TWELFTH NIGHT Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

SHAKESPEARE: OUTDOOR, OUTRAGEOUS AND OPEN-HEARTED Start by knowing that this is a bangingly entertaining evening out under the Suffolk skies, with ragamuffin costumes and lovely ramshackle beach-huts under the great chestnut tree. Red Rose Chain has been doing outdoor productions for years, and their venue ever has been, in recent years, this field at the Anglo-Saxon ship site, well supported by the National Trust. The summer show’s tradition, which Shakespeare would probably approve, involves a good deal of clowning and audience-teasing, music-hall or panto moments combined with a real Shakespearianist ability not only to treat the poetry with respect, but to ease down to poignant feeling when – between the larks and misunderstandings – real human loves and fears are played out. Those who follow this extraordinary little company and deeply mourn its founder – Jo Carrick died this year – will rejoice as I do at the way David Newborn and Katy Latham chose, in her memory, to bring back…

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