For “A Christmas Masquerade” the House is stunningly decked out in Venetian Carnival style. As you progress through the rooms you may encounter members of the Commedia dell’Arte troupe there to entertain you. The magical immersive experience culminates in the Long Gallery, which is spectacularly adorned as the Grand Canal.
Don’t forget to visit the chapel, which has been dressed by children from Slingsby School working with Castle Howard’s charity of the year, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
There will be twilight opening on Saturdays 14 and 21 December.
For more info and a 10% booking discount, see the Castle Howard website HERE
We start at 11am at Castle Howard car park. A family walk of 3.5 miles. All dogs must be on leads. We walk through the estate and then on public footpaths. Could be muddy so come prepared. Any donations to Children in Need welcome www.justgiving.com/Ryedaleramble. Any questions email [email protected] Do come along and enjoy the fun and fresh air. It’s free!
Thursday 26 Sep – Sunday 29 September 2019 , Castle Howard
Running till Sunday, this Festival provides a fun day out for all the family. Enjoy stunning installations inside the House using seasonal flowers and produce before exploring the many games and activities being hosted outside in the gardens. Vintage tractor display, hay bale maze, a trail of beautiful willow sculptures, and more.
Find out about Yorkshire’s incredible wildlife with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the charity which Castle Howard have recently chosen to kick off their new Charity of the Year scheme.
Full details of the Festival on the Castle Howard website
here:
This event is expected to be very popular. Along with the
opportunity to meet the presenters on the main stage, there will be a number of
dedicated areas offering a wide range of countryside-related activities.
Please note that traffic diversions are in place. It is
expected that the Castle Howard road will not be passable from Slingsby as the two
arches will be one-way only (for vehicles approaching from the A64). Exit
diversions encourage traffic to use other than the obvious routes to York and
Scarborough, so be prepared for longer journey times generally.
Carparks open at 7am and, since visitors are being advised to arrive early, locals going to work (e.g via the A64) will wish to plan an alternative route. Similarly, those visiting Slingsby (e.g. for a meal at the Grapes Inn) will need to allow extra time.
Although in the days leading up to this outdoor theatre production the grounds of Castle Howard must have been doing a good impression of the windswept, rain-soaked moors, by the time the audience arrived for this first night, the weather had become benign and sunny. While this may not have enhanced the drama of the piece, it certainly made for a more comfortable audience experience.
The setting was a large enclosure in the walled garden, not normally open to
the public. The set was very simple – an area of decking with a range of
wooden stepladders behind and clothes rails left and right which doubled as
screens for costume changes. This may not sound very evocative but the
cast were able to transport us to Cathy and Heathcliff’s world through the
quality of their acting, the imaginative use of props and mime, and a wide
range of ingenious sound effects. From time to time, the intense action
was relieved by original music. April de Angelis’ thorough adaptation of Emily
Bronte’s classic novel is a very worthy addition to more famous ones that have
gone before.
The standard of acting was very high for an outdoor performance. Among a strong cast, Alice Welby, a relative newcomer to the company, stood out as Cathy. She was exceptional at conveying, sometimes just by facial expression, the quicksilver changes of mood of the troubled heroine. Tyler Conti as Heathcliff evoked our sympathy as the young man, only to cast it aside as his character developed. James Sheldon, as Mr Lockwood the prospective tenant of Heathcliff, helped us through the story with wit and dry humour. Much of the action was introduced by the maid (played in a sympathetic and suitably no-nonsense way by Helen Belbin) recounting the backstory to Mr Lockwood – a simple but effective device.
The Oxford Shakespeare Company have staged productions at venues such as
Hampton Court and Kensington Palace since forming 18 years ago, but this is
their first visit to Castle Howard. If you can only go to one outdoor
theatre production this summer, I recommend you make it this one.
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