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CHALKFOOT UPDATE Spring 2009 THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS at Theatre Royal Margate reviewed by Eileen O’Brien of the Isle of Thanet Gazette "Students of both performing arts and economics would do well to study Chalkfoot Theatre Arts’ production of The Riddle of the Sands. It is a masterclass of theatre, fine-tuned to minimum cost and maximum audience enjoyment. Saturday’s performance at the Theatre Royal, Margate was the touring production’s largest venue. Margate-based Chalkfoot is a company with the ideology of bringing theatre to audiences who might not otherwise have access to it, hence the number of village halls on the itinerary. Kent County Council has stepped in for a year to enable Chalkfoot’s Riddle of the Sands tour after the Arts Council pulled the plug on the company’s grants last year. If only funding representatives had been in the audience on Saturday night and sat through the post-performance discussions. They would have seen what good value for money the company is. Audience comments overflowed with praise for both the actors’ performance and Philip Dart’s screen play and direction. Philip has distilled Erskine Childers’ ripping yarn into a play of the finest malt. His adaptation was inspired. Lia Prentaki choreographed stage moves and use of minimal props to split-second timing - a trunk doubles as a dinghy, silhouette puppets play scheming baddies and stick becomes a rudder. There was humour, from the sometimes tongue-in-cheek stiff-upper-lip Britishness of the dialogue, but mostly the laughs came from amazement at the actors’ mental dexterity as they switched between roles and inspired use of props. I can’t remember when I have enjoyed a regional play so much from beginning to end." -------------------- "Every time the Chalkfoot Theatre comes to the village we think the performance can't possibly be as good as last year, but how often we have been proved wrong" Helen Muir, Brasted Village Hall "Matthew Brown and Tom Micklem, in their various characters, created a brilliant imaginative journey throughout the play and kept the audience enthralled" HartlipVillage Hall "I am sure that the rest of the audience (judging by their applause) would agree with me, that we were so privileged to be able to see this production, only a few miles from home and at a reasonable cost." Ann Mortimer, Tower Theatre Folkestone