First published in 1911, ‘The Secret Garden’ is a classic children’s novel about the power of forgiveness and healing and has now been adapted for the stage…
By Suman Bhuchar
WRITTEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) and now freely updated by writer, Holly Robinson and director, Anna Himali Howard this is a beautifully creative and imagined show.
(Hannah Khalique-Brown)
I had never read the book as a child, so I really had to hunt around in my local library and eventually found a children’s version of this book which I quickly read to get an idea of the story.
It gives you the basic plot which is that Mary Lennox an orphan child born and raised in India is sent to live in Yorkshire with an uncle she’s never met.
Here, she meets her bedridden cousin, Colin, finds a key to a secret and neglected garden that she learns to restore and discovers the power of forgiveness and healing.
This version has reimagined Mary as a dual heritage or Anglo Indian child played by Hannah Khalique-Brown whose Indian mother, Champa (Avita Jay) has married a British Officer, Captain Lennox (Patrick Osborne) and they love to party while she is brought up by ayahs.
The style of the show with the whole company narrating, acting the story which is presented from different perspectives is what makes the whole production enchanting and insightful.
“It begins with a girl, it begins in India” … the cast chant and the story does indeed begin in Kolkata 1903 where the glamourous couple host a party against the backdrop of the spread of cholera. “The Lennoxs continued to dance and sickness continues to spread. No one left to come, neither father nor mother left. A normal child might have cried…”
All succumb to cholera, so Mary is sent to Vilayat and ends up on The Yorkshire Moors.
Khalique-Brown does a great job as being a self-contained petulant brat with no social graces who travels alone by sea and is met by the housekeeper, Mrs Medlock (Amanda Hadingue).
She’s taken to Misselthwaite Manor, because her aunt, the late Lady Lata Craven married another Englishman and moved to the North.
Mrs Medlock informs her, “You’re an English girl ,you must be brought up in an English way.”
At first Mary is puzzled by the Yorkshire sound and accent, she can’t dress herself as her ayahs have done it but over time, she learns a lot about life and people.
She meets Ben Weatherstaff (Richard Clews) the gardener and encounters an anthropomorphic Robin played by Sharon Phull as well as Martha (Molly Hewitt-Richards), the maid and her brother, Dickon (Brydie Service).
Meanwhile, we as audience sitting in the Open Air theatre watch as the light begins to dim in the skies and the stage is illuminated by a dusky light and other stage effects, while the story continues to unfold in front of us.
Mary befriends the Robin and Dickon teaches her about other animals such as a squirrel or crow – all created by actors using the clothes they are wearing. She eventually finds the location of the secret garden.
She hears a voice crying at night and eventually meets “a boy who looked like Mary”.
Robin bird (Sharan Phull), Weatherstff Clews) and Dickon (Service)
This is her invalid cousin, Colin (played by Theo Angel), a spoilt yet vulnerable young boy hidden away by her uncle Archibald Craven (Jack Humphrey) who has not gotten over the fact that his wife, Lata died during childbirth.
Therefore, he neglects his son, who is looked after by the housekeeper and his brother, Dr Craven (George Fletcher), who both believe in molly-coddling him and treating him rather like a fragile glass toy.
Mary and Dickon are having none of it and they eventually take him out to the garden in a wheelchair, where he learns about pruning and patience – waiting to be loved by his father.
Near the end of the story, Mary meets her freedom fighter aunt, Padma (great to see Archana Ramaswamy on stage here), who has spent her time “resisting the Partition of Bengal – whatsoever Partition was” and trying to find her niece. There is a happy ending but we learn that “all magic has its limits”.
This version of ‘The Secret Garden’ is an imaginative and creative show, which departs from the original novel in many ways but doesn’t mar our engagement with the story.
ACV rating: ***** (five out of five)
All photographs ©RegentsParkOpenAirTheatre/Alex Brenner
Listing
Show runs until tomorrow (July 20, 2024)
2 hours and 30 mins including an interval
Tonight: 7.45pm
Tomorrow: 2.15pm & 7.45pm
‘The Secret Garden’ – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NU
Nearest tube: Baker Street
More info/booking https://openairtheatre.com/production/the-secret-garden
