Podcast: #WOSOuting to Tricycle’s Red Velvet

Last night we took our intrepid Whatsonstage.com theatregoers to the Tricycle in Kilburn to see the inaugural production of Indhu Rubasingham‘s tenure as artistic director, Red Velvet.

Written by Lolita Chakrabarti, the play stars her husband Adrian Lester as Ira Aldridge, the
African-American actor who caused a storm in 1833 when he took over from
Edmund Keen in Othello at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.

Lester is joined in the cast by: Simon Chandler (Bernard/Terence),
Rachel Finnegan (Halina/Betty/Margaret), Natasha Gordon (Connie),
Ryan Kiggell (Charles), Ferdinand Kingsley (Casmir/Henry),
Charlotte Lucas (Ellen), and Eugene O’Hare (Pierre).

Following the show we were joined for a Q&A by Rubasingham, Chakrabarti, and cast members Adrian Lester, Natasha Gordon, Ferdinand Kingsley, Simon Chandler and Ryan Kiggell.

Ryan Kiggell, Simon Chandler, Ferdinand Kingsley, Lolita Chakrabarti, Indhu Rubasingham, host Terri Paddock, Natasha Gordon & Adrian Lester

Directer Rubasingham talked about her reasons for wanting to stage Red Velvet as her first show as artistic director of the Tricycle, and author Chakrabarti talked about the genesis of the play.

Chakrabarti talked about the number of black actors throughout the 19th Century who were largely unrecognised, and cast members told us how they hadn’t heard of Ira Aldridge before being involved with the show.

Lester then talked about the differences between playing Othello, and playing someone playing Othello, and discussed his upcoming performance as Othello at the National Theatre. Chakrabarti also discussed the reviews that Aldridge received at the time, and told us that the ones in the play are verbatim from actual newspapers of the time.

Finally, Rubasingham discussed the upcoming shows at the Tricycle, as part of her inaugural season.

To
listen to the Q&A, which was hosted by Terri Paddock, click the
‘play’ button below; or to subscribe and download from iTunes, click here.

As
always, please feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the
show, as well as any of your favourite insights from last night to feedback@whatsonstage.com and don’t forget to tweet using #WOSOuting! We would love to hear from you.

For details of other upcoming Outings, click here!

– by Rosie Bannister