Bury St Edmunds’ thoroughly modern Dorothy heads back to Oz - via Stowmarket - in Theatre Royal’s summer show
When actor Anya de Villiers dons Dorothy’s iconic ruby slippers for more adventures in the magical Land of Oz this summer she will be gleefully following in the footsteps of one of her all-time heroines.
But the girl in the blue gingham pinafore portrayed by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz is very different from the one the audience will meet on a Suffolk stage.
The heroine of Dorothy: Back in Oz is a feisty, sometimes stroppy teenager with a mind of her own, bags of attitude, and a big heart … in other words very much a model of 21st century girl power.
“Judy Garland is one of my idols that I love,” says Anya. “I’ve always been drawn to fairy stories and am happy to follow in her footsteps.
“It’s really fun that in this version Dorothy has a lot more grit and has a mind of her own, she’s sassy, and can be naughty.
“It’s lovely to play characters doing things you wouldn’t do in real life - strop around and be angry and rebellious at times. But she has a really beautiful and empathetic heart, that’s the core.”
The specially-written musical showing at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds from August 16 to 31 is based on books two and three in the series of 14 written in the early 19th century by L. Frank Baum.
It is packed full of singing, dancing, hope, happiness, adventure and intrigue and promises to be a surefire family favourite.
But this show starts not in Kansas but in Stowmarket where Dorothy and her pet chicken Billina end up back in Oz after a massive storm and flood strike the town.
The production where local youngsters aged from nine to 16 will perform alongside professional cast and crew is a sequel to last year’s summer show The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Familiar characters reappear but a lot has changed. The Munchkins have turned bad, the yellow brick road is smashed and the emerald city lies in ruins.
Community involvement has long been at the heart of Theatre Royal with a huge learning programme that runs all year including youth theatre, special projects in schools, adult acting groups and writers’ groups.
Owen Calvert-Lyons, the theatre’s artistic director and CEO, said: “It’s really important that people who live in the town are able to perform on our stage.
“The young company learn performance skills and also life skills, team building, empathy, communication and leadership. There will be 17 performances, a few of the older ones do every show, the younger ones alternate.”
Working with the up and coming generation has proved a joy for the professional cast. Michael Lambourne, who plays the villainous Gnome King, says: “It’s lovely to see a theatre celebrating its community, and putting young people on stage as part of a professional ensemble. They are given as much responsibility as the professionals and they step up.”
The show is also a proud father moment for Michael. His 10 year-old daughter Heidi is alongside him on stage as a member of the young company.
“We did the Wizard of Oz last year which was the first time we have been on stage together, and that was probably one of the most wonderful things in my entire career,” he said.
“She is much better at learning lines than I am. We travel in together every day. We chat in the car and as soon as we get in the door here she ignores me because she’s with her friends.
“I’m enjoying playing the Gnome King, I was a panto villain Christmas so I feel I’m getting a bit typecast but I don’t mind - the baddie gets all the best lines!”
Heidi started acting around three years ago, and says she is enjoying the creative independence. “It’s really nice being in an actual show that isn’t a club show or a school show. People are watching me perform not just because they’re my parents or my friends’ parents.
“As a young company member I play a chicken, a citizen, an evil Munchkin and a reporter, and also help stage management moving props on stage.
“I’ve got a speaking role and it was scary at first. So many people are coming to watch you be your best, but one of the things is that you know the audience wants you to do well.
Nathaniel Purnell plays Tiktok - a mechanical man who appeared in the Oz books more than 100 years before the name was adopted for a social media platform.
He also doubles as dance captain, watching to make sure all the moves are working smoothly as well as playing his own role. The young company are so much fun to work with - they have so much vibrancy and creativity,” he says.
Nathaniel’s acting ambition dates back to his childhood. “I have a Year Six yearbook that says I want to be a West End star, or a vet,” he recalls.
“I trained in musical theatre, singing, dancing and acting as equals. I’m enjoying my role a lot. This is my first time in Bury. I’m very much from the city so it’s very nice to come out to a small town. “I’m based in London and was born and raised there. I’ve never been in a theatre like this, it’s beautiful.”
Meanwhile Anya, who graduated from drama school in 2020, also finds her young co-stars a source of inspiration. “I’m playing a character who’s meant to be 12, and I watch them and think ‘oh, that’s how your brain works’. It’s about the teenage spirit.”
While the show is enormous fun, some important issues are embedded in the action … the deluge that sweeps Dorothy back to Oz echoes the kind of flooding seen more and more as the climate changes.
“One of the really important things about shows like this is making worlds where people can come and escape, keeping hearts open and imaginations active,” said Anya.
“But sometimes putting an important issue into such a mad world is a really good way of understanding these things and often children’s hearts are the most open.”
Owen, who is co-directing the show with David Whitney, the theatre’s head of creative learning, said: “This is the moment where months of work are coming to fruition.
“Part of the joy of it is how we translate various people’s imaginations into reality - the writer with the lines, the designer’s visual world, the choreographer with movement.
“We probably always want to go a step further and challenge and push ourselves and surprise and delight the audience - making something bigger and better than the year before.
“I think it’s important that Dorothy is a modern young woman and has lots of agency. In the film she can be a little bit passive. It’s important to us that girls and young women see her as a role model.”
The show is written by Mike Akers. “Mike is a fantastic writer - very funny and very good writing for young people, creating characters young people enjoy playing and a great story teller,” said Owen.
Composer David Lewington has written all original music and songs. He is also at his keyboard in every rehearsal, composing on the hoof if changes are needed to the score. Choreographer Nicola Mac not only plans the dance routines but also how the cast moves on stage.
Theatre Royal head of producing Zoe Fox oversees all aspects of the production “from page to stage” which includes casting, managing the freelance artists, and the budget, and working with the marketing team to sell the show.
“We started working on it last September. The team is really, really lovely and that’s a massive thing,” she said. “For six months Owen and I and David worked with writer Mike Akers on the script.
“Finance is a big part of it. Money is one of the biggest challenges with costumes and props that are not off the shelf.
“I often take the view of an audience member - making sure that the script is going to be understood, seeing if something isn’t working. And I make sure we have diversity on our stage, so that the production is for everyone in the community.”
Morgan Brind has designed all the sets and costumes.”I did The Wonderful Wizard of Oz last year and it’s lovely to be back,” he says.”There are lots of fun things and surprises in store.
“The story changes location quite often and quite quickly so I have to find a design shorthand to make things appear and disappear quickly.
“Dorothy is written as a modern teenager and we have had to reflect that. But I have managed to sneak in a little bit of gingham - she has a gingham anorak.”
Suffolk’s Dorothy still has her red shoes made famous by the 1939 film. The shoes were silver in the original book but Hollywood turned them red so they showed up better in technicolour against the yellow brick road.
Morgan adds: “I also get the fun of people dressing as animals like Billina the chicken. She gets a bit of feather, but I’ve made her more Vegas showgirl rather than put her in a full chicken costume. And the Munchkins have gone a bit goth.
“The prop maker works off site. We have two people in the wardrobe department here who make the costumes to my designs. We buy also in charity shops and adapt those.”
Morgan is an actor as well as a designer. “Being an actor helps because if you design something that looks great but isn’t comfortable it’s not good. I know what it’s like to stand there and sweat buckets,” he says
“I’m kinder to other actors than I am to myself. Last Christmas, playing a panto dame, I had to go and see a chiropractor because I had a dress made like a massive fountain and a huge heavy wig - with heels I was about 12 feet tall.”
The production is funded through financial support from Arts Council England, Bury Town Council and ticket sales, and was commissioned through support from the theatre’s Commissioning Circle.
To book and for information on ticket offers go online to theatreroyal.org, phone 01284 769505 or email booking@theatreroyal.org
