Guest Blog: Caroline Sheen On CAMELOT at the Watermill Theatre

"What do the Theatre Folk do?"

The Watermill Theatre in Newbury is quite possibly one of the most idyllic theatres in the world. Set in the glorious countryside of West Berkshire, its grounds are truly beautiful - surrounded by ducks, swans, roses of every hue, and a spectacular Magnolia tree.

The theatre itself is intimate and rustic. I have been lucky enough to work here twice, in Under Milk Wood in 2017, and before that as Polly in Crazy For You. Each time has been a wonderful experience, and whenever a friend of mine has the chance to work here, I envy them massively and always contact them to tell them what a wonderful time they are about have. I call it "The Little Theatre That Could": its productions have reached all over the country, including the West End, and across the world, including Broadway.

I met up with my mum the week before lockdown for a socially distanced catch-up at the Watermill, as it's pretty much equidistant between the two of us. It was quiet, obviously, and I wondered how lockdown would affect this beloved place.

As became apparent during the following weeks, theatres across the country struggled and announced closures and redundancies. In June, the Watermill Theatre released the following statement: "As well as our beautiful theatre remaining closed, from 10 June we will be further reducing our operations. During this period, we will not be active online or across our social media channels."

Many of my fellow Watermill colleagues messaged on group chats, encouraging friends and family to become "Friends" of the theatre to try and sustain it during lockdown. I also emailed Paul Hart (the artistic director) to offer help in any way: fundraising, perhaps a Zoom workshop for the Watermill youth theatre, anything. He responded a week or so later with an idea which made my theatre-starved brain explode. Would Mike (my husband) and I be up for doing a run of Camelot in Concert in the gardens of the theatre - on the premise that the Government might allow open-air theatre by August?

We jumped at the chance, and once the outdoor theatres were given the go-ahead, things really started to move.

We arrived at the theatre for three days of rehearsals the week before last. I was a bit nervous, having not really been out of our "bubble" much at all. It's a very different experience rehearsing in a pandemic, but nothing dampens the thrill of singing beautiful music with a live band. The members of staff here are being amazing about keeping everyone safe - audience and company alike. There is antibacterial gel everywhere and a one-way system to get in and out of the theatre. The cast are all being socially distant, but all of us are on such a high because we're actually in a room with real people socialising and not on Zoom doing quizzes!

The performances have been so much fun. The audience here are such loyal theatregoers and you can sense their excitement at finally watching a live piece of theatre! As Guinevere, I marry Arthur - my actual husband, whom I can get close to - but Guinevere falls in love with Lancelot, who I am not married to, so we have to stay two metres apart. It's a strange way to conduct a love affair, but it also heightens the stakes of the situation too.

All of us feel that we are very lucky to be able to perform like this during a global pandemic. Some part of me wondered how strange it would feel to be back on stage under these circumstances, but it has felt wonderfully normal. The only difference is that usually, every night you feel a sort of energy that all over the country there are people performing in theatres, telling their stories and entertaining audiences. That we are only one of a few casts doing that at the moment is really clear, and we all very much feel the weight of that responsibility and hope that we honour our fellow theatre folk and represent them in every performance.

One day, hopefully in the not too distant future, theatres will be full again and shows will have casts in them who can touch! Until then, this is how we have to be. It's theatre, but not quite as we knew it.

Camelot is at the Watermill Theatre until 5 September

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

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