The Wind in the Willows breathes new life into exam term 

The Wind in the Willows has been staged in Cambridge before, but never with such vitality as the ADC Theatre’s main stage production last week. From the grand orchestral score to the cartoonishly hand-drawn whiskers on every character’s face, director Caitlin Gillard’s production captured all the fairytale magic that has made The Wind in the Willows so beloved across generations. 

The show opens with a triumphant number led by Irmak Yesilkaya, whose youthful exuberance sets the tone perfectly. The script then settles into a slower hour that relies heavily upon exposition and worldbuilding – material that could have perhaps been trimmed down – but the cast’s energetic performances keep things fresh throughout. Of all the student plays I have seen, this is the one where each cast member most fully embodied their character: there was not a single weak link on stage. 

The standout was Ella Jenkins as Toad, whose physical performance reached professional levels of skill, filling not just the stage but the entire room with the character’s lovable impulsivity and arrogance. Wilf Offord (Rat) was convincing both in his close relationship with Mole and in his anxious, high-strung demeanour – a difficult quality to convey believably.  Zaria Jankleovitz-Gelvan (Sheryl Stoat) brought clear choreographic instinct to every move, delivering each with sinister precision. Vocally, the entire cast impressed, with no glaring weaknesses despite some instances where songs noticeably dipped out of their comfortable range. Olivia Mornin (Mrs Otter) and Barney Sayburn (Chief Weasel) made the most of their limited stage time to deliver some of the strongest vocal performances of the night, lingering in the minds of their audience long after they had left the stage. 

The mise-en-scène was minimalist, but that simplicity worked in the production’s favour. Each set piece was made to stand out, precisely because each tended to be the only prop on stage at any given time, and indeed this is reflective of the impressively long list of set constructors named on Camdram, led by the talented Sophia Cheng. The backdrop left something to be desired, admittedly, and at times the lighting was not quite adjusted properly so that the most prominent sight onstage was the horde of crew members rushing to rearrange the set. Yet, when the lighting design was good, it was great: the emulation of passing headlights was simple but highly immersive. Costumes and makeup were similarly effective, again being confined to the simplicity of the production but demonstrating the resourcefulness of costumers Myrtle Jordan and Eleanor Baldwin. 

The highlight of the production was by far the music, led by the extremely gifted Chi Wai Hu and Sydney Nguyen. Sound was consistently well-balanced so as to fill the room without drowning out the performers’ voices, and the orchestral score was often the strongest single argument for the fairytale atmosphere being created. The band was fairly large, but not one instrumentalist felt wasted; their collective commitment more than compensated for any minimalism in the set, so that there was never any doubt that you were in a fantasy world. 

There were minor errors, of course, which sprout from a somewhat large cast trying to occupy a small space. Blocking was occasionally just off enough to make the stage feel cluttered rather than bursting with life, the eye struggling to settle on a focal point. Similarly, while the choreography was often brilliantly executed, timing occasionally faltered as the performers fell slightly out of sync. It is these idiosyncrasies, after all, which make student theatre so endearingly authentic, and which do not really detract from an ultimately spectacular show. 

If you missed out on seeing The Wind in the Willows at the ADC this time around, you wouldn’t be begrudged holding out some hope that it will return for a second run. Exams being around the corner remain a major deterrent for students attending their local theatres, but sometimes, a light-hearted, whimsical night of music and talking animals is exactly what you need to take the edge off Cambridge exam stress. That is precisely what Gillard and her assistant director Giulia Hervy provided. 

Edited by Polly Bigham