‘Downton Abbey with gardening tips’

ONE very talented actor, Giles Shenton, keeps us engrossed, entertained, amused and emotionally engaged for an hour and a half as a gardener in a potting shed… who knew that would work?

A wonderful production: funny, emotional, touching, instructive: as it’s been dubbed: ‘Downton Abbey with gardening tips’ (and some cookery ones too!)…and an acute and sometimes hilarious observation of relationships between the classes in a gentler, simpler age. As the song goes, ‘Sometimes life can taste so sweet, when you slow it down.’ Herbert Pinnegar ( “Old Herbaceous”) reminisces & tells us his life story, man and foundling boy; from his transformation, as a “ no-hoper” school boy with a gammy leg, to Head Gardener and on to the dizzy heights of officiating for the RHS! All this under the tender, but ever class-conscious protection and encouragement of his employer, his “dear lady”, Mrs Charteris forever remembered, cherished and, though never actually said, loved from his boyhood as, “ the laughing lady in white, who gave me my first chance”.

Herbert recounts his transformations and epiphany moments through his times as a lowly gardener’s boy, to under gardener and then to the responsibilities of managing people as Head Gardener; all of these he treats with a gentle good humour and plenty of endearing country common sense. The piece is sprinkled with witticisms and epithets, a gentle humour, all much in the traditionally understated English style of the early 20th century. Yet many of these are timeless: “A garden is like life itself: full of good and evil”. ; “ You can’t be angry for long… not in a garden.”

The tender care of plants is almost a euphemism for the nourishing of our relationships. A simple, but most effective and accurate set transforms the piece, with sensitive and expressive lighting. I could almost smell the compost and twine. Giles Shenton truly lives the part and really does make us all feel it’s a private chat from a bygone and comforting age and that we leave all the better for having listened to his shared experiences, with a feeling that all’s right with the world. This wonderful production deserves a much wider audience and a long run! The end of the piece, where. though never spoken aloud, his true feelings are revealed, is one of the most moving I have seen in a long time… take your hanky!”

Saturday, February 4, at 7.45pm – Tickets £12 – Spear Travels. 01844217228 or online from www.thameplayers.co.uk

SOURCE – Contributed