The Secret Garden: theatre home delivery from the Oxford Playhouse

May 31 – July 2
Review by Jon Lewis

Written in 1910, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel was first read by children in a serialised form in The American Magazine. The Wizard Presents and Oxford Playhouse production of The Secret Garden mirrors this format with each of the eight online recordings of the novel released on a separate day, a time lock appearing on the website.

The narrative seeps into everyday life because of all the additional activities linked to the mesmeric storytelling by Danyah Miller.

There’s considerable excitement when a box of delights is delivered by the postie to the home. The box contains sealed packages linked to each episode. For the first episode, an ornate key is found in an envelope – we are encouraged to hide it in our gardens (if we have one) for children to find, just like Mary finds the key that unlocks the garden in the moors. Our key has a code that allows entry to the Secret Garden website and all the online activities.

As each treat is opened, children can see in the real world what the young India-born heroine Mary Lennox discovers in Yorkshire in the story. As Mary becomes fascinated with a robin, so audiences are given some clay and paints to make their own model of a robin. Episodes are accompanied by online tutorials as well as downloaded games to challenge the intellect. We can listen to birdsong, or find key words hidden in a puzzle. There’s a couple of flower pots and sunflower seeds to grow your own flowers, encouraging the same enthusiasm for nature that Mary is imbued with. For indoors activities there’s a snakes and ladders game, for good weather outdoors, a skipping rope. We read educational content relating to the different subjects – British India, robins, sunflowers, Yorkshire.

Miller, native to Yorkshire, is a superb storyteller. She’s supported by the Indian-influenced soundtrack composed by Arun Ghosh whose music ends each episode allowing time for reflection. The serialised structure is like Book at Bedtime, high quality audio, but enhanced so much by Kate Bunce’s beautiful designs and drawings in the packages. A rare, painstakingly thought-through, multi-sensory experience.