Conrad Nelson on Othello
January 27, 2009
“I think Othello will probably be a favourite by the time I’ve finished,” Conrad Nelson predicts. “You get more satisfaction from any play when you perform it, but obviously Shakespeare in particular because the language is so rich. But with every play that you read, you discover things once you get into performances, and it’s a constant joy.”
Sheena Wrigley on First Floor
January 27, 2009
“I think that a lot of theatres have a real desire to find a way to connect what they do – their craft bases – to young people in their cities,” says Sheena Wrigley. “It strikes me that this is particularly original because it’s a dedicated space – it’s specifically designed for young people and with a very informal approach to being there to support them and give them somewhere to go, but also to work together on creative projects. I’m not aware of anything exactly like this in other cities. It enhances what we do, because we work with young people quite a lot, but we haven’t had anywhere that’s so influenced in its conception and design by the young people who are going to use it before.”
Dawn Walton on The Hounding of David Oluwale
January 27, 2009
“The way that I always describe it is as the ambitions of a young man versus the ambitions of a city. What happened, for me, is that the ambitions of the city overcame David’s, and indeed created an environment in which his demise - his slippery slope - became unstoppable,” says Dawn Walton. “There were several moments in David’s life when he could have been helped out, but he wasn’t helped, and that’s the point. Cities and countries make huge decisions that affect the way that people live, and David’s story is a good example of how communities can change in ways that destroy individuals. If we take things like Care in the Community, which was introduced by Enoch Powell - that’s how David ended up outside Menston Asylum. People who had had years and years of quite violent medical treatment - ECT etc - that had an effect on their behaviour afterwards were thrown out onto the streets helpless and unsupported. David was one of them.”
Tom Bidwell and Justin Audibert on Company Along the Mile
January 15, 2009
I imagine that Tom Bidwell is fairly confident that a certain former flame doesn’t read his interviews. He tells me that Stella, a character in his debut play Company Along the Mile “is based on an ex-girlfriend of mine. English was her second language, so she used to say things like ‘why do you have to terrorize me all the time?’ There’s something about those turns of phrase that I think is fascinating. I love that you can build characters around one saying and one situation.” Stella, you see, is a transvestite and lifestyle fantasist who insists on having sandwiches cut into triangles and pays the other main character, George, for his company each Wednesday in a Blackpool hotel room.
Richard Ashton on the Howard Assembly Room
January 10, 2009
“We’ve made sure that we can host not just a song or solo recital at an end stage, but also an 80-piece orchestra,” says Richard Ashton. “For that, you have to have reflective and absorbent properties. If you have an orchestra of 80, you want more of an absorbent acoustic, so we open some shutters to reveal absorbent material. If there’s an end recital piece, which is more intimate and small-scale, then we close the shutters to give a more reflective acoustic. We have acoustic curtains as well – the two ends of the space are treated with acoustic material. The architects have worked very hard to create a multi-purpose space.”