The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame is one of those novels that is part of most children’s library as they are growing up or they are familiar with the characters.
Mole (Tim Corrie) and Rat (Wolfie Jones) are relishing the earth waking up to the Spring and everything starting to warm up and “spring” back into life. Mole has never been in a boat before and is delighted to join Rat who is at home on the water. Mole sees part of the area where he lives that he has never seen before and is curious about the wild wood where the weasels and stoats live and is warned to stay away from there.
However, Mole has never met Badger (Tom Treseder-Griffin) and Rat agrees to introduce them. Off into the wild wood they venture. Along the way they encounter the hard working Mrs Otter (Livi Gregory-Pullen) whose daughter Portia (Lucia Cascarni) who finds herself imprisoned by the wild wood animals and in imminent danger.
Toad played by the charismatic actor Rafi Francis bought a new edge to the role. Toad is often a bumbling character who isn’t necessarily intelligent just interested in the next “fast shiny thing”. Francis added a slightly more devious side to the character whose playful behaviour with his friends is entertaining, usually I find the character irritating. In this production he has a slightly more likeable demeanour.
With a large cast involved in the production it allowed many other woodland creatures to be part of tge adventure. From Mr and Mrs Hedgehog played by Freddie Ebsworth and Elspeth Scott to the Rabbit Footmen who worked at Toad Hall (Ava Wright and Lily Pyne).
The ensemble-choreographed routines worked particularly well and stood out for me. Choreographer Ellie Hanson’s hard work especially paid off in the finale when the entire cast was dancing together. Noel Jones director and musical director Hannah Castleman have bought to stage an excellent youth production of The Wind in the Willows.
Although there’s a few flaws in the production, I am not going to divulge these as the cast are not fully fledged professionals and are still learning their craft and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Everyone involved has worked incredibly hard. It is safe to say especially in the ensemble cast that there are some budding actors ready to break through into the industry. It is safe to say that they all appeared to be enjoying themselves.
Rafi Francis is a name to watch in the future. He reminded me of the actor Paul Kaye where there’s a dark quirkiness to his craft and could play a range of characters with believable ease.
Unfortunately the production has now finished. However, ENCORE Youth Theatre stage a production each year and if the quality of this year’s production is anything to go by I can highly recommend booking to watch next year’s production. For more information please visit the links below.
Four Stars.
Theatre, Art and Film Reviews 
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