Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Anna Buckland, Stuart Crowther, Harvey Robinson.

To bring a new generation of theatre lovers into the realms of existence, the effort must be made to demonstrate to them just what a wonderful world it is; if Government in all its selfish motives keeps sending down messages that science and the pursuit of feeding the gluttonous economy must be paramount, then every form of the arts must counteract this by showing the young that the soul is just as important to nurture as the wallet.

Up For the Road Theatre’s Bardolph’s Box is a case in point of bring the beauty of theatre to the young and the newly immersed and by doing so catching their attention early with the promise of great things to come. It is a promise that is easily forged and unbreakable as the allusion to many of Shakespeare’s great characters, including a younger Bardolph, are brought to the forefront of the audience’s attention and allowed great freedom under Nicola Pollard’s wonderful direction.

With the Unity Theatre opening up the salvo of appreciation for the greatest ever writer, both young and seasoned theatre attendees could not help but be entranced by a play that allowed the allusion to the early days of theatre production, the days in which the bear and cock fighting pits and local taverns would host the mechanicals and strange bearers of truth, and the sweeping gestures of three fine actors offering an enhanced reason to understand that to be in the theatre is not just a necessity, but also a privilege that must never be taken away.

The three actors were fresh, exciting, never anything but resolute in their determination to show to the younger minds and their parents exactly what William Shakespeare means to the world of literature, the array of characters that he created and studied in unmatchable style. Bardolph’s Box is a creation of joy and delight in a world where the young are pressurised too early into believing that the pursuit of material gain is above all, when in reality the understanding of human nature, so well captured by William Shakespeare and actors, is the key to happiness.

Bardolph’s Box is a delightful and trouble-free introduction to both Shakespeare and the theatre, two birds of paradise caught by a single net!

Ian D. Hall