Caroline Sheen and Michael Jibson in Camelot at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Camelot continues at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor until 5 September 2020.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
As regional theatres go, the Watermill is in an unique position to offer its audiences some escapism during this Covid-19 pandemic which has ravaged our theatre industry. Set in beautiful gardens with the River Lambourn running through the property, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Watermill team for putting their heads above the proverbial parapet and staging this outdoor concert version of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot.
The proverbial parapet is particularly apt, transmogrified as it is here, into an elongated platform with colourful banners of the type which you would see at a country fayre or jousting tournament. A naive design complemented by a simplistic production emphasises the very real challenge of putting together a show with limited rehearsal time, a complete re-working of the script and the requirement for the actor-musician cast to be socially distanced and adhere to sanitisation guidelines.
In its world of knights, chivalry, romance and vengeance, Camelot is a touch of escapism in the midst of a crazy world. As a concert version, the majority of the actor-musicians form an orchestral line-up dipping in and out of cameo performances where required with Marc Antolin, Michael Jibson and Caroline Sheen making up the triumvirate of protagonists.
Director Paul Hart adheres to every social guideline by the book. Microphone stands are wiped down between usage, hand-gel is on the piano and a suitable distance is maintained between performers.
How things have changed in such a short space of time is startlingly apparent when King Arthur kisses his Guenevere and we are quickly reassured that Jibson and Sheen are real-life husband and wife.
Sheen has a beautiful voice that carries into the Berkshire night-sky with Jibson balancing regal authority with the melancholy of the resigned underdog and Antolin steals the show with his suave, precocious Lancelot who enjoys, probably a bit too much (!), cantering around on his mini hobby-horse to everyone’s delight.
Julie Watterston
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