Much Ado About Nothing 
Third Year Play
Macbeth and the Rebels’ Plot
For his first school play, Christopher Turley gave himself and his young cast quite a challenge. That they not only pulled it off, but provided the enthralled audience with a hugely entertaining evening, was due largely to their combined dedication and talents as an ensemble. With thirty-five scenes and a split stage, the audience had to be on their toes to keep up with the parallel plots, excerpts from Macbeth and intrigues within the King’s Men.
It is the spring of 1606, and the King’s Men are about to start rehearsals for a new tragedy, Macbeth, at the Globe Theatre. Just across the river, the tortures and trials of the alleged Powder Plot conspirators continue. Playwright, John O’Connor presents a powerful re-creation of these two simultaneous events – and a wonderful introduction to ‘The Scottish Play’.
The most riveting scenes are probably those in which we see Macbeth being rehearsed and then the text discussed by the actors, in relation to the Powder Plot trials. Freddie Thomson and Kieran Baker are Richard Burbage and Samuel Gilburne, who play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. We see them rehearsing some of the most memorable scenes from Shakespeare so convincingly that we want them to go on. Indeed, Kieran’s Lady M was delivered with great strength, understanding and menace. But O’Connor’s purpose is not only to bring a human element to the proceedings but also to get the actors and audience involved in dissecting the components and characters of his great tragedy, and so we are tantalised by snippets and then made to ponder their relevance and dramatic power. It’s a really rewarding experience. The young cast brought Shakespeare and the King’s Men alive and we really enjoyed the way in which they revelled in WS’s words and conundrums.
Many of the cast have only a few lines in which to establish their characters and with the help of an array of bright and evocative costumes this was achieved with great authority. Most the action takes place backstage at the Globe and in the adjoining actors’ haunt The Mermaid tavern and the atmosphere in both of these settings was clearly and cleverly evoked by simple staging ideas and lighting.
Macbeth and The Powder Plot both end with executions and as we reach the climax of the drama, the plots intertwine more and more so that when Father Henry Garnet’s head is mounted on a pole and Macduff (gallantly played by Angus Lutton) enters with the slain King’s head, the audience may be forgiven for a moment of deja-vu. As O’Connor points out in his stage directions, the audience in the Globe would certainly make the connection and heed the warning so clearly dramatised by WS. And that is a nice touch in the play, we never see WS, but his presence pervades the whole – and did he, or did he not, play the Third Murderer ?
Congratulations, Mr Turley; welcome to the Director’s chair. You look settled in it already!
GM Trotter
Second Year Play
‘The Royal Astrologers’ by Willis Hall
We enjoyed a wonderful Third Year production and the Seconds dished up an equally entertaining evening last Thursday and Friday in the Watt Studio Theatre.
Willis Hall is probably best-known for his hard-hitting war drama ‘The Long and the Short and the Tall’ but in ‘The Royal Astrologers’ he shows that he can turn his hand to any genre with equal success; here he enjoys the role of the verbose word-smith with a huge sense of fun.
This is a character-driven play with an enjoyable and predictable plot and a fleet of characters selected from the best children’s adventure stories. Father and son Mole-Cricket are the heroes of our tale who prefer to sleep all day and eat the occasional meal, if they have to. Circumstances decree that they become astrologers and quickly get caught up in the search for the Emperor’s stolen gold. This brings them face to face with thieves, pirates, Emperor himself, and the dreaded, sharp-tongued Mother Mole-Cricket.
Louis d’Inverno and Alex Brock were the superbly eccentric male Mole-Crickets; exceedingly watchable as they glided from crisis to crisis, out-witting thieves, pirates and the Emperor. They were excellently complemented by Tarquin Ramsay and Douglas Rogers as the Chancellor and Emperor, a beautifully costumed pair who were obsessed with decapitation and marrying off the princess, charmingly played by Hugo Macrae in bewitching belly-dance outfit.
On their quest for gold, our heroes encountered the dastardly crew of the Bold Tassle led by dashing captain Beanfast, swaggeringly played by Ruaridh Smith and ably supported by his crew – James Marchant Wink, Mark MacDermot and Gregor Hay. Other parts were played by Alasdair Gardiner, the debonair leader of a band of thieves, Joel Brimelow, a buffalo-herding peasant and James Wilson, the awesome, saucepan-wielding Mother Mole-Cricket.
There was a huge sense of fun and energy in the production and both cast and audience clearly had a wonderful evening. The play was directed by Graeme Trotter and Kirsty Roy.
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
Thursday, 15 — Saturday, 17 March 2007
The Elizabethan music before curtain-up put one in a suitably Shakespearean frame of mind. I was just settling into an anticipatory reverie of ruffs, high hairlines and doublets, only to be challenged by a thoroughly modern bar setting and a mixture of different styles of dress, which served only to enhance the plot.
Meanwhile, arch-rat Don John plans to sabotage the wedding. His ‘wide-boy’ henchman Borachio (ably portrayed by an uncharacteristically unscrupulous and shifty Jack Davis) courts the winsome chambermaid Margaret, calling her ‘Hero’, at Hero’s open bedroom window while Don John leads Don Pedro and Claudio to spy below. The latter two mistake Margaret for Hero, and are convinced of her infidelity — which just goes to show that those who listen at doors, or in this case windows, deserve all they get. A comic interlude is provided by Dogberry, who is on a recruitment drive worthy of Lothian and Borders Police, although Finlay Bain’s hilarious performance probably owed more to his West Coast contemporary, Taggart. |
A well-paced and most enjoyable production, testimony as ever to Graeme Trotter’s directing skill. Special mention should be made of the casting, which was particularly successful, and the subsequent interpretation of roles by the players. Either that, or Alex Gordon really does have Sheriff of Nottingham tendencies. The cast are to be congratulated on their hard work, which yielded a very fine play indeed. |
Don Pedro, an Italian Prince from Aragon (a very suave Aaron Mateer), and his deputies Claudio (Alex Sutherland) and Benedick (a poised and sensitive Cospatric d’Inverno) have just returned from a successful military campaign. The avuncular Leonato (Nick Aspinall), governor of Messina, welcomes them and invites them to stay for a month. Benedick and Beatrice (played by a wonderfully feisty Phoebe Cottam), Leonato’s quick-witted niece, are longtime adversaries who continue their verbal sparring in a ‘merry war of words.’ Claudio conceives a passion for Leonato’s daughter Hero (interpreted by a suitably youthful and winsome Gilly Franklin), and announces his intention to court her. Benedick teases him and confirms his own resolve to ‘live a bachelor.’ Don Pedro hatches a plan to convince Benedick and Beatrice that they love each other, saying: ‘In time the savage bull / Doth bear the yoke.’ This establishes the comic premise for the play. A masquerade ball is planned, giving a disguised Don Pedro the chance to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. A sneaky Don John (played by a suitably silver-tongued and villainous Alex Gordon) exploits this situation in a bid to get revenge on his brother Don Pedro and Claudio by telling Claudio that Don Pedro is actually trying to seduce Hero for himself. Claudio, outraged, confronts Don Pedro, and the matter is quickly resolved, resulting in his winning Hero’s hand. Don Pedro and his gang of ‘love gods’ increase their efforts to matchmake Beatrice and Benedick in order to kill time in the run-up to Claudio and Hero’s nuptials. They proclaim Beatrice’s affection for Benedick, aware that he is eavesdropping on the conversation. Hero and her ladies, Margaret (Olivia Lyth demonstrating definite femme fatale qualities) and Ursula (Sophie Archibald) do the same to an unsuspecting Beatrice. Eventually, the pair decides that rather than acquire a reputation for pride and scornfulness they will instead requite the other’s love. 
Preparations for the wedding follow, Sophie Archibald’s Ursula affording us a rare insight into her well-choreographed beauty regime, complete with apposite modern soundtrack, face-pack and peignoir. The next day, during the wedding ceremony, in an outburst of very un-‘Suthy’–like behaviour, Claudio refuses to marry Hero. Believing himself to have been cuckolded, he humiliates his bride before a shocked congregation. Hero promptly faints, understandably in the circumstances. The self-righteous pair leaves as Hero regains consciousness, only to be reprimanded by her Father. An angelic and eminently reasonable Jamie Francis (not a rabbit-suit in sight!), in the guise of the Friar, convinces the family to feign Hero’s death in order to exact the truth and Claudio’s remorse. Leonato and Antonio (a considerably aged and suitably kindly Chris Dollman) subsequently blame Don Pedro and Claudio for Hero’s death, and being worthy types, both nobly challenge him to duels. Rather forcefully prompted by Beatrice, Benedick does the same. However, on the night of evil Don John’s dastardly treachery, unbeknownst to all, Super Sleuth Dogberry and his Local Watch (Tim Hutchison, still looking like James Bond in his good cop role, and Iain Simpson, being bad cop in his sunglasses) have apprehended a repentant Borachio and accomplice Conrade (Angus Brown). The Sexton (Mareike Oldemeinen in Prime Suspect mode with clipboard) appears with the curiously Clouseau-like Verges (Rory McElearney) and decides to bring the matter to Leonato’s attention. Despite the fact that the accused is implicated in a manslaughter case Dogberry, master of malapropisms, is at pains to make much of the fact that the plaintiff ‘did call me ass,’ wishing it to ‘be remembered in his punishment.’ A task force is despatched to capture baddie Don John, who has sensibly taken the precaution of fleeing the city. Borachio and Conrade’s treachery is revealed to Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio. Leonato kindly invites Claudio to ‘be yet my nephew,’ and marry his niece. Claudio (rather shallowly, I thought) agrees. The repentant Claudio is pleasantly surprised when the cousin in question turns out to be none other than his beloved Hero. Benedick and Beatrice finally get together and harmony is restored.This page is: Edinburgh Academy / curriculum / drama / gallery.htm
