With a Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain

When that I was but a little tiny boy
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
A foolish thing was but a toy
For the rain it raineth every day

So sings Feste the clown at the end of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. The rain it raineth just about every day at the moment, certainly, and I was fervently hoping that it would hold off for the dress rehearsal of the play last night in Dagmar Wood, Headingley, Leeds.

Theatre of the Dales are just beginning a tour of it and you can find more details on their website, here.

The director David Robertson - who also plays Malvolio - and the company have had a tricky time of it in rehearsal for various reasons. The most recent of these is that the stage manager has completely lost his voice, which provided a blackly comic subplot to the play as he took command of setting all the props and getting the company ready to start the play, all in sign language.

The weather hasn't helped, of course, because it's an outdoor production and it's been hey, ho the wind and the rain all through rehearsals.

So we were all hoping that the rain would hold off, particularly since Silverback had kindly offered to come along and take some photographs.

But, bad weather and problems notwithstanding, all the right elements were in place: an excellent team of people, great music and total commitment from everyone. It's going to be a Grand Evening Out - - and, since tonight is the first night, it probably already has been.

Silverback came up with such a fantastic set of photos that it's been hard to pick just a few to show you here, but I've chosen some that I think give the flavour of it all:

Viola:

Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch:

Malvolio:

and Malvolio again:

Olivia and Maria:

Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Antonio:

Orsino:

Viola:

Sir Andrew Aguecheek:


I hope that from now on it will be sunshine all the way for this excellent production, and very many thanks to Silverback for the photos. If you're going to be in Yorkshire over the next couple of weeks, and you would like to see it, you can find the details on the website.