Theatre Review: The Secret Garden. Egg Theatre, Bath
Tantrums, arguing with adults and refusing to do what they’re told. No wonder the young children were glued to the end in the Egg Theatre’s production of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Bilqees Khalid’s performance was a study in petulance as protagonist and orphan Mary Lennox drives events through her tantrums, arrogance and determination to discover the secret garden behind the wall. She was brought up in the Indian Raj with servants to dress her and was used to getting her own way so she enjoyed dismissing Martha and talking down to everyone else but Yorkshire has a way of bringing everyone down to earth. Much of the novel was sacrificed to simplify the story but the main elements remained: contrary Mary, bedridden Colin, nature boy Dickon, kindly Martha, exasperated Mrs Medlock, grieving Archibald Craven, grumpy gardener Ben, the Yorkshire Moors of course, plus the classic Gothic backdrop of Misselthwaite Manor. And when I say backdrop, I mean backdrop as this was one of the finest theatre sets I’ve seen at The Egg. Designed by Kat Heath it was an overture in doors and dark wood stretching to the ceiling. As the scenes unfolded various doors, windows, picture frames and even a garden opened to reveal aspects of the plot. Below the main space was cleared for the action with just mobile doors and packing cases as props.
The performance I witnessed was signed by Sherrie Eugene-Hart who worked hard to position herself in a performance which is marked by constant movement as she conveyed the dialogue to a large section of the audience who were members of the deaf community. The audience also contained other children with challenges that afternoon and the cast went out their way to connect with them as indeed did the writer Tom Wentworth who abridged the story as he had identified with sickly Colin Craven – and the director Stephaine Kempstone also had empathy with the difficult boy as she had suffered from a long term illness. Understanding childhood traumas rather than faithfully dramatizing the Victorian children’s novel – threaded through this production – to include children (and adults) with long term illness, challenging conditions and mental and physical health.
Remembering this was a production for children from six years of age and older who may not have been to the theatre before the cast appeared to explain the story’s outline, the sounds and lighting and the characters they would play – a friendly and informative start. There are some plays I’ve seen for adults which would have benefitted from such an opening! With songs and much movement as the cast portrayed the Yorkshire Moors, statues, plants and animals as well as their core characters this was a joyous performance filled with the sounds of nature and birdsong. The Garden is Full of Secrets, ran one song, while another celebrated the robin and another concerned finding ways for Colin to visit the garden – all very inventive, charming and easy to understand lyrics.
Alice Barclay as the terrifyingly bossy Mrs Medlock was an overture in exasperation as she tried to enforce the house rules on the children, while opposite in character Daneka Etchells oozed Yorkshire goodwill and kitchen commonsense as Mary’s non-maid maid. Tantrum ridden Colin was given a fiery and yet vulnerable persona by Jack Hunter and Martin Bonger as Mr Craven whose (no spoilers) had the perfect emotional balance for the denouement in the final scene. Dickon was played by Daniel Forbes who had a lovely soft touch to portray the boy who slowly softens Mary’s character while as mentioned Bilqees’ Khalid’s committed tantrums and sulks were enjoyed by the young audience who saw in her something of themselves in this five-star production.
Harry Mottram, Bath Voice
The play runs from 2-26 July, 2026. Various performance times.
Visit https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/events/the-secret-garden/
It was an Egg Theatre production at the Theatre Royal Bath.