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Apprenticeship
By Peter Gill
Oberon Books £8.99
124 pages
Dateline: 2nd January, 2009
It seems that the genesis of this slim volume was the discovery by
Peter Gill of his diary from 1962. This contained recollections of a
difficult period working under Bill Gaskill on Brecht's Caucasian
Chalk Circle for the RSC.
The first half of Apprenticeship gives something of a picture
of the life and experiences of a young man entering the theatrical profession
fifty years ago. Gill was intelligent and thoughtful and clearly well
suited to working at the Royal Court under George Devine.
This was another age when theatre was still reeling from the attack
of the Angry Young Men on the traditional well-made play. Again and
again, Gill emphasises his belief in the writer's theatre that the Royal
Court became, damning directors who wish to become auteurs. It is apparent
that if anything, this view is stronger today than it was when he started
out in the profession.
In less than sixty pages, Gill looks at his own experience and the
Royal Court at that time when in addition to Devine and Gaskill, major
players included Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson, both destined
to achieve greater fame on the silver screen. He also considers the
artistic aesthetic that would underlie a career as an actor, director
and playwright.
After the interval, the second part looks back to a groundbreaking
production that had more than its fair share of difficulties. What Bill
Gaskill was trying to achieve was always going to be difficult as European
and British outlooks were so different.
At one point, five weeks before the play was to open, a major rift
developed when the company were asked to decide whether they wished
to take a collective approach to the production, potentially tearing
up their three-year RSC contracts or would prefer to use more traditional
means.
These were the golden days when trade unions still existed and the
idea of the greatest good of the greatest number had not been destroyed
by the Conservative government of the 1980s in this country and the
fall of the Berlin Wall and its wider ramifications elsewhere.
Gill also includes a fine homage to the future Dame Edith Evans, who
in a single recital at the Aldwych Theatre, effortlessly managed to
encapsulate all that is meant by style and everything that he and the
RSC team were struggling to achieve.
There is also the surprise of finding that the company's pianist was
none other than Dudley Moore, a man whom nobody at that time had singled
out as an actor let alone a future Hollywood sex symbol.
In terms of length, Apprenticeship is closer to that of a short story
than a novella, and far from a full-scale novel. However, it provides
some interesting insights into the artistic life and the thoughts of
one of today's most important practitioners during his developmental
years. It is also sensibly priced for a well-produced hardback, which
is much to the credit of Oberon.
Philip Fisher
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