I never feel that summer has really started until I’ve been to the outdoor show in Lancaster’s Williamson Park. The Dukes have been producing a family show in these bucolic surroundings almost continuously since 1987 so they know what they’re doing.

This year’s production, The Wizard of Oz, is based on L. Frank Baum’s book and is adapted by Daniel Bye and directed by Elvi Piper. As usual, it’s a promenade production moving the audience from place to place around the park. This season, they only use four of the six usual locations, and they don’t go up the hill to the Ashton Memorial for the interval as the café had its roof blown off in a storm (now there’s a coincidence). Instead, they use the space at the bottom and there are food trucks where, in the interval, you can buy burgers, focaccia and good coffee. This is a definite improvement on the old café which had a distinctive 1970s’ vibe.

The cast, a mixture of newbies and stalwarts (and the technical crew likewise), does a great job of leading everyone through the story and the park. Hope Yolanda, who sings like a dream, gives a determined if slightly bad-tempered Dorothy while Tori Burgess, an Olivier nominee no less, is an engaging scarecrow. Helen Longworth, a Williamson Park stalwart of longstanding, is the cowardliest lion you ever saw, and Gareth Cassidy is a Tin Man whose addiction to WD-40 is troubling.

Meanwhile, Matthew Ganley is great as Nigel, the witch’s henchman, and the gatekeeper at the wizard’s palace, strutting about like he owns the place. But I felt that his turn as the wizard at the end was unsatisfactory. The wizard is a big voiceover throughout, and the reveal is that he’s a weed. Ganley isn’t weedy. Lisa Howard as the Wicked Witch of the West, however, is gloriously horrid and much deserves her watery come-uppance.

The Wizard of Oz is great fun and the audience loved it. But I have a quibble. Imagine watching a show where you don’t understand why half of the audience is laughing. It’s a bit of a hobby horse of mine but, if you make a show for families, you really shouldn’t use material or make jokes that a primary school audience can’t understand.

Consider this: the Tin Man has the line ‘you can find me on tin-der’. It’s funny but it elicited no reaction from the nine-year-old next to me. And while WD-40 is oddly humorous, I doubt a nine-year-old knows what it is. It’s easy to riff on this material and make adults laugh, but it’s much harder to write so that the whole audience enjoys it. I know they do this in panto, and I loathe it.

Nevertheless, this is a fun family night out. The good end well, the bad end badly, and we could all do with a bit more of that these days.

By Chris Wallis, Theatre Editor

Main image by Gabi Dawkins

 

The Wizard of Oz is playing at Williamson Park in Lancaster until August 24, 2025. For more information, click here.