Simon Callow Takes On Shakespeare

No need to list the work Simon Callow has done – to Richmond theatre-goers he is an old friend. So, over coffee in the Stalls Bar, we confine ourselves to Richmond alone. “Yes, come to think of it, I’ve done a lot here, haven’t I?” he chuckles. And such diversity: wicked villains Abanazar and Hook in two pantos, egocentric Garry Essendine in Coward’s Present Laughter, the flamboyant and unstoppable Dickens in the one-man show that won huge critical acclaim – and this summer, Shakespeare: The Man From Stratford.















He thrives on variety. “I first wanted to be an actor, in order to be lots of different people – and I certainly have been! Of course in the Shakespeare, as in Dickens, I play many diverse characters within the play. I’m very excited about it. It’s probably the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career.”

Why? “It’s going head-on with the greatest writer who ever lived. I haven’t really done that much Shakespeare – and he’s the test of every actor. I have performed the Sonnets of course – so I feel I’ve been in contact with him all these years - but my ambition henceforth is to spend the rest of my ‘declining years’ doing those wonderful parts that I’m now the right age for.”

Knowing the frantically hard-working Mr Callow, we can guarantee he will have researched every known fact about Shakespeare before he steps onto the stage. No-one, I suggest, can call his approach to work skimpy. He laughs loudly and melodically. “No, but skimpy is exactly what Shakespeare’s biography is. So little is known about him – unlike Dickens. So I’ve done a lot of research into the world he inhabited – how he lived. And we have his writing – he saw the world in a way that I find extraordinarily moving. There is such precision in his observations, clothed in language of such musical perfection. He’s a supreme, sublime genius.”

Simon has provided a selection of that genius in a volume of Shakespearian extracts, Shakespeare on Love. He has written two volumes of a detailed biography of Orson Welles – “I am working on volume three,” he assures me – plus a biography of Charles Laughton – and has just completed a theatrical memoir, My Life in Pieces. Writing is very important to him – and surely it helps him to understand the writer’s mind. “Yes, I am constantly reassessing everything. And constantly working of course.”

Is Richmond a special place? “The point about Richmond, as I’ve always said, is that the theatre has a perfect relationship between stage and audience. Richmond theatre-goers are well-informed, keen and bright and they feel a great warmth towards their theatre. The actors feel as though they’ve been invited into the audience’s home. And that’s very beautiful. Also, the town is full of memories for me – and so perfect for Shakespeare. Cricket wasn’t played in his day, but if he stepped onto the Green in summer, he would feel completely at ease.”

Simon Callow is appearing in Shakespeare The Man From Stratford Tues 27 – Sat 31 July

Article appeared in Applause Summer 2010

Touring the Theatre

This afternoon Michaela* and I set off on an all-exposing tour of the inner workings of Richmond Theatre. Armed only with our wits and the guidance of Adam (the very friendly stage manager), we were eased into the tour with a quick trip around the dressing rooms, technical equipment stations and labyrinthine backstage corridors. After following Adam through a seemingly random door we emerged onto the vast black expanse that is the Richmond stage. It was silent and entirely empty- being devoid of any sets, props or actors- which emphasise the size and gave it a grand and imposing effect.

Although standing centre stage and looking out onto the crimson auditorium was daunting, there is only one way to gauge the sheer enormity of the place: by visiting 'the grid'. This is a complex platform of crosshatching wires and wooden beams suspended fifteen metres above the stage, accessible only by (very tall) ladder. With a helping hand from Adam, we were able to overcome vertigo and reach it, even testing out our newly acquired technical skills along the way. We continued our exploration of the theatre on the roof, in the 'cave' above the chanelier and in lighting boxes, until we had wriggled and crawled into every conceivable corner.

The whole tour was very 'hands on'. We learned how to operate all of the different equipment around the theatre and were allowed to test it out ourselves; using the two spotlights to follow Adam around the stage whilst playing around with the size, colour and intensities was a particular favourite of mine. Although nerve-wracking at times, the tour was exciting, detailed and permitted us to learn an enormous amount. I am sure this is the only way to truly experience Richmond Theatre.

Lucy Moss is doing work experience at Richmond Theatre and didn't tremble.
*Michaela is the Earth-name taken by a lovely Australian lady in the marketing lair. Fear her- Ed

David's Marvellous Seminar

When it comes to children's theatre, David Wood is the go-to guy. Chairman of the board (The Rat Pack's influence continues!). The Superman of adaptation, though without the underwear-over-the-trousers look. Basically, if you want a Roald Dahl book turned into an awesome play, this guy will do it, and he'll do it better than anyone. His most recent Dahl work, George's Marvellous Medicine, finished at Richmond Theatre last Saturday having been thoroughly enjoyed by all, and Wood was kind enough to host a seminar the day before to tell us a little about himself and how he goes about adapting Dahl's books.


With a background in acting, it's little surprise Wood has an affinity for the stage, and his extensive back catalogue has seen him referred to as "the national childrens' dramatist" by The Times. On this occasion, he talked about using his depth of experience with childrens' theatre to distill Dahl's stories down to their basic components and then ensure that these essential themes make it into his stage adaptations. Particularly emphasised were the notions of 'justice' and 'subversion', Wood underlining the need to appeal to child's basic sense of fairness and to retain the streak of irreverence and rebellion which runs through Dahl's work. The giant chickens, meanwhile, are emblemic of the magic and surrealism (you and I might call it 'insanity', but in a good way) Wood understands is necessary to keep a child's attention and, perhaps more importantly, to keep the show fun.

Much is made of the effective use of cliff-hangers and ensuring that the audience has something to wonder about during the interval, something to want to come back for. Fade-to-black is out, unless you want the little tykes' attention to fade away as well. What's a good way to stop that from happening? Villains we love to hate: Wood delights in transposing Dahl's despicable antagonists (child-eating giants, greedy farmers, witches with an irrational dislike of pre-pubescents) to the stage. At the same time, he refuses to talk down to his audience: whereas the cinematic adaptation (itself celebrating its 20th anniversary this August) of The Witches gave the end of the story a thoroughly sanitised happily-ever-after, Wood's stage version retains his source's traditional (and far bleaker) conclusion. To his amusement, he once received a letter on this subject, informing him that he had not been true to Dahl's vision in his stage adaptation, an accusation which merely served to prove that the complainant had failed to keep up with their reading...

Affable and enthusiastic, Wood held our attention throughout, taking care to direct any rhetorical questions to the younger members of his audience, all of whom seemed to know a great deal more than I did. He happily answered the barrage of questions thrown in his direction when he had finished, and by the time we were due to shuffle out and get on with our lives, the dramatist had proven again that he can enthrall an audience, with or without a giant chicken.

Rory Thomas is Richmond Theatre's digital media editor and wishes he could remember more.

Setting Up For Success

An 8 AM start to a scorching day filled, for the most part, with carrying very heavy bits of metal around does not sound like the beginning of a Good Time. This much I happily confess, and whilst I don't think I'd recommend it as an option for a fun day out with the kids, I can say with all honesty that it was more fun than I had anticipated the night before, when the prevailing terror I felt insisted I was going to be crushed under a stage item or make some sort of horrific error which would mean the show would most definitely not go on.

What I'm talking about is helping with the 'get-in' for this week's showing of The Rat Pack, which audiences are loving. 'Get-in' is a term I hadn't heard before coming to Richmond Theatre, and so far using the term as if people don't already know what it means has earned me looks which range between pitying and contemptuous, but just in case you're the only other person besides me who hadn't come across it, a 'get-in' involves bringing in and setting up everything required for the show. In this case, 'everything' is a massive collection of steel frames, plastic sheets and wheeled cases which combine to make the elaborate back-drop for The Rat Pack. Perhaps a day on which it felt like the sun was throwing itself at the Earth like a hungry lion on an unlucky tourist was not the best choice for ingratiating myself with the intricacies of stage set-up, but I've never been one to pass up a punishing experience. While I wilted and sweated and saw my life flash before my eyes, the rest of Richmond's technical crew (admittedly a bit more used to such things) made it look easy, hefting, lifting and hauling with practised ease.

The bare stage began to transform into a place to perform as we stretched backdrops over frames and assembled platforms with poles, screws and more than a little effort. Other members of the team hoisted up and tested a bewildering array of lights. A piano tuner fiddled with an expensive-looking grand piano while I was tunnelling around inside the structure we had erected trying to bolt bits of it together.

I even got to close off the little road to the side of the theatre and Duke Street church so that the lorry could escape without crushing cars into scrap or demolishing shop fronts (something I am reliably informed has happened before). This probably sounds less exciting than it was, but hey, I got to use a short-wave radio.

It was enormously satisfying seeing the whole thing come together, rather like I imagine watching a sped-up recording of an artist drawing a cartoon might be. The moment when the stage suddenly looked like it was fit for The Rat Pack was elusive, but when it jumped out at me I couldn't resist a little bit of self-congratulation. Richmond Theatre's technical team deserve all the more- they do this kind of thing week in, week out, and have to pack everything away again when the show moves on. There was a point in the middle of the day when, under the sun's punishing gaze and a barrage of heavy lifting, their banter and good-natured insults faltered a little, but it rallied soon enough amid a public inquiry into the name of Def Leppard's drummer and a blizzard of alliterative alternative names for the band.

A great many thanks go to Adam and everyone in the technical team for tolerating my doe-eyed innocence and inability in a job where the clock is the enemy- it would have been easy to get frustrated with the blogger who's probably more hindrance than help, but everyone was nothing less than friendly and welcoming all day, even when working to a deadline in the boiling heat. Will I be back to help with a get-out? Maybe one day. For now, though, I'm still discovering aching muscles I didn't know I had. You're on your own on Saturday, guys!

Rory Thomas is Richmond Theatre's digital media editor and thought it sounded like a great idea at the time.