Theatre - Five Get Famous

“Five Get Famous is a story about children, but it’s not aimed at children,” says Peter Talbot, the director of the Rude Mechanical Theatre Company, who are touring their commedia dell’arte piece all over the south of England this summer, and are this weekend making an appearance, as they do every year, in the Gun Garden. “Based on Enid Blyton’s stories, it’s set in 1940, and looks at the freedom children had to roam around and explore in those days, in contrast to today, when parents are afraid to let them out of their sight. So it’s about a loss of innocence, really. And it’s really hit a chord with the audiences that have seen it so far.”

“It’s a very visual, white faced clowning piece which relies on all’improvviso acting around the basic framework of a script,” Peter continues. “We use very few props, apart from iconic ones, but we do have a number of live sound effects, including the use of the battacchio, a slapstick you crack against your leg (from which such comedy gets its name). Though it’s aimed at adults, kids do enjoy our shows.” And what if it rains? “If it pours down, that would damage our musical instruments and costumes, so we have to cancel,” he says. “But we’ve been lucky so far, and that’s only happened twice out of twenty shows. One evening there was even sunshine.” AL