Chesil Youth Theatre 
Chesil Theatre, Winchester
Mark Ponsford 
12 February 2026
One of the many commendable aspects of the Chesil Theatre is its emphasis on strong and commendable teamwork, surely a part of the reason for its continual and ongoing eminence as a society. Leading performers (of whom the Chesil can boast an enviable quota) are just as likely to be found, on subsequent occasions, running and manning the Front of House operations, and it’s a level of dedication that serves as a fine example throughout. So, it’s heartening indeed to see those same levels of care and attention to detail being applied to the Chesil’s Junior/Youth sections, and their current delightfully eccentric and highly enjoyable double bill, allowing their young performers to benefit and learn from the experience of working in a theatre where high standards are both provided and encouraged. It was immediately clear that both young companies had been well rehearsed and well drilled, and that the Chesil’s technical and backstage team had afforded them their full and effective support. This really is a most valuable experience all round for both casts who performed.
The Junior members provided the first half of the evening, a 45-minute abridgement of Norton Juster’s 1961 children’s novel The Phantom Tollbooth, and if you thought Alice In Wonderland was bonkers… there are definitely certain similarities. A young protagonist becomes embroiled in an unexpected and odd journey, episodic in structure, stuffed with puns and wordplay (and you really have to sprint to keep up with this one), eventually leading to a lesson learned (or not, depending on your own personal interpretation). The episodic structure introduces us to a considerable variety of oddballs, and there were some delightful and well-drawn characterisations on display. It was captivating to watch these young performers take the stage with such assurance, and my only real critical note would be with regard to vocal projection, some of which was less assured. This is a good environment in which to acquire a sense of stage discipline, and several instances of “corpsing”, whether or not due to nerves, momentarily broke the otherwise excellent atmosphere created….and to be honest, I feel I’m entitled to mention this, since I’ve been a chief offender in that department on more than one occasion! Overall, though, this was a delight to watch, and director Cassandra Powers is to be commended for her skilful marshalling of the young company, for drawing out some excellent characterisations, and clearly instilling a proper “company” feel.
The second part of the evening proved to be another source of great delight, with the older members of the Youth wing giving us – yes, really! – The Importance of Being Earnest in around 40 minutes! This (considerable!) abridgement by Gerald P Murphy introduced several “elderly narrators” to set everything up, and to fill us in on what had gone before and what was to come, and the device that worked splendidly in context. (You’ll be glad to know that the famous “Handbag” line has been left in and is delivered here with hilariously frightening force.) This part of the evening has been double cast for the current run (Team Algernon appeared at the performance I attended), and what became immediately apparent was that under Rachel Potter’s direction, some splendidly assured character actors are emerging, who hopefully will go on to become regular fixtures within the Chesil company. To this day, the play is acknowledged as one of the finest and wittiest comedies in the English language, and it was to the great credit of the young cast that they delivered so much of the wit with such assurance. This is an immensely endearing piece, which invariably gets a little added “lift” when performed by a most appealing group of people. Might we hope for a full production of the play with a Youth cast in the future?
A highly enjoyable evening in the theatre, and kudos again to the Chesil, not only for fostering such a thriving Youth section, but for making provision for them as part of their programming. They clearly derive huge pleasure and benefit from it. And so, as an audience, do we.
