Anna Francolini on Awaking Beauty
November 25, 2008
“It’s the fact of having a familiar story, where you sort of know the way it goes, with a hero and heroine who’ll come up against something that will be resolved in the end,” says Anna Francolini. “You could almost do that with many fairy tales. This one is great because he (Sir Alan Ayckbourn) uses it to look at our modern perceptions of ourselves. For example, the ugly witch tries to win the heart of the prince – she’s very jealous, so she has a massive makeover and goes through a modern, plastic surgery kind of dilemma. It makes you laugh when you see it put out of whack a bit.”
Pamela Okoroafor and Duncan Barton on The Snow Queen
November 18, 2008
“I love the journey that Gerda goes on,” says Pamela Okoroafor. “She starts out as a very naïve little girl and by the end of the play she’s a woman, really, because even though she hasn’t grown that much in age, mentally and emotionally she has. A lot of her journey is really sophisticated – it’s not something a little girl would normally experience, so it’s nice to play that role and to give her some of those qualities that I have.”
Okoroafor is explaining what she likes about playing Gerda in forthcoming West Yorkshire Playhouse production The Snow Queen. Its other main character, Kai, will be portrayed by Duncan Barton, whose explanation of what he likes about Kai underlines fundamental similarities beneath seeming differences. “His journey is very different, of course,” he explains, “because it begins and then he’s frozen in the Snow Queen’s palace, so it’s a much quicker one, and is more about realisation than what’s he’s done. It’s got this really nice bit where he realises that his journey is done and that he’s becoming, maybe not a fully fledged adult, but growing up and realising that he’s made a mistake and learning a lot from it. Both of the kids grow.”
David Nixon on The Nutcracker
November 13, 2008
David Nixon is convinced that Northern Ballet Theatre chose the ideal time to produce The Nutcracker. “The Nutcracker is a celebration of classical ballet technique,” reasons the company’s artistic director. “The technical ability of our dancers has evolved and we possess a company that makes this production something really special.” Moreover, Tchaikovsky’s 1892 staple harmonises with the current bent of NBT’s material. “We are also keen to build a strong repertoire of family productions that NBT can perform at Christmas each year,” Nixon says, “and The Nutcracker fits perfectly alongside ballets such as A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan.”
Indeed, Nixon ascribes work’s attraction partly to its seasonal stature. “The tradition of The Nutcracker at Christmas is tremendously strong; the sense of families sharing Christmas time contributes greatly to its popularity,” he remarks.
Rachel Kavanaugh on Peter Pan
November 3, 2008
To my slight embarrassment, I have to interview Peter Pan director Rachel Kavanaugh while she eats her lunch of jacket potato and tuna. The efficiency with which she manages to juggle the two tasks is precisely what I expect from her – if her artistic energy suffers from limits, no-one yet seems to have noticed them.
First performed last year at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where Kavanaugh is in her third year as artistic director, Peter Pan reaches the West Yorkshire Playhouse as the culmination of an agreement that she made with WYP artistic director Ian Brown. The arrangement is that, after each performed at its home theatre last Christmas, Peter Pan and Brown’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are swapping for this one.
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Interview with Mike Shepherd, founder of Kneehigh Theatre
February 15, 2008
What were your original aims and intentions when you set up Kneehigh?
I called Cornwall my home and I’d been in the sharp end of the theatre business in London and got really jaded with it. So I went back to Cornwall as a place I believe you can make things happen and started Kneehigh as a company for children and their families. There aren’t really any theatres down here – there were quarries, old gunpowder works, some amazing places to tell stories. That was the original notion and if you see ‘Rapunzel’ I think it’s pretty close to those early shows.
They tell a good story, the use of music, colour, lots of humour – it’s quirky and witty as well. People recognise it as being immediate and it gives you a good night out. It’s the opposite of being in a black box studio theatre or behind a proscenium with a metaphorical fourth wall. We grew up playing in daylight and it’s embarrassing if you’re pretending the audience isn’t there, you can directly talk to the audience. Then the story can get darker and more emotional and take people on a journey. Read more