The Tempest

Bridging the gap between the stage and the great outdoors

I was hoping to avoid the "rain it raineth every day" line this year when it came to writing about Sprite productions.

But, at the time of writing, the rain is predictably bouncing down outside and the premiere performance of this year's show is just a couple of hours away.

This year, however, the rain might just work in their favour – the show is The Tempest and the rain may well add to the atmosphere of the evening. Sprite is led by the perennially enthusiastic Liam Evans-Ford and his wife Hester. The young couple have been bringing their versions of outdoor Shakespeare to Ripley Castle since 2005.

This year their fifth annual production is The Tempest.

Yorkshire audiences recently saw a staggering production of the play on tour in Leeds and Sheffield, staged by the RSC. But no matter how good the RSC version was, it doesn't have what Sprite has – an actual island on a lake in the grounds of Ripley Castle on which to stage the performance.

Ever since Sir Thomas Ingleby gave the company permission to use the grounds of his family home for their production, Sprite's actors have wandered around the picturesque gardens and woodlands staging their shows in a promenade style, with the audience following the action on foot. Last year Liam hit on the idea of using the island.

While other companies might not even consider the idea (the island is 50 metres away from the "mainland") it is the fact that Liam is able to think in such ambitious terms that has seen the company go from strength to strength, growing in audience and ambition each year. Three years ago, Liam brought in young director Lucy Kerbel to run the show, a move which saw the professionalism of the productions increase.

Lucy is sitting in a car, watching the rain pour outside as she waits for her audience to turn up and get drenched. While Liam is constantly enthusiastic, Lucy is always a cheerful delight.

"The forecast is for it to be dry this evening, so I think we're going to be alright," she says optimistically.

The director's work was most recently seen at the Soho Theatre and in recent years she travelled to New York to work after winning a number of awards. She has continued to find space in her schedule for the Ripley Castle shows.

"The thing I love about coming up here – well, there's obviously the fact that it's a beautiful place to be able to work – but the audiences are really great," says Lucy.

"In London, audiences are so saturated because there's so much going on that people often go to see things because they feel they ought to or out of habit. Here the audience really wants to be here. They've made a genuine, conscious effort and choice to come and see the work.

"I also love how mixed the audience is. My mum would not describe herself as a big fan of Shakespeare, but her partner is a retired English teacher and they both come every year. I like to think they are quite representative of the audience we bring in."

Each year the audience for Sprite productions has grown. The promenade style sees the audience led around the grounds. This year the company decided to do something different. Lucy says she had explored the grounds as much as she felt she could with the past three years' productions.

"I started to wonder that if we did another promenade show then people might start to go back to the same locations," she says.

"When Liam suggested the idea of using the island and then when we got permission, I thought it was a great idea."

Sir Thomas Ingleby, a long-time supporter of Sprite, was right behind the idea of staging The Tempest on the island.

Lucy says: "The play is set on an island and when you are performing and you can see and hear the water all around you, it really adds to the experience so much.

"The trees and the vegetation have been cut back, so it's become a really interesting and intimate performance space."

While the experience of watching the show in such an unusual venue adds to the effect, Lucy is determined to remember the basics.

"We spend a lot of time working on the text, making sure that we fully understand the story we are telling and the words we are saying. A lot of people are worried about watching Shakespeare because their only contact with his work is being bored by it at school," she says.

"We always remember that it was written for a mass audience and that the most important thing is to entertain."

With this in mind, the only tricky part of the evening for the audience – besides the weather – is the 50-metre bridge they have to negotiate to get to the stage.

Nick Ahad