Ex-St. John’s student, Lizzie Lewis, who lives in Great Bedwyn, is bringing her own theatre company, Tall Tales Theatre, to Marlborough LitFest to perform Hansel and Gretel on Saturday September 21. The performances are at 10.30am in Pewsey Library and at 1.30pm in Marlborough Library. As part of Marlborough LitFest’s events for children, the performances are free but you do need to book your places with the libraries. Lizzie is also performing solo in Pan on Sunday September 29 in St Peter’s Church at 1pm.
Lizzie, who is also The Watermill Theatre’s youth director, told Marlborough.news, “Hansel and Gretel is a really nice introduction to theatre in an informal intimate setting. We create a world with magical storytelling. Without using a lot of props the audience believes the world that is created – it’s really powerful.”
Tall Tales Theatre specialises in classic children’s stories re-written and re-imagined for the modern world. “They are,” says Lizzie, “a fresh take on the classics”. Lizzie writes the scripts and performs them together with actor musicians – Dave Stephens (guitar) and Ben Prout (squeeze-box, mandolin and bouzouki). If you visited Avebury over the school summer holidays you may have seen them. Tall Tales performed three shows a day at Avebury – The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Ugly Duckling.
Lizzie was inspired to reimagine the story of Hansel and Gretel because she liked the idea of “lost souls finding their way home again. The story has the themes of friendship and trust and overcoming life’s problems together. It was a hard script to write without making it too scary.”
Lizzie’s solo adaptation of Peter Pan, which is she is performing a week later is, she admits, scarier. Lizzie plays twelve characters in what she describes as “a manic high energy performance.”
Tall Trees will be touring with their Christmas show and next February half-term Rumpelstilskin will be performed at The Watermill Theatre.
Lizzie trained at East 15 Acting School, which has many famous alumni. She was kind enough to comment that “St John’s English lessons inspired my career.”
Other free events at Marlborough LitFest include street storytellers at The Parade Cinema for ages 3-8 and drop in art and craft activities at St. Peter’s Church for all ages.
All smiles for first days at Preshute Primary School
