The Eglesfield Society’s summer show is an annual highlight in the Queen’s Trinity Term calendar of events. This year, our beautiful gardens provided the backdrop for Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Director I-Cenay Trim (Literae Humaniores, 2021) recalls her vision for the show and the process of staging it at Queen’s.
“Without doubt, directing Into The Woods has been the highlight of my time at Queen’s. Seeing that there was an annual summer musical is what led me to apply to Queen’s originally, and I cannot express how fabulous it was to get involved with the Eglesfield musical in such a major role. I have loved Into The Woods for many years, so getting to direct the musical was a dream come true for me.
Into The Woods is a beautiful and mind-boggling musical written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, set in a fantastical world of beloved fairytales and featuring characters such as Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Ridinghood and Jack (of the Beanstalk). The story follows a Baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King’s Festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk. When the Baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a Witch’s curse, the two set off on a journey into the woods to break the spell. Everyone’s wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results.
We used the entire garden as our stage for the show, focusing mainly in a cross-section, with stage platforms of different heights allowing for audience viewing in the round. Our 17-person live band were stationed in Drawda garden, and our cast were constantly running around “through the woods”, trying and failing to avoid the dangers of the unknown. Sondheim writes his lyrics with the utmost intention and deliberation, and Into the Woods was written for a proscenium stage, thus it was important to me that we did not lose the intimacy of certain moments throughout the musical with such a larger playing space than originally intended. I worked a lot with the cast on shifting tone between Act One and Act Two to make sure we were able to have fun exploring the world and the archetypal, silly, unassuming characters of Act One whilst simultaneously allowing the stakes and rising danger of Act Two to feel real and threatening to our audience.
It was important to me to ensure we keep the allusion that we are no longer watching a musical in Queen’s College Oxford, but we are now in the woods, entering the unknown.
My creative vision for the musical could not have been realised without the support of Ben Gilchrist, our producer, Harry Brook, our set designer, our music directors Hattie Twigger-Ross and Kyle Siwek, and the staff at Queen’s. Transforming the garden into the woods was no easy feat, but to explore that space with our 16-person cast in such an innovative, all-encompassing way was exhilarating. We worked on the musical for four months, scheduling and leading countless of rehearsals a week with behind-the-scenes preparation alongside our degrees. Whilst it was certainly the busiest I’ve ever been, it was also the most fun I’ve ever had. If you ever get the chance to get involved with a musical at Queen’s or anywhere else in the world, take it!
Thank you to all who supported our production, and I hope you enjoyed watching our wonderful cast as much as I did!”
