Festival Fleurieu. Butterfly Theatre. The Olives, Yankalilla. 26 Apr 2025
Rain, hail or shine, the show must go on. And so it did at The Olives for the Festival Fleurieu.
It was not hail and, indeed, it was only misty rain beneath an occasional rainbow.
But, it was suddenly cruelly cold.
Wise audience members, advised to bring chairs and picnic blankets for this outdoor performance of spirited Shakespearean snippets, swiftly rugged up in an ubiquity of puffer jackets and knee rugs and cosily watched sweet Ophelia in a flimsy nightie listing her death bouquet: “There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts…” And, all around, were living flowers amid the glory of rosebeds and herbaceous borders at The Olives; the perfect setting under imperfect weather. Damn.
The Butterfly Theatre players, however, showed no goosebumps let alone faint hearts.
They were troupers of the old theatrical tradition. Bare arms and bare feet were dressed by brave hearts and strong voices.
Their stage was a sunken lawn with some hay bales and a small marquee for the musicians with their Elizabethan stringed instruments. The audience was arrayed in “stalls” on the grass with some looking down from a geranium-lined "dress circle”.
Thence, they also could meditate upon the windbreak provided by gracious old olive trees planted in 1860. The Olives is a precious piece of South Australia’s listed heritage and its gardens are a work of art.
The Festival production, directed by Tony Knight, was something of a lyrical smorgasborg: sonnets, songs, and exerpts from the Bard’s plays. Titania was there and Bottom, Viola and Juliet, Rosaline and Kate… Shakespeare’s words of love from many sources delivered by sterling performers and musicians: Bronwyn Ruciak, Callum Logan, Leah Lowe, David Daradan, Sophie Livingston-Pearce, James Logan, Matthew Lykos, and Jamie Lynn Webster.
Many are the jokes about the indestructibility of actors and their reputation as such is not for nothing. Butterfly is fragile only in name. It shows its colours as a tough troupe one may even dub as daring plein-air professionals. Applause.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Apr
Where: The Olives
Bookings: Closed
