Gawain and the Green Knight at Poltimore

Hopefully you’ve had a great summer so far. However if you’re already running short of things to do with the family, Four of Swords Theatre has an evening for you that will turn a great summer into a legendary one.

The Exeter based company is reprising its family blockbuster Gawain and The Green Knight from 7 - 9 August at Poltimore House just outside Exeter.

Tickets at just £10 are available from www.four-of-swords.com where you’ll also find out more about the show and about the company which counts amongst its hits sold-out productions of Jekyll and Hyde, also performed at Poltimore House, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth which was staged in the atmospheric caverns of Beer Quarry Caves near Seaton.

You’ll join the action in the court of King Arthur, recreated in the crumbling splendour of the once impressive country mansion, before following brave Gawain on his quest into the grounds. Along the way you may well be recruited as a member of Arthur’s round table, but Four of Swords advises that you will not have to engage in sword fighting.

Four of Swords has performed this new twist on an age old story before, at the Exeter Phoenix arts centre and in Exeter Cathedral. Sarah White, co-founder of Four of Swords, who appears as Morgan Le Fay as well as directing the production, is excited at the prospect of reworking the production and explains how it works in very different performance areas.

She says: “All of our productions are designed to make use of existing sites, and are promenade in nature with company members leading the audience through the action, so we are not limited by scenery or the dimensions of a stage.”

The gargantuan Green Knight gatecrashes King Arthur’s party at Camelot and lays down a fearsome challenge. Only Gawain, youngest and most untested of Arthur’s warriors is bold enough to accept.

Four of Swords’ new adaptation of this classic Arthurian tale, features film projection, live music, Middle English rapping and an enormous puppet.

Philip Kingslan John is the operator of The Green Knight, wielding a massive axe and contributing a few surprises during the show.

He says: ““This story has a lot to say about humanity's relationship with the planet. In our version, Arthur and his knights are pitched as post-apocalyptic bikers, members of a dystopian society which has over-exploited its natural resources and who do not have a close connection with the natural world like the Green Knight. Our King Arthur is not exactly the blameless heroic figure you might expect.”

This is a promenade piece of theatre so audiences will be standing and walking throughout the majority of the show, in the thick of the action.

Performance times:

Thursday 7 Aug: 7.00pm

Friday 8 Aug: 5.00pm

Friday 8 Aug: 7.00pm

Saturday 9 Aug: 4.00pm

Saturday 9 Aug: 7.00pm