To like or not to like Shakespeare? That’s the question Louise Taney is posing with her new theatre company Truth Told who are staging Romeo & Juliet at Cogges Manor Farm

Louise Taney is on a mission to help everyone enjoy Shakespeare and see the relevance of his plays today.

She originally trained at The Oxford School of Drama near Woodstock and has participated in TV, film and theatre shows but her passion is Shakespeare, and this is the driving force behind her new theatre company, Truth Told Theatre which is performing Romeo & Juliet on the Manor Lawn at Cogges Manor Farm in Witney, July 17th-19th.

Having never understood Shakespeare properly at school, where everyone would read round the class not knowing what they were saying, Louise discovered whilst at drama school that the grammar was there as an instruction for the actor on how to say the lines and to give an indication of how the character was feeling (for example, a full stop in the middle of a speech meant a quick change of thought for the character). By using the grammar, the characters come to life and she realised that Shakespeare should always be acted and not read, along with the fact that anyone who could act could act in a Shakespeare play!

This she proved when directing and playing Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream two years ago at Cogges in conjunction with Buttercross Theatre Productions. She quips: “One of the comments I got from a member of the audience after the show was that she’d never laughed at Shakespeare before!”

Launching her company this year, Louise says the thinking behind the Truth Told name is about playing a character truthfully to do justice to their performance and the script. The logo being of someone looking in a mirror, that has been a long-term symbol of truth.

She has been working with Cogges on other projects and loves the unique setting of the Manor lawn, with the farmhouse providing a unique and relevant back-drop for the play.

Louise edits Shakespeare’s plays down to a manageable watching time of two hours including an interval and tries to make her shows visually stunning, fast paced and full of action so modern audiences can relate to them.

She says: “Romeo & Juliet is the original teenage drama that ends in tragedy and the ending is extremely similar to storylines seen in modern soap operas such as EastEnders and Hollyoaks. It is about teenagers not being listened to and being forced to conform to the rules of the adult world along with gang warfare, all of which are still relevant today.”

There’s a bar and refreshments to add to your enjoyment. Bring your own rug or low backed chair. Doors open: 6pm. Curtain up: 6.30pm. Tickets £14 adults, £10 child 3-13; £12.60 adult / £9 child for Season / annual pass holders, £12 students.