The Company of Trees is an opportunity to explore the nature of teenage friendships through the prism of nature.
Part of the National Theatre’s Connections programme, which challenges young actors to perform in an hour-long production, the material gives Berzerk Productions’ cast an opportunity to tackle the play.
It tells the story of two unlikely friends and the path that was weaved to get them there.
Willow (Mia Ryman) is the new girl in town and has a distance from everyone else: at one with nature, slightly kooky and different, she struggles to form a bond with her new classmates.
Not helping the process is the school’s popular gang, headed up by the outgoing and headstrong Taylor (Grace Harris). If they are not taking selfies, munching on crisps or watching the world go by from a motorway bridge, they are leading the charge in lessons.
Poor Willow doesn’t stand a chance of fitting in, not least as she eschews taking selfies on a mobile phone for taking snapshots of the landscape around her.
Everything changes when Taylor has an accident in the gym, leaving her bedbound. As she recovers, her gang leave her be, leaving Willow as the person to help her recovery both with her leg and her horizons.
After a week of intense rehearsals at RISC ahead of the show, the play was performed at Reading Rep Theatre on Kings Road on Wednesday, February 26, and Thursday, February 27. It was deftly directed by Matt Whitelock and produced by Aundre Goddard.
The stage setting was simple: three vaulting horses and a projected backdrop where a tree was present throughout. Truly, we were in the company of trees.
This sparse arrangement was perfect for letting the focus be on the talented cast of 11 to take centre stage.
While Mia and Grace head up the cast, the gang includes Alice Formoy, Carli Zinzani, Edward McCrum Tredinnick, Jake York, William Salek, Anayah Waqar. Completing the lineup are the ethereal Luc Morris-Losoha and Isabelle Jerome, while Ana Tognolo was an understudy. She also wasthe show’s art director, and played the guitar during a performance of Runs in the Family by The Roches.
Between them, the handle everything: setting the scene, moving the scenery and creating a believable world. Multi-tasking, they tackle everything that’s asked of them to the highest ability.
The show is really the story between Willow and Taylor; a ying and a yang. One attuned to the world around her, the other attuned to the multiverse in her phone. They don’t realise how much they complement each other and, ultimately, how much they need each other.
Being a short one-act play, there are lots of fast scenes that tell that story in compressed time. The talents of the cast make this story unfold beautifully, with a tear-jerking denouement.
Mia manages to convey the otherworldliness of Willow so well, especially during her rare emotional outburst: “What’s normal?” she screams, letting her mask slip to reveal the frightened, fragile and vulnerable centre inside her.
This in turn unlock that same frightened, fragile and vulnerable centre inside Taylor, something that Grace explores so powerfully from the confines of her character’s sick bed.
The pair create two very powerful teenagers and run the full gamut of emotions; both make their characters extremes seem perfectly normal while helping us understand what is going on inside them.
In the end, each other become not just pals but firm friends.
It is a rewarding journey, not just for the cast seeing their hard work end with fierce applause, but for audiences too. Few can fail to be moved by the show, and most will want to spend more time in The Company of Trees.
An astonishing piece of theatre from a young cast that will surely go far.
How can I find out more about Berzerk Productions and where do sessions take place?
Berzerk Productions welcomes students aged between four and 19, with am aim of boosting pupils’ self-development, self-esteem and confidence alongside their acting and drama skills.
They hold classes in Tilehurst, Woodley, Spencers Wood, Caversham, Woodley, Reading, Pangbourne, Woodcote, with plans in place for a Saturday school.
A free trial lesson is available.
Students can come along and have fun, or they can work towards their LAMDA qualifications.
Berzerk has won the Pride of Reading Awards and the Reading Cultural Awards.
Aundre says: “We have plenty of space at Berzerk … there’s always room for growth.
“We’re all about creating that non-judgmental space. We’re encouraging young people to be themselves – their quirky little selves – and to be authentic.
“We’re quite playful in that sense. Join us. Berzerk, it’s in the name.”
Full details are available at: www.berzerkproductions.com
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