Maskers Theatre Company 
Maskers Studio, Southampton
Jon Cockeram
27 June 2026
On a lovely summer’s day, one of the nicest places to be is in a garden; and if you’re fed up with the crowds, a secret one is even better! Maskers Theatre, in collaboration with Light UP Drama, have conjured such a garden for our entertainment and delight.
For those of you who don’t know, The Secret Garden was published in 1911 and was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, who also wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy. It’s considered a classic of English children’s literature, telling the story of Mary Lennox, who is sent from India to live with an Uncle she’s never met in a house full of gloom and woe; the Uncle is deformed and morose, his wife having died many years ago, and there’s mysterious crying that can be heard in the house at odd hours of the day and night. Over time, and with the discovery of the titular secret garden, Mary manages to change both herself and the lives of those around her, with happy endings all round.
Light UP Drama have provided the younger actors in this show, and have two separate teams, Lilac and Marigold, who alternate performances; tonight was team Lilac who were treading the boards. The show starts off with Harriet Clarke who acts as our narrator for the evening, as well as being the robin in several scenes – she had a very clear, measured and expressive delivery that worked really well and kept our attention whenever she spoke. Similarly, Sophie Rogers, who played Mary, did a wonderful job of taking us on the journey of Mary’s character arc, from spoiled sickly brat to healthy well-adjusted young girl. Angeline Leaver’s Colin Craven, Mary’s cousin, managed to demonstrate both sickliness and determination despite spending the first half of their time on stage stuck in a bed, and Tess Ward’s Martha the maid was nicely portrayed with a suitable amount of concern for Mary whilst she was in her keeping. Dickon, played by Marlowe Tart, radiated good-natured charm and Evie Fayle and Willow Butler together did an excellent job of Lamb and Rabbit as well as Annie & Basil, two of Mary’s tormenters.
As for the adults, these were played by members of Maskers and did an admirable job. Allegra Carlton playing a wonderfully non-nonsense Mrs Medlock, the housekeeper, and Duncal Randall as the gruff Ben Weatherstaff, the gardener, had the lion’s share of the adult lines and performed them very well, with Neil Maddock as Archibald Craven, Mary’s uncle, taking us on a wonderful transformation as the play progressed. Numerous other people helped as members of the ensemble and a couple of more minor roles with charm and grace.
The Masker’s studio is a small theatre, and one could be mistaken for thinking that the scenery would be relatively minimalistic to take this into account. Instead, a fantastic job has been done with how the different scenes are portrayed. There’s a storybook on one side that opens to different pages for scene setting, and the secret garden, once discovered, steadily comes to life throughout the rest of the show. A cart is constructed from suitcases, beds are wheeled on and off and projection is used to aid the audience in picturing exactly where the scenes are set.
Additionally, there are numerous puppets used in this show – these were very well constructed, with various natural foliage and branches used to decorate the deer, sheep, rabbit, robin and crow puppets, and they were all handled very well with some considerable vibrancy and individual character – whilst they don’t have anything to say, they wonderfully portray the animals in question, and everyone should be commended for how they were operated.
Were there any problems with the show? This was not only the first go at this show for Team Lilac, but also the first show for the cast as a whole as the original opening night had to be cancelled due to the heat; as a result there were a few cases of opening night nerves with some forgotten lines and hesitations, but these were recovered relatively well. There’s also sometimes problems with vocal projection over the background music, particularly from some of the younger cast, and also whilst I applaud the authenticity of the strong Yorkshire accents for some of the adults it did make some of the speech a touch unintelligible at times.
However, this doesn’t diminish the charm of the production, which was a very heartwarming offering of this classic tale – director Courtney Fayle and everyone who has contributed to this show should be justifiably proud of themselves. Come discover the Secret Garden from 1st – 5th July, and experience this poignant and uplifting show for yourself.
