually does ….
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What fun this troupe must be! I love your photos!
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They were fun. But goodness, what exhausting lives they have!
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Oooh…Those clouds look fantastic! These days I can’t quite get enough of the sky. It must have been a fantastic experience to attend a play in a castle. That’s one for our bucket list! 🙂
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Definitely. And as you say, the sky was pretty good too.
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