WILSONS' WALK ABOUT WHITBY.

Wilson + Wilson take to the high road and explore the byways of Mulgrave in a summer theatre experience.Mulgrave Woods (near the villages of Lythe and Sandsend, north of Whitby) is the setting for the latest theatrical walkabout by director Wils and (no relation) designer Louise Ann Wilson.

The pair's previous work has included House (a bit of a cheat as it took audiences in groups through two adjacent terrace houses in Huddersfield) and Mapping the Edge, a tour of lesser-known corners in Sheffield. Big themes are implied in a montage of events, their detail searched out by the touring spectators.

This time it's more than a house or a tram ride. Scenes and events in Amanda Dalton's script could emerge from a hidden monument, a Humphrey Repton landscape or a sudden coastal panorama.

This is no easy-come summer idyll; sensible shoes and dress "for the weather" is called for, umbrellas and picnics sternly forbidden. There'll be little let-up, it seems, in the expected 2hr 40min performance.

Yet previous 'Wilsons' suggest this could be a memorable, out-of-the-rut experience. It's certainly been long in planning and development. And their work has always combined surface ingenuity with cumulative significance, in locations also including a Watford Department Store.

The dates make it too early for a stop-off on the way to Edinburgh. But previous form suggests it's well worth a trip north, south or east on its own (though keen theatregoers from far afield might note Whitby's not too far from Scarborough and Alan Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph Theatre, due to announce its summer season soon).

Mulgrave: 11 June-3 July
Tue-Sun 7pm
Mat 1pm Thu & Sun from 19 June
Tickets: £15 (£10 retired over-60/students/unemployed/disabled; £5 under-16).)

TICKETS & tourist/accommodation info: 01947 602124

2005-04-09 09:35:59