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Dateline: 14th February, 2010
RSC Announces Newcastle Season The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced its 2010 Newcastle season, which runs from 28th September to 16th October at the Theatre Royal and on tour around schools. From 28th September to 2nd October Sam Troughton and Mariah Gale star in Romeo and Juliet, directed by Rupert Goold in his first production as an RSC Associate Director. Asked about the challenge of playing such iconic characters Maruiah Gale agreed that everyone's going to have their own expectations but every different cast is "the story shone through a different prism." "They're ordinary people in a situation that gets out of hand," added Sam Troughton. "They exist in the mind as the balcony scene and the golden statues at the end, but there's much more to them than that. They're real people with real flaws and quirks." It has been, he added, good to use the rehearsals period to "demystify" them. Following Romeo and Juliet, from 5th to 9th October, is King Lear, with Greg Hicks as Lear and Kathryn Hunter as the Fool, directed by David Farr. "It's a big stretch for me," Hicks said. "I'm working on a more extreme level than in anything I've done before." He works well with David Farr, he added. "He gets me. We understand each other very well." Lear is a very demanding play for audiences and both acting and design have to be "compelling". Nowadays, he thinks, people go to see a play, not hear it. "Our ability to listen has been eroded by technology but poetry is a 'slow burn'." The third Theatre Royal production is Antony and Cleopatra which stars Darrell D'Silva and Kathryn Hunter and is directed by Michael Boyd. It runs from 12th to 16th October. The setting is modern because, D'Silva says, it is a "universal love story". "And Michael Boyd," added Hunter, "knows how to plunder the text for relationships and meaning, and his understanding is on both a political and human level. There is great depth in the production but it's light in the rehearsal room: ideas fly thick and fast!" The fourth production is a 70 minute adaptation of Hamlet which will play at the Theatre Royal at 11am on 8th Octiber and 10.30 on 9th, as well as touring schools in Newcastle and Gateshead. Edited by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who also directs, and Bijan Sheibani and aimed at 9 to 12 year olds, it stars Dharmesh Patel who is still amazed at playing Hamlet. "It's daunting to know that David Tennant played the part and there you are, a cockney geezer, following in his footsteps!" he said. Feeback so far, he said (the production is now running) has been fantastic - and fascinating. "One 10 year old boy told us that Hamlet was the villain of the play because because of him five people died!" "For children," he went on, "you have to entertain. It's essentially still a tragedy but there are moments of comedy to provide relief. It's more visual because visuals explain the language. And many characters have had to be cut: the gravedigger has gone - so no skull! - and so has Fortinbras."
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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