REVIEW: The Wind In The Willows, Waterloo East Theatre ✭✭✭

The Wind in the Willows

Waterloo East Theatre

12th August 2015

3 Stars

In an area densely packed with brilliant venues, it can be easy to miss the intimate and interesting Waterloo East Theatre. Tucked beneath a railway arch, it’s clearly well loved by its owner and artistic director Gerald Armin, who also mans the bar (did Kevin Spacey ever do that at the Old Vic?!). Over the next few days this space is home to a new adaptation of The Wind of the Willows, courtesy of the River Road Theatre Company, mostly composed of students from the Guildford School of Acting.

The story is well-known and well-loved; a group of woodland animals (Ratty, Mole and Badger) attempt to keep their friend Mr Toad out of mischief and away from his strange obsession with motor-cars. The story follows Mr Toad as he tries to charm his way out of trouble and help the group protect their home from a mob of evil weasels.

The story is just as warm and fuzzy as you may remember, with some adorable characters and sweet moments. An interesting new dynamic is that in this version the story is ‘read’ to two little children by their parents. This was perhaps a cute nod to how the book’s author Kenneth Grahame developed the characters through reading them to his young son a hundred years ago. It was a clever device and generally worked well, although some of the dialogue between the family was a little bit twee at times.

Jamie Attle’s costumes were superb; the production resisted the urge to dress the cast up in fancy dress style costumes. Instead, there were a variety of stylised outfits; Mole was in overalls and a hard hat, Ratty looked like a cricket playing public schoolboy and King Weasel was a high camp glam rocker. The staging was also resourceful and interesting; the cast was used to create vehicles, windows and buildings, which worked surprisingly well. Co-director Laura Weston has a background in choreography and the on-stage movement was very strong, with all of the animals having their own particular gaits and quirky physical tics.

It was an ideal piece for a student production; the cast all had meaty roles, with several taking on as many as six or seven parts each very capably. Two of the leads particularly stood out – Alex Appleby was a perfect Ratty, with a wonderfully likeable manner and a performance packed full of infectious enthusiasm. Carla Bryson was similarly sweet and touching as Mole, with her little speech about the importance of home really hitting the spot. They were both fantastic and even though I have never seen the production on stage before, they both perfectly captured how I imagined the characters looking, sounding and interacting.

Although the whole ensemble was excellent, Gruffyd Evans also caught the eye as a very talented performer. As well as a thoroughly earnest Dad, he was also highly amusing as Gerald, the beleaguered and slightly psychotic horse. Oliver Scott’s Mr Toad was interesting; it was a performance full of vigour and energy but was a touch over-the-top for my tastes, with sometimes volume triumphing over depth of character. Having said that, I’ve often thought that Mr Toad has some of the weakest dialogue in the play; one particular joke about how he is ‘big boned’ was repeated SEVEN times throughout. – a few similar recurring gags also felt rather flat.

Overall, The Wind in the Willows is an enjoyable evening, with some inventive moments and excellent performances from a talented young cast. Forget Wolf Hall, Toad Hall is the place to be over the next few days.

Photos: Julian Bruton

The Wind In The Willows runs until the 15th August 2015 at Waterloo East Theatre