Where are the young men that here now should dance,
For summer is acome unto day,
Some they are in England some they are in France,
In the merry morning of May
Where are the maidens that here now should sing,
For summer is acome unto day,
They are in the meadows the flowers gathering,
In the merry morning of May
- From the Padstow ‘May Song’ (traditional)

May is the herald of the warm months of plenty and light, and the beginning of May – the Merry Morning of May – is a rush of energy and joy. It carries us out of Winter on a great wave of colour, movement, sound, play, – and sometimes mysterious, opaque rites and ceremonies…

For people living off the land, or in dark and squalid towns, without heating, without electricity, without ready access to a variety of food, the first flourish of Summer was a release from the constraints of living indoors through the darkness, cold and deprivation of Winter.

In towns and in the countryside, new greenery was fetched in from the woods and fields. People set up bowers outside, where they could cavort all through warm nights.

They danced – with or without garlands of flowers, hoops, ribbons, bright costumes and bells.

The energetic reappearance of animal life infects everyone and there are hobby horses, people dressed as animals, people dressed as trees. The Merry Morning of May is populated with Lords of Misrule, May Queens, Jack-in-the-Green. The absurd and the stately are side-by-side.

The wild energy of hobby horses, the animal masks and abounding greenery has infused imaginations with ideas of pagan sacrifice, fertility rites, animal and vegetation spirits. The Merry Morning of May still evokes desires for a long past, for old beliefs to linger, for something always to remain, for mystery in the familiar and for things not to be lost to us…
As a celebration of a sort of freedom, people still take to the streets, and the beginning of May has been marked in our own time with protests and unrest. People are masked and disguised – sometimes they are driven back and silenced, sometimes they break through the barriers. 

in situ:’s brand-new piece takes this exuberant history of celebration and misrule, and fuses it with their own unique aesthetic and energy.

The Merry Morning of May is the second part of The Calendar Project, following December’s highly successful performances of MidWinter Light. Once again, the magical environment of Wandlebury Orchard and the Inner Ring provide our setting.

Join us as we cut our capers into the Spring dusk in The Merry Morning of May.

The Calendar Project

The Calendar Project is an ambitious cycle of performances that follows the changing of the seasons.

The cycle of the year, with its light and dark halves, and the points where one turns towards the other, or where both are held in equilibrium – these are transformations around which we have built notions of time and change, continuity and eternity, journey and return.

Over three performances – Midwinter, Spring and Autumn – the company creates a response to these changes, to our place within them, to the things done over time to mark them.

Performance, in all its forms, has always been at the heart of these markings.

The Merry Morning of May is the second performance in the Calendar Project cycle.

Author: Richard Hare Post: The Calendar Project II: The Merry Morning of May – 9/10/11 May 2013 Blog: in situ: theatre

There are two performances and tickets are available in advance.

Dates: Friday 22 March and 23 March, 2013
Time: 8pm
Venue: St Andrew’s Hall, Chesterton | Map
Running time: 80 minutes approx.
Tickets: £12/10 (concession)
NB: for this performance the audience is seated throughout

Author: Richard Hare Post: Birds – a new performance by in situ: Blog: in situ: theatre

Advance tickets are still on sale for all other performances, priced £14 (£10 concessions):

Author: Richard Hare Post: Choephoroi on Saturday: SOLD OUT Blog: in situ: theatre

Performances start at 8pm from Wednesday 13 February to Saturday 16 February.

Tickets are available now priced £14 (£10 concessions) and will be available at the venue from 7.30pm on the evening of the performance, but places are limited, so advance booking is advised.

The story

Choephoroi is the second part of Aeschylus’ Oresteia Trilogy, in which Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, returns from exile to take revenge for his murdered father. But the object of his revenge is his mother Clytemnestra and, as Alfred Hitchcock makes clear in his 1960 shocker Psycho – ‘matricide is probably the most unbearable crime of all, most unbearable for the son who commits it’.

Drawing on sources as diverse as feminist psychoanalytic theory and anthropological studies of Lamentation in Ancient and Modern Greece – is a powerful piece of physical and vocal theatre.

Author: Richard Hare Post: Aeschylus’ Choephoroi for Cambridge in February 2013 Blog: in situ: theatre

The cycle of the year, with its light and dark halves, and the points where one turns towards the other, or where both are held in equilibrium – these are transformations around which we have built notions of time and change, continuity and eternity, journey and return.

Over three performances – Midwinter, Spring and Autumn – the company creates a response to these changes, to our place within them, to the things done over time to mark them.

Performance, in all its forms, has always been at the heart of these markings.

Midwinter Light is the first performance in the Calendar Project cycle.

Midwinter Light

We start with the mid-winter festival of light, where the darkest part of the year begins, imperceptibly, to relinquish its hold, making way for the light. The group will ‘mark the time’ with their trademark combination of movement that is at once enigmatic and visceral, poetic association, almost-told stories, and objects and materials that teeter between the familiar and the very out-of-place.

Taking place among the bare trees of the orchard at Wandlebury Country Park, the performance moves between light and darkness, between the human and not-quite something other, between the warmth and reassurance of community and the unknown worlds of pasts that may never have been, but which we strangely recognise. Stories proliferate – entertaining, comforting, exciting and bewildering. Some of them barely start, others slip away down the dark paths before they can be finished, others still stay with you…

Midwinter Light is a unique experience, a ritual that is at once homely and anarchic, a festival of light in the dark of winter, and a reminder that we are, after all, if not the centre, still in the midst of it…

Midwinter Light runs for two nights only: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 December 2012. Start time is 7.30 pm. Places are strictly limited, so please book ahead.

You will need to wrap up very warmly!

Author: Richard Hare Post: The Calendar Project I: Midwinter Light – 15/16 December 2012 Blog: in situ: theatre

Author: Richard Hare Post: Cambridge News and Crier previews Macbeth Blog: in situ: theatre

Author: Richard Hare Post: Cambridge News previews Macbeth for 2012 Blog: in situ: theatre

Venue: Wandlebury Country Park, Cambridge | Map
Dates: Wednesday July 4 – Saturday July 7
Time: 8pm – running time: 100 minutes approx.
Suitable for 16+

Tickets at the venue from 7.30pm on the evening of the performance.

You can book online or check the weather and come out on the night.

There are more details of these performances, plus details of in situ:’s classes and residencies on our website, or alternatively you can ring 01223 211451.

All the best from

Bella and Richard and the in situ: team

Author: Richard Hare Post: Wild: opens Wednesday July 4 Blog: in situ: theatre

Lear: “Who is it that can tell me who I am?”.

The Fool: “Lear’s shadow”

Memories recorded in the landscape of in situ:’s performance of King Lear at Wandlebury Park in 2012.

Author: maxinefay Post: Lear’s Shadow Blog: in situ: theatre

Author: Richard Hare Post: LocalSecrets picks King Lear as Critic’s Choice Blog: in situ: theatre