Having taught herself to read as an infant, Matilda (Madison Davis) is leagues apart from the rest of her television-obsessed family. Mr Wormwood (Adam Stafford) is an engine-stuffing, motor meddling, Vinny Gambino-esque secondhand car dealer, and his wife Mrs Wormwood (Rebecca Thornhill) is just as eyebrow raising, if you don’t buy that she really is ‘just practising’ with her World Amateur Flamenco Competition partner Rudolpho (Ryan Lay) in the living room. Matilda’s brother Michael (Samuel Leon) is the supposed brains of the family – yes, he’s apparently got one. Somewhere.  

Life for Matilda goes impossibly further south after her parents enrol her in her new primary school, Crunchem Hall. A concrete jungle ruled over by an ex-Olympic hammer throwing champion, Agatha Trunchbull’s (Richard Hurst) reign of terror is defined by her motto BAMBINATUM EST MAGGITUM: children are maggots. Her hatred of children puts her at odds with reception teacher Miss Honey (Tessa Kadler), a woman forever trembling with her own self-doubt, whose insecurity belies a deep fascination with her strange new student. Miss Honey and Matilda have a lot to learn from each other – they may also have far more in common than they realise.  

‘Matilda: The Musical’ is indescribably brilliant. At just shy of two-and-a-half hours long, this performance would be a mean feat for any seasoned actor – let alone a cast dominated by children under 12, who share roles between shows. Sharp, assured, and yet deeply, shyly vulnerable, Madison Davis as this particular Matilda is everything every child imagines when growing up reading the original book. Bruce Bogtrotter (Brodie Robson) is a standout act for his lead in ‘Revolting Children’, and Sana Lennon as Lavender is a delight to watch skittering across the stage – an especially incredible debut for the only cast member without any formal theatre training.  

Miss Trunchbull is cocky, cruel, and hilariously, brilliantly camp from beginning to end, and Miss Honey quietly sneaks the audience’s hearts as she is forced to confront her own demons. Esther Niles as Mrs Phelps plays a much bigger role than in the original story, and is for a long time Matilda’s only support – a heartwarming watch, and comforting anchor in a story so chaotic from scene to scene.  

‘Matilda: The Musical’ makes interesting strays from the original book’s story, perhaps explained by Dennis Kelly’s screenwriting background in gritty dramas and surreal comedy. The biggest change is the decision to cut back on Matilda’s telekinetic powers, which she originally develops as a toddler because her brain is so large, it pushes the extra energy out of her eyes. Instead, much of the play is driven by Matilda’s dogged sense of justice, and her frustration at the state of her life – “Nobody but me is going to change my story,” after all. For a change so drastic, it is a shift that only sharpens the show’s edge: this is a Matilda that is entirely self-driven, and far more relatable than her aloof, superpowered inspiration. To see this tiny girl abused is a vastly more disturbing watch.  

However, with so much of the plot hinging on Matilda’s telekinesis, powers eventually do play a role in the second act – I only wish they had been introduced slightly earlier than the infamous newt scene. Shockingly for a performance already eclipsing the average theatre runtime, the show could benefit from an extra scene or two to fully flesh out this part of its story. Time may be well spent in the way it introduces characters, settings, and songs, but the introduction of her powers felt slightly out of left field: ‘Oh, so she does have powers in the end – wait, the show’s nearly over!’  

In all, ‘Matilda: The Musical’ is nothing short of out-of-this-world entertainment. This show embellishes an intergenerational classic with a surreal, dreamlike retelling, and is a fantastic showcase of the brilliance of the UK’s youngest theatrical talent. Brilliantly staged, beautifully scored, and with a blindingly talented cast both big and small, if you’re on the fence about tickets, treat yourself – sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty.  

Matilda the Musical is at The Palace Theatre Manchester from 26 March until 25 April 2026 before continuing on tour.

The post Matilda the Musical: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

In many ways the broader description suits it well, because this mash-up of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Radiohead’s 2003 album, Hail to the Thief is neither a rock musical nor a straight play. Rather this co-production from Factory International and RSC presents an immersive experience, at times both gig-like and filmic, fusing these singularly challenging art works to create something new and more accessible.

It is an experimental show that has been simmering in the creative minds of co-creators Christine Jones, Steven Hoggett and Thom Yorke for 20 years. Co-directors Jones and Hoggett previously worked together on several projects including political Green Day musical American Idiot. This production has a similar dark, politicised and angsty tone. But it is definitely not a musical. And while the music and play get equal billing in the title don’t expect to go along and hear a live version of the album.

Instead, Radiohead’s Yorke has reworked his album as a continuous soundtrack which is played by a live band (not Radiohead) on-stage behind visible sound booths, with two singers Ed Begley and Megan Hill on an upper level, like turrets of the castle, looking down into the main hall of the stage.

The music adds another layer of emotional depth, providing seamless space for physical theatre and dance to fill the gaps where the text has been slashed to keep the running time to a tight one hour 45 minutes. The music also comes to the fore in the staging designed by AMP featuring Sadra Tehrani, who make use of huge amps as props on an otherwise bare stage. Jessica Hung Han Yun’s lighting design produces a stadium gig effect, that feels like an assault on the senses in the relatively small space of Aviva Studios.

It all goes to make for a sense of unease that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. So, what of Hamlet? Well, it is a bit of a whistle-stop tour of the play, but the main scenes are all there, albeit much-shortened, and it makes for an accessible and gripping introduction to the story.

Samuel Blenkin brings out the vulnerability and complexity of Hamlet’s character. His abandoned dancing with Ophelia and enthusiastic banter with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern show us glimpses of a more joyful side to his personality.  He is equally sympathetic when wallowing and raving, his grief and righteous anger misunderstood as madness in a society that seems to be complicit in the wrong-doings of those in power.

In its stripping down of the text with explosive force it feels like Hamlet Hail to the Thief has illuminated the core of Shakespeare’s universal tale and it’s blindingly good.

‘Hamlet Hail to the Thief’ is a co-production between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International, running at Aviva Studios Home of Factory International, Manchester until 18 May before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon from 4 June – 28 June.

The post Hamlet Hail to the Thief: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

What excites you about directing Measure for Measure?
Gregory: “It’s always astonishing how Shakespeare seems like a magnet attracting all the iron filings of whatever is going on in the world at the time. Measure for Measure has particular resonance today. Just look at the plot. A young woman appeals to a man in authority to save her brother’s life. He agrees on condition that she sleeps with him. When she threatens to expose him, he asks who would believe her. She turns to the audience and asks: ‘To whom should I complain?’ #METOO!”

I believe you’re setting the production in early Twentieth Century Vienna. What influenced your decision to set it in this period? What do you think that setting will bring to the production?
Gregory: “We generally have little idea of what Vienna meant to Shakespeare, but it has very particular associations for us today. In the first decades of the 20th Century it was the birthplace of psychology as Freud was based there. It was also the centre of an explosion in thought, creativity and art. Just think of the people who were working there: Mahler and Schoenberg, artists like Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoshka, and the advances in architecture, philosophy, and political thought. But it was also the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which would shortly collapse in the First World War along with many of the Royal Houses of Europe. The Sacred and the Profane sit closely together in that city. It had one of the great cathedrals, in St Stephens, but was also notorious for having some of the most successful brothels in Europe.

“Those ingredients closely match the elements of the play Shakespeare describes in the London that he knew. His own theatre sat very close by some of the steps of Southwark. I hope the associations we will invoke in 1900s Vienna might match and illuminate the milieu he conjures in this play”.

Stephen Brimson Lewis, RSC Director of Design, has designed the show. Can you tell us something about how the production will look?
Gregory: “The script reads like a film script. It’s very fast and has the pace of a thriller. It also feels like film noir, and we have tried to ensure that any set we have only enhances that sense, and does not hold up the action. Stephen has brilliantly captured both a sense of the essence of Vienna, and the swift change of location, in our new excitingly reconfigured Royal Shakespeare Theatre auditorium”.

You’ve worked with Stephen on many productions. Can you tell us something about your working relationship?
Gregory: “It’s always exciting to work with someone you know very well and can trust. We have a shorthand which allows us to cut through quickly to what is essential. And we have complementary tastes I think. He always surprises me, and yet seems to fulfill exactly what I am looking for”.

Measure for Measure is often described as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.” What are the challenges of directing this particular play in the 21st Century?
Gregory: “The play has been called Shakespeare’s farewell to Comedy. It is certainly the darkest of the comedies. He wrote it shortly after writing Troilus and Cressida, which I directed last autumn. It doesn’t reach quite the rancid depths of that play, but it certainly probes about in some pretty murky ponds. But I think that makes the play very contemporary. The Jacobean period was a time of uncertainty. The world seemed to have lost its moorings. Moral absolutes were being questioned. I think we recognise that today. We are suspicious of neat happy endings. Life is not like that, and Shakespeare here seems to feel the same”.

If people have seen previous productions of the play, how would you entice them to come and see this one?
Gregory: “We have an exceptional cast: including Antony Byrne as the Duke, Lucy Phelps as Isabella, Sandy Grierson as Angelo, Joseph Arkley as Lucio and James Cooney as Claudio, as well (as a complete bonus) both Amanda Harris and Clare Price delivering smaller roles. That is the joy of the ensemble. And they are all match fit having performed the first two plays in the summer season. I am very excited about the production and the play”.

What do you think Lucy Phelps, Antony Byrne and Sandy Grierson will bring to the key roles of Isabella, The Duke and Angelo?
Gregory: “Their own peculiar genius”.

You must have directed nearly all of the Shakespearean canon. Which of Shakespeare’s works have you left to tackle? Is it your ambition to direct all of them?
Gregory: “Measure for Measure is our 27th production as we journey through the entire canon, since I took over as Artistic Director, and I think it is also the 28th Shakespeare play I have directed for the company. So, I am just over 3/4 of the way through. Alfred J Prufrock, in T.S.Eliot’s poem, measured out his life in coffee spoons, I guess I have measured out mine in Shakespeare plays. I have been very lucky. It would be a shame not to finish”.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is touring to The Lowry, Salford from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

Justin Audibert shares the idea behind his gender swapping ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.

The post RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran talks about directing Measure for Measure appeared first on Quays Life.

Here director, Justin Audibert keeps all the silliness and mischief that has made it a favourite with audiences and flipped the genders so that the shrew is now an obstinate man who eventually conforms to make the perfect husband to his loud and powerful wife.

In keeping with the Italian language here Petruchio is renamed Petruchia, played by a wild-haired, swaggering, scene-stealing, Claire Price. But while pronouns are changed, Joseph Arkley is still called Katherine and his more genteel and sought-after sibling Bianca is now his brother, Bianco. It sounds confusing but the switch is easy to follow. Basically, Audibert has kept the play in its original 1590s setting and reimagined it as a matriarchy where it is men who face the social restrictions and are presented by their mothers to rich suitors as marriage material.

This fantasy world works because we’re in a comedy, where Katherine’s petulant eating of chicken legs and discarding the bones on the floor is as difficult as he gets. There is always a risk with a physical imbalance that Katherine’s disobedience comes across as aggression. But it is best not to overthink it. The idea of taming a man is no better than taming a woman, but as a concept the switch is thought-provoking, not least in seeing so many strong female actors on a Shakespearean stage.

The huge Elizabethan dresses are sumptuous, and the performances are very funny. Emily Johnstone brings a cheeky bawdiness to Lucentia; Laura Elsworthy adds a Monty Pythonesque zaniness to Trania, while Sophie Stanton mixes excellent comic timing with skilled physical humour as her Gremia seemingly floats across the stage like a wind-up toy.

The action is accompanied by a live soundtrack from a 7-piece band, raised on a platform on the stage, and their music elevates the common Shakespearean songs to genuinely beautiful interludes.

In all, it is a funny, entertaining evening that doesn’t take itself too seriously and neither should we.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is touring to The Lowry, Salford from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

Justin Audibert shares the idea behind his gender swapping ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.

The post RSC The Taming of the Shrew: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

The two productions share some key characteristics – relentless energy, playfulness and a fourth wall torn down and trampled into the dust. The outcome for the RSC is a joyful and largely triumphant reimagining of Shakespseare’s pastoral comedy.

Within the forest of Arden, an unjustly dispossessed duke is restored to his rightful status (without actually doing anything to make it happen) and 8, variously star-crossed, lovers find their ways to blissful union. Of course, shedloads of stuff happens along the way, but that’s the gist of it.

“All the world’s a stage,” observes the melancholic Jacques, and the set echoes that outlook, in section, recreating the Globe (or perhaps, the Rose). Sykes makes every effort to bring the audience into the action – sometimes literally. ‘Volunteers’ are hauled up on stage to assist the love-lorn. The most memorable of these involves a (far from unwilling) gentleman, who wears Orlando’s messages of love as a jacket of Post-it notes. Celia (Sophie Khan Levy) plucks and reads these, inviting the punter himself to assist:

“Thus!” he proclaims, with such assurance and gusto that Khan Levy brilliantly adlibs: “Are you classically trained?” The crowd laps this up – and rightly so.

This evening is a showpiece for theatre as a collaborative art form. The set (by Stephen Brimson Lewis) impresses without overwhelming the actors or the action. An enormous wheel of wooden slats stands as a backdrop to symbolise the forest and, as we enter Arden, the house lights go up, signifying the move from urban interior to rural exterior. Neatly done. At the finale, the plot’s deus ex machina (wherein the wicked Duke Frederick renounces his ill-gotten gains to pursue a life of religious contemplation) is matched by an almost literal deus, an enormous puppet, orchestrating the quartet of marriage ceremonies.

Tim Sutton’s music (performed live) is exquisitely eclectic (traditional folk swooping in and out of snatches of Mozart, Piazolla and others).

The vibrant spirit of the show is embraced and reinforced at every turn and by each and every cast member. Sandy Grierson melds Begsby, Billy Connolly and a Roxy Music era Brian Eno into his frothing Touchstone. Antony Byrne is as violently chilling a Duke Frederick as he is a warm and conciliating Duke Senior. In one of several twists of gender, Sophie Stanton, as Madam Jacques provides a profound philosophical pessimism – we want to hug her, shake her or just gather at her feet and bathe in her sombre poetry.

Aaron Thiara, standing in as Orlando, has no trouble persuading us that the impressive, witty Rosalind would fall for him, hook, line and sinker.

As for Lucy Phelps, her Rosalind is truly a physical and vocal tour de force. Charming, witty and then passionately righteous at the court of Duke Frederick, she soars to another level in the guise of Ganymede, posturing and mugging with seemingly inexhaustible invention to draw her audience into complicity.

The first RSC production of As You Like It I ever saw featured an up and coming Alan Rickman. Keep an eye on Lucy Phelps.

The RSC production of As You Like It is at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

Read our interview with Director Kimberley Sykes.

Read how the RSC created the huge puppet for Hymen, the God of Marriage.

The post RSC As You Like It: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

In your production key characters are re-imagined and played as the opposite binary gender, with no ambivalence and not ‘gender blind’. Is that right?

Justin: “Yes, so for example, the role of Petruchio, which we have renamed Petruchia, is being played by Claire Price as a woman in a woman’s costume but with the same character motivations and social status as Petruchio in any other production. Likewise, Katherine is being played by a male actor, Joseph Arkley, and he’s playing it as a man, and will be wearing a man’s costume, but will have the same social restrictions that a woman in 1590s England would have had. The actors are playing their own gender but we have flipped which gender holds power”.

How did you come up with this idea?

Justin: “I was very inspired by the novel, The Power by Naomi Alderman. It’s set in a version of contemporary society, where women have the power to give electric shocks to men and bit by bit they become the dominant gender. By holding up this mirror to our contemporary society it forces you to confront how power is wielded in our world and who wields it.

“Shrew is Shakespeare’s second most performed play, which is incredible given its strongly anti-egalitarian ending in a traditional production, and that the title itself suggests that a woman is a ‘shrew’ and needs ‘taming’. At the moment there is an important conversation about gender and power and where that lies, and whenever you make any play or work of art of any kind, you’re always influenced by what’s going on around you. I don’t want to make another Shrew in the way it’s been done many times before. I am really interested in seeing what happens when you get female actors to play traditionally powerful male roles, and vice versa. During rehearsals it’s been fascinating to see how things feel when, for example, a mother sells off her two sons, as opposed to in the traditional retelling when a father sells off his two daughters. We are somehow not shocked by the traditional version but when we see a mother selling her sons off that feels transgressive.

“There have been many times when I’ve sat in a rehearsal room rehearsing Shakespeare or another classical text, and the weight of the room has been so male in its nature. It’s not that there aren’t brilliant roles in Shakespeare for women, but you still end up in a room that’s 60 – 70% male. I wanted to see what it would feel like when you flip that on its head, where the male voice is not the dominant one. I say this knowing that I’m the director, and I’m a man and I wield considerable power in that role, but still the weight of the room feels different, in a brilliant and creative way”.

Can you tell us more about the setting for the production?

Justin: “I’m setting it in a reimagined 1590 in which England is a matriarchy. In the rehearsal room we’ve been exploring the different ways that women in a matriarchy would assert power.

“In Elizabethan England and Renaissance Europe more widely, eye contact was a huge thing. Women weren’t supposed to look you directly in the eye – but in the world we’re creating in the play the female actors are looking people directly in the eyes in a very bold way, and the male actors are not.
“Similarly, we’ve looked very carefully at how characters greet each other, how the women take the men’s hands, and kiss them and how that reads to a contemporary eye.

“Another thing we are exploring is how in most of Shakespeare’s plays, female virginity is prized above anything else, but it’s fascinating to see how that feels when it effectively becomes male virginity that is prized”.

There are those who say what you’re doing with Shrew is thought-provoking, others would say it’s gimmicky? Do you have any sympathy with the idea that this is a gimmick?

Justin: “I understand why someone might think that, but I’d like to think that we as a company of 19 are going about this with a sense of intellectual curiosity and artistic enquiry. I think you have to come and see the show to make up your own mind. The fact that if you come the vast majority of the lines are going to be spoken by women in those iconic roles means the play is going to feel different to every other time you may have seen it.

“The late, great and much missed Cicely Berry from the RSC Voice Department has always been my guiding light. She said you have to make the play talk to now – and that’s what we are trying to do with this production”.

Can you tell us more about the set, music and costumes?

Justin: “The setting has a strong feel of the Mediterranean about it, with a colour palette that is warm, vibrant and with a sense of fun and mischief.

“The costumes will certainly give a sense of the 1590 period. The costumes worn by the female actors will be beautiful, imposing, expensive and involve lots of material. They will dominate the space. The costumes the male actors wear will be much more delicate even subtle.

“There will be a strong baroque feel to the music, fitting the 1590 setting. As the play goes on the music will change and become louder, more electric. I want strings with a big beat behind them, sort of like the Eurythmics, so the music will progressively have a strong 80s feel to it. We are calling it Rock Renaissance in the rehearsal room”.

What do you think Shakespeare himself would think of what you’re doing with the play?

Justin: “I’m going to imagine he’s in literary heaven, and he’s seeing what’s happened on earth for the last 400 years. I think he’d probably be quite up for it. He’s a person of the theatre, someone who was into experimenting. His plays were never done the same way twice: he would change things, take things away, add things. I think he’d probably applaud the endeavour of trying to do something original with his play and then ultimately he’d judge us all on whether the production is any good or not!”

The Royal Shakespeare Company is touring to The Lowry, Salford from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

The post Justin Audibert shares the idea behind his gender swapping ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ appeared first on Quays Life.

Why did the puppet need to be so big?

Stephen: “Shakespeare’s As You Like It ends with a great marriage ceremony. He asks for the God of Marriage to appear on stage and bless the couples. In other productions an actor might change costume and come back dressed as a god. But Kimberley Sykes (the director) and I wanted to make something bigger, to create a moment at the end that felt very different to the rest of the play.

“We looked at things like the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, where they do these huge events with big puppets – and then a little closer to home, Mervyn and I both remembered the Sultan’s Elephant, which was a huge marionette that went through London in 2006”.

Mervyn: “At Burning Man they have some things that are extraordinary pieces of engineering, made with artistic sensibility – so we knew the opportunity was there to make a piece of sculpture on a massive scale that was also able to move dramatically”.

What were the initial steps in creating Hymen?

Stephen: “The first step in the design process was to research the traditional image of Hymen – surprisingly Hymen turns out to be male, but we decided to make him in to something slightly more androgynous.

“I’ve certainly never designed a huge puppet on this scale. That takes a very particular skill so we got in touch with Mervyn Millar and his company Significant Object, and asked for his help. I’m delighted he came on board”.

Mervyn: “Stephen and Kimberley already had a strong concept when they came to me. They showed me some drawings and asked if what they wanted to create could be done, and whether I could help.

“We did some more drawings, and then we had to work out how we could realise that on stage. We had to work out how the actors would operate it, whilst ensuring it could work reliably for over a year’s worth of performances”.

How did the design process develop?

Stephen: “We had a computer scan of him created, and a full-size polystyrene head, from which we then cast the materials that created the real head. It’s made from a very simple, almost hat-like material called variform, which you can heat and mould and bend over objects. We also had to make the ‘skin’ and the ‘bones’, and the skeleton had to be a metal structure to ensure it was durable. Alongside that we also had a ‘muscle’ layer which was all made in wood”.

Mervyn: “We created smaller versions of Hymen and did some work on the computer, but it’s not until you get the final object in the room, when you can handle it, that you can really begin to understand how the joints are going to move and what kind of adjustment it will need. So there was a lot of experimenting and testing the joints”.

Creating a puppet on this scale must require a lot of people. Can you tell us about who else was involved?

Stephen: “I don’t think we’ve ever built anything quite like it here at the RSC, so with Mervyn’s expert advice and skill we pulled together a team from our Scenic Workshops, who make all our sets and props. Quite early on we learnt we needed carpentry, prop making and scenic painting skills, people who could work with a range of materials, particularly people who worked with metal to advise us on what the joints would be like. It was a wonderfully collaborative process”.

Mervyn: “The RSC has an amazing group of skilled people: brilliant carpenters, painters and metalworkers who’ve got loads of experience, and a technical design team who are willing to take on anything. I have to say the experience was really pleasurable, and the attitude of the staff fantastic.

“One of the reasons I love puppetry is because it brings all the different technologies of the theatre together into one space. It’s got movement, it’s got performance, it’s got design. And it’s always satisfying when everyone’s skills coalesce into this dynamic theatre object”.

When was Hymen integrated into rehearsals?

Mervyn: “Because this puppet is so big, all of the testing of the mechanics had to happen in the workshops. With a smaller puppet, you might make a prototype, send it into the rehearsal rooms and then bring it back onto the workbench and fiddle a bit more. That just wasn’t possible on this project”.

Stephen: “I was keen to try and introduce the puppet into rehearsals as soon as possible, but it became increasingly clear we couldn’t. Our rehearsal rooms in London aren’t big enough or high enough to get him in. We managed to get him ready for the last week of rehearsals when we had moved up to Stratford.

“Before that, the actors had spent weeks and weeks with broomsticks, baskets on sticks and lots of sellotape over things so they could get a sense of how big the puppet was going to be. I’m guessing few quite guessed the scale until we introduced him on their first day in Stratford!”

How are you hoping the audience will react to Hymen?

Mervyn: “It’s a huge figure. It may be made of steel, aluminium, wood, mesh, tissue paper, moss, leaves and all sorts of strange things, but you want the audience to believe in it. When he’s on stage he breathes, looks around the auditorium, and his arms reach out into the space. The audience knows it’s a puppet, but I hope they forget that, and believe the character has come to life”.

Stephen: “I’m hoping audiences will feel the enjoyment, and, if you like, the playfulness of this character, and enjoy that wonderful suspension of disbelief that you can get with puppets – even though we all know they’re inanimate objects!

“It happens in Peter Pan doesn’t it? You know, there’s that wonderful moment where they address the audience and say, “Does anyone believe in fairies?” and anyone will cheer and scream, however cynical they are, however many times they’ve been to the theatre. I certainly got it when I went to watched War Horse. To just experience what is really a few canes and bits of fabric, you utterly believe it’s a living breathing horse. It was great to discover that Mervyn had been a part of that journey too – to work on those puppets, and so then I knew that we were already onto a winner with Hymen.

“There’s just something rather wonderful when the audience buys into it, and they want to believe it’s come alive, and I think for me, that’s the essence of theatre”.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is touring to The Lowry, Salford from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

Read our interview with As You Like It director, Kimberley Sykes.

The post Making Hymen, the God of Marriage, for the RSC’s As You Like It appeared first on Quays Life.

What has influenced your thinking around the production?

Kimberley: “I think a big thing which has influenced my thinking on the production has been about what a forest is and what it represents. I did a lot of reading into the way forests function and the societal behaviour of trees. I was quite determined not to have any trees on stage, mainly because everybody kept asking me how are you going to do the trees?

“But actually, when you look into trees and their behaviour, they’re extraordinary. There’s a network of roots in a forest, so all the trees are connected to each other. If one tree is struggling then other trees who have enough, will send nutrients to try and save that other tree through the root system, regardless of species. They believe – it sounds ridiculous! – the success of the forest depends on the success of every single tree within that forest. I took that as a metaphor for society, and what Shakespeare is asking us to think about as audience members watching this play, especially right now in a time of increased borders and a rise of – you could say – nationalism, and concern with ourselves.

“In the play there’s a marked difference between the restrictive world of the court and the forest. In our version of the play the audience will represent the trees. When the play reaches the forest scenes, the actors will be able to see the audience, whereas they didn’t have access to them during the court scenes. The forest world is a world where we can interact and communicate with each other”.

You have said this production was all about putting the ‘you’ in As You Like It – can you tell us a bit about what you mean by that and how will this be reflected in the staging?

Kimberley: “I think putting the ‘You’ in As You Like It is something that Shakespeare has done with this play – he’s constantly playing with the relationship between the actors and the audience, and lots of the characters in the play go between being characters, being spectators, being actors – he’s referring to the act of theatre constantly – “All the world’s a stage”. And so I think Shakespeare is asking us as theatre-makers to reconsider our relationship to the audience, making the audience feel that their presence in the theatre matters, that it changes what we’re doing. And they can be directly involved with what’s happening on the stage – so we’re really embracing that with the production.

“I think it’s also reflected in the actors that are part of this show, and the other two plays that are part of the same season. We want the acting company to reflect the nation in all its diversity. This play was written at a time when society was becoming more diverse, and the play itself is about celebrating and embracing difference”.

What are your current thoughts on the style of the production? Can you give us any early insights into the process?

Kimberley: ” I’m not setting the play in a particular time or place. It doesn’t feel like a play which needs a certain period setting. And I’m very aware as a director of not choosing a setting which restricts the play, and that only tells one aspect of the play so I always look for the approach and the framework that allows all of the play to live.
In many ways the play is a massive exploration of theatre itself. So there will be elements of panto, live music, stand-up comedy on stage. And there will be audience interaction, political debate and improvisation.

“Although everyone will look and feel very modern, we’ll be using a real mingle-mangle of costumes from different productions, and will be playing with different genres, different times, different periods. It’s going to be a real mish-mash that celebrates the art of theatre making”.

Would you say As You Like It is as much about ‘finding yourself’ as ‘getting lost’?

Kimberley: “I think sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself. But Shakespeare isn’t asking us to get lost in order to just get lost – that would be pointless. He’s asking us to break down some of our barriers and to think outside of the boxes that we’ve put ourselves in, or that society has put us in. And he puts the responsibility on the human being to do that for one’s self. I think the play is about the potential for change in humanity, and for us to be able to change the world we must first change ourselves and embrace other sides of ourselves”.

We understand that this production features one of the most ambitious props and set elements ever created by the RSC’s production teams. Can you explain a little bit about where the idea for ‘Hymen’ came about?

Kimberley: ” Hymen is the god of marriage, which will be represented by a very large prop/puppet We have to believe in this God and yet, God is not a tangible thing. God is a leap of imagination, so how do we get 1000 audience members to take that leap in their imaginations and believe in this God? All of the actors will be involved in the scene in which Hymen appears – it will be a communal act, to give the sense of coming together and believing in a God or in something bigger than ourselves”.

The role of Rosalind has been described as ‘the female Hamlet’ and is credited with more lines than any other female Shakespearean character. Was this something that attracted you to the play?

Kimberley: “Yes absolutely! I was attracted to a woman who is working out who she is as the play unfolds. I think sometimes with Shakespeare’s women, it feels like they already know who they are. Or that their internal life isn’t really the thing that Shakespeare is exploring in the play. With Rosalind it’s completely different. She changes her mind all the time, and she changes her mind with us, with the audience.

“She talks about this magician, this uncle magician, who she’s conversed with since the age of 3, and Lucy Phelps, who is playing the role, and I have talked a lot about who on earth this magician is. We feel that this magician is inside of all of us, representing the potential for change and to be different people. The play is really all about Rosalind having a conversation with herself to find a way to contentment, and that’s not easy. Sometimes you have to crawl through the dirt to get to the diamond”.

Many well known actors have played Rosalind for the RSC, including Peggy Aschroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins, Juliet Stevenson, and more recently, Katy Stephens and Pippa Nixon. What do you think Lucy Phelps will bring to the role?

Kimberley: “Ah, Lucy Phelps! I think Lucy is relentlessly intelligent and rigorous in what she as an actress and as a woman wants from the world, and she does all of that with generosity and with the most infectious spirit. I think you have to have both of those things to play Rosalind. And that’s something that she has very, very naturally.

“Lucy’s never satisfied as an artist. She’s always digging, she’s always chipping away. But if you chip, chip, chip away in rehearsal, and then walk on stage and you’ve stopped chipping because you’ve decided what it is, then you’ve lost Rosalind – whereas Lucy has the bravery as an actress, to keep discovering… to keep searching…”

What do you hope audiences will take away from this production?

Kimberley: “I would like for the audience to take away a new relationship with their own ‘magician’. To feel able to explore the possibility and potential of change, especially right now, with all of the uncertainty in this country and Europe and the rest of the world. To feel that change is possible, and that change can come from working together, learning from each other and from being more honest. Being brave enough to jump off the cliff into the unknown”.

If you were given the chance to escape to the forest, what three things would you take with you?

Kimberley: “My dog, Plato.
“My husband.
“And a really good walking stick!”

The Royal Shakespeare Company is touring to The Lowry, Salford from 25 September to 5 October 2019.

The post Director Kimberley Sykes is putting the ‘You’ in As You Like It appeared first on Quays Life.

The play provokes much thought, in illustrating how women have come a long way in society in some respects and not in others. Where “Whilst there is a world, ’tis women that will govern it,” might now be true, 322 years after this play was written, we still live in a world rife with domestic abuse and gender inequality. The play is a social document about the problems posed by a bad marriage at a time when divorce was difficult, and could be regarded as a study that Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus.

However, please don’t be put off by the subject matter. This play, directed by Phillip Breen and performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in period dress costume is an absolute joy to watch. Mark Bailey’s simple backdrop sets the scene beautifully, enchanced with some sparkling music throughout by Paddy Cunneen.

The Provoked Wife of the play’s title is Lady Brute, a woman who decides that she is justified in committing adultery since her husband is wilfully cruel and perpetually drunk.  Alexandra Gilbreath is superb, and genuinely funny as a Lady Brute, torn between conscience and desire.

Lady Brute married her husband for his money. He married her to find out what she was like in bed. They both regret it bitterly, and they spell out their misery in riotous addresses to the audience, with fabulous one-liners mocking marriage, society and religion. Tired of being so despised and treated so horribly, she wrestles with the question of whether it is fair that she should take a lover, to address her desires and at the same time antagonising her husband.

The splendid plotting by the women in this play comes from all corners – with Lady Brute and her niece, Bellinda, arranging a liaison with Constant and malcontent (and apparent women-hater) Heartfree, or from Lady Fancyfull in fulfilling her delusions of being the most beautiful and popular woman in society, including pursuing her luck with Heartfelt. Their plans all fall apart in a series of farcical meetings, with ladies hiding behind arbours, and gentlemen secreting themselves in closets!

The mood shifts markedly in the second act: Sir John grows ever more abusive –psychologically, physically and sexually. Jonathan Slinger’s performance as Lord Brute makes us despise him, yet we are still able to find him hilarious when he dons female attire in a night brawl, in wonderful scenes with the night watch.

Caroline Quentin’s Lady Fancyfull is superb from start to finish. A vision of self-importance, who pays well to be flattered, condemning anyone who dares to contradict her own opinion of herself.  By the end of the play, with her face-paint and wig cast aside, you feel genuine compassion for her as she is cruelly (and yet deservingly) mocked.

There are lively performances from Rufus Hound as the impassioned Constant, Natalie Dew as Lady Brute’s niece, and Sarah Twomey as a mischievous French maid. Rather baffling though, is the casting of Les Dennis in the minor role of Colonel Bully, spending most of the play moving furniture and speaking but a handful of lines.

John Vanbrugh’s comedy which scandalised theatre-goers in 1697 evokes similar feelings in 2019. Despite being a play of three hours, it does not feel that long, since the momentum and excitement was maintained by the actors to the end. Although dealing with some dark issues, this is a very enjoyable play and well worth a trip to Stratford to see it.

The Provoked Wife is at Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon until 7 September 2019. Visit rsc.org.uk for details.

David Bintley reflects on a magical 24 years with Birmingham Royal Ballet.

The post The Provoked Wife theatre review, RSC Swan, Stratford appeared first on Quays Life.

The length of the run – 11 weeks at the Palace Theatre in Manchester – gives some indication of the excitement and anticipation surrounding this tour.

On Thursday’s opening night the audience had to wait a little longer, as the curtain was held-up for 10 minutes or so due to a technical hitch. But once it got started, nothing could dampen the enjoyment of this mischievous, magical and often moving musical.

Rob Howell’s set design is a complex mix of moving alphabet blocks, sliding school desks, playground swings and comic-book like home interiors. It’s a marvel it all moves in the right place at the right time as often as it does.

There are also incredible special effects and illusions by Paul Kieve. In one scene headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, a former Olympic hammer-thrower, swings a child by her pigtails and launches her into space and it’s all so fast and slick that even the adults are gaping at the illusion.

The evil, Miss Trunchbull is a big-bosomed, dame-like character whose school motto is ‘Children are Maggots’ and she delights in ‘breaking them’. Craige Els revels once again in the villainous role he played in the West End for three years from 2014 to 2017 and does a show-stopping somersault over the school’s gymnastic vaulting horse.

Rebecca Thornhill also joins the tour from the West End cast as Mrs Wormwood, Matilda’s salsa-dancing, make-up obsessed mother who chose ‘looks not books’. Alongside Sebastien Torkia as sleazy car salesman, Mr Wormwood, the pair make a deliciously vile and vulgar couple.

As the insults from the adults come thick and fast until we could feel the revolting, spit-balls of children don’t stand a chance. But young Matilda learns of another world through her reading. At five-years-old she reads everything from Dickens to Tolkien. While other parents marvel at the miracle of their children, Matilda’s parents would have her believe she’s not normal for wanting to read books.

Little do they know their daughter is a miracle in another way – she has superpowers to move objects using only her eyes. To get a child to carry such a complex and compelling role is another astonishing feat of this ambitious show. Sophia Ally’s justice-seeking Matilda is a wonderful mix of mischief and vulnerability. She is one of four young girls (Annalise Bradbury, Scarlett Cecil and Nicola Turner) to take on the role during the tour and was given a well-deserved standing ovation.

Tim Minchin’s score and witty lyrics demand some real tongue-twisters for the young cast, and never patronises. The closing song, ‘Revolting Children’ emerges like a rock ‘n’ roll anthem for any child who has felt unfairly treated at school. It is to today’s generation of youngsters what Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall was to mine. And judging by the terrific performances this young cast are capable of, we certainly shouldn’t be under-estimating the little maggots.

If you’re looking for the must-see show in Manchester this year, Matilda the Musical is it.
★ ★ ★★★

Matilda the Musical is at The Palace Theatre, Manchester from Tuesday 18 September – Saturday 24 November 2018. For details of the UK tour visit Matildathemusical.com

The post Matilda the Musical appeared first on Quays Life.