Kynren Review

It seems that Kynren was trying to be everyone’s cup of tea.
On paper, it sounds brilliant: a fantastic open air theatre, 2000 years of history, special effects like you’ve never seen on the stage before, and all sugar coated in loud dramatic music and the obligatory dancing. Not to mention, it has been brought to Britain by Puy de Fou, which has run its remarkably similar Cinéscénie for over 40 years. Incidentally, this tale of French history has been such a success that an adjoining theme park has been based upon it.

It began with a small boy, dreaming of being a footballer, accidentally kicking a ball through the window of the Bishop of Durham’s home on the estate of Bishop Auckland Castle. The pair strike up a sort of friendship, and persuading the boy to learn about his local history, asks him to walk through the castle’s magical doorway which will take him back in time; the rest was, as you might say, history.

In reality, it seemed to be trying a bit too hard. A lack of intellectual dialogue made it accessible to children, though distanced adults. The dancing, though fun initially, got rather tedious after 2 hours. ‘Can’t they run?’, someone near to me to had whispered as the dancers slowly jived their way off the set. The story line was basically non-existent; Kynren, though it advertises itself as a journey through history, was really just an abrupt pit stop at a few moments of history that popular culture has already swallowed up for its own.

The ideals behind the script were somewhat on the nose, and rather odd for what was sold as a historical, almost educational piece. It was colonialist in the kind of way that Grandparents are: well-meaning, but by no means accidental. A scene depicting one of Queen Victoria’s Jubilees opened with a cry of ‘the whole world is here!’, while a few hundred volunteers dressed in a variety of stereotypical English work clothes and others in traditionally Indian clothing began to dance in a culturally appropriate fashion. Though this was quite a spectacle – the dancers all stayed in the centre of the open stage, while a veiled Queen Victoria circled the perimeter in her carriage – there was no mention or even implication of the damage caused by Britain’s colonialist past. As all different races danced together in unity, it was easy to forget that India was simply thought of as the ‘jewel’ of Britain’s empire; though attitudes have greatly changed now, at the time, India was thought of as something lesser to Britain. All that Kynren seemed to do was look back through rose tinted glasses, leading the audience, with a subtle sense of nostalgia, think ‘wasn’t that a better time?’.

Unexpectedly, Christianity references were also pertinent. In such a diverse society as we live in today, our media tends to reflect our acceptance of multiculturalism; perhaps this is why it was so strange to see a piece that was so one-dimensionally Christian. Though there is nothing wrong with Religious affiliations, it came off as distasteful to be only skin-deep. By the end of the second world war, the audience had been told that the North East had been protected by ‘St Cuthbert’s magical fog’, though there was no mention of the men and women who had lost their lives trying to protect the UK and its allies. This can, however, be explained by the fact that it has been funded by devout Christian Jonathan Ruffer, a Barrister turned investor and art collector who has invested his millions into Auckland Castle, and the adjoining Kynren show.

It did, however, give light to the technology that can be used in theatre today (most memorably, ships that came out of the water with the actors already on them), alongside the dynamic stages that can be used to revolutionise theatre. Though the story line was poor, the staging certainly was not, with each scene involving at least some sort of fire, live animals, walking on water, and the obligatory dancing. Though there was certainly something missing from Kynren, it is easy to imagine the likes of the RSC using this form of staging – perfect for dramatic battle scenes or for lively comedy.

I would recommend this to any who has the money to pay for tickets - if only to see the bring lights and the showmanship of the piece. I look forward to seeing more theatre of this sort in the future; though there was something missing from Kynren, and though many seemed to come away wishing there had been just a tad more substance to it, it was still an enjoyable night out. Bravo to Puy de Fou for bringing such such out of the box theatre to such a little known place in the North East.