New RSC boss Gregory Doran has big plans. Theatre writer Marion McMullen finds out how he's aiming to bring some of the country's top actors to the Warwickshire stage for some leading Shakespeare anniversaries.
“Went to Stratford. Saw As You Like It. Brilliant.” So reads the teenage diary of Gregory Doran dated August, 1973.
His first visit to see a play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in the Bard’s home town sparked his lifelong passion for the stage and led to him first acting and then directing.
“We drove from Preston in a beige Mini,” he remembers, “and the As You Like It cast included Eileen Atkins and Maureen Lipman and the director was Buzz Goodbody. I just came out thinking ‘that’s what I want to do when I grow up’.
“I was in the debating club at school and we did one Shakespeare play a year, but it simply wasn’t enough for me and I would organise a Shakespeare summer play as well.
“My father was a scientist and didn’t understand. He wanted me to be a barrister or a lawyer, but I was hooked. I used to hitchhike down to Stratford to see everything I could.”
Now the new Royal Shakespeare Company boss is preparing to take over the reigns of the world-famous company and has just announced his first season, which will see the return of David Tennant to play Richard II on the Stratford stage.
It will be Gregory’s first production in a new cycle of Shakespeare History plays that he will direct over the coming seasons.
His successful collaboration with Tennant follows on from the hugely successful production of Hamlet in 2008, which was also filmed for BBC television by Illuminations.
Now a life-sized woolly sheep from an old production of The Merry Wives Of Windsor quirkily stands guard outside Gregory’s first-floor office at the RSC.
The large glass windows look out across Stratford and the spire of Trinity Church – Shakespeare’s last resting place – can be seen in the distance.
The office is almost bare apart from a large desk and chair, which once belonged to former RSC artistic director Sir Peter Hall. It’s hard to believe the youthful-looking, energetic Gregory has been involved with the RSC for more than 25 years as an actor and director, but he has certainly served his time in Stratford. He has brought actors like Dame Judi Dench, Sir Patrick Stewart and Richard Wilson back to the RSC stage and says his phone has not stopped ringing since his appointment was announced.
He was in the running for the artistic director’s post 10 years ago, but says he is glad Michael Boyd took over back then.
Gregory laughs: “I remember The Tempest was just about to open and we were saying we felt like two green bottles sitting on the wall.
“I went out later looking for a first-night present later and found two old 19th century green bottles in a Stratford junk shop and bought them and gave one to Michael saying ‘Let’s see which one accidentally falls’.
“He later said he would take on the job if I agreed to stay on, which was very kind of him. Now it feels the time is right to be doing this.”
He chuckles and says he wants to build on the global reputation of the theatre company and welcome everyone to the “Shakespeare gymnasium.”
His consuming passion for the Bard is evident in every word he utters and he is conscious of the rich heritage at the core of the RSC.
“When I was directing The Taming Of The Shrew Alexandra Gilbreath wanted an old cardigan for her character Kate to wear on stage after she has been rushed away after her wedding.
“We went to the stores and found this big cardigan that was just perfect and I said ‘Look at the label, who did it used to belong to?’ It said Peggy Ashcroft and it felt blessed, like a benediction.
“That idea that we are about passing it on and there’s a bit of DNA from the greats even in the costumes.”
The new season for autumn 2013 includes the world premiere of Wendy & Peter Pan and world premiere adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.
There’s also a new vision of radical mischief and new work ambitions for the RSC’s studio space, The Other Place, and Gregory will be working with new executive director Catherine Mallyon while Erica Whyman takes up her role as deputy artistic director.
“This winter season acts as a prologue to a wider plan, stretching forward over the next five years,” says Gregory.
“I hope we will work through the entire canon, producing all his plays in our new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, but without repeating the titles in that time.
“The Swan will be dedicated largely to looking at the stable of writers who worked alongside Shakespeare – to the plays which inspired him and which he inspired, and to writing which matches his scale and ambition, providing a deeper context to the genius of our house playwright.
“Next year is Shakespeare’s 450th birthday and 2016 marks the quatercentenary of his death in 1616. We will celebrate Shakespeare’s life, from birth to grave, over an arc of three years, culminating in a major nationwide event in 2016.
“Over the coming months, I look forward to sharing more of our plans, not least the redevelopment of The Other Place, which will – along with the development of new work – be led by Erica Whyman, who has joined the company in the new post of deputy artistic director.”
He adds: “Producing work for all ages is essential as we develop the theatre-going audiences of the future and this year we are presenting a brand new adaptation of one of the great works of children’s literature, Peter Pan.”
Gregory has directed two-thirds of Shakespeare’s plays and Richard II with David Tennant is among those he has never directed before.
But does he ever miss his old acting days?
He grins: “I act more now than I ever did.”
* Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, on October 10 and runs until November 16. Wendy & Peter Pan opens on December 10 and runs until March 2. Wolf Hall opens on December 11 and runs until March 29 and Bring Up The Bodies opens on December 19 and runs until March 29. Public booking for the new RSC productions in Stratford opens on March 18. Box office 0844 800 1110.
Costume designers make an exhibition of themselves
THEATRE lovers can take a close-up peek at costumes worn by acting greats like Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, David Tennant, Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Juliet Stevenson.
They will be going on show this summer as part of a new series of RSC exhibitions in Stratford.
In Stitches – A Celebration Of RSC Costumes will open in spring for a year-long display throughout the Stratford theatres.
The free exhibition will reveal highlights from the company’s extensive collection along with new artistic responses, interactive displays and opportunities for visitors to try on RSC theatre costumes with a special dressing-up box.
It will draw on the company’s rich heritage of craftsmanship and demonstrate the specialist skills and imagination of artists, designers and makers in creating costumes for work on the stage.
Director of events and exhibitions, Geraldine Collinge, says: “We’re delighted to be celebrating the very best of our history of costume, revealing treasures from our museum collection for the first time in the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
“We will also be revealing the skill and craft which goes on behind the scenes and developing an exhibition to enable people to experience it for themselves.”
The Ferguson Room will also house Costume Craft from May 4. The interactive display for all the family follows the journey of how a costume is made and maintained by the RSC’s costume department – from the first fitting to the final performance. Visitors will be able to learn about some of the processes used by costume makers, as well as try on a finished article in the dressing-up area.
Alongside this celebration of costume, Arts Council England has just announced the RSC has been successful in the first stage of a bid to the large-scale capital funding programme towards the redevelopment of their Grade II listed costume workshop in Stratford.
Detailed plans can now be drawn up for a stage two application for a potential grant of £2.147 million to retain listed elements of the site and transform cramped and poorly accessible spaces into naturally lit and open plan studios.
The transformation will allow the RSC to develop new training opportunities and open up more of its work behind the scenes to the public.
Deputy artistic director, Erica Whyman, says they have also secured planning permission to retain the Courtyard Theatre structure in Stratford and to remodel the interior to create a small-scale studio theatre, two new rehearsal rooms and move the costume store into the former auditorium, opening it up to the public for the first time.
She says: “We’ll work on raising the capital to undertake the work and developing an operating model, which will allow us to run it sustainably, but in the meantime, audiences can expect to see TOP (The Other Place) work beginning to emerge in various forms from 2014, which is the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Other Place.”
