What Bard in the Botanics means to Nicole Cooper

Actor and Associate Artist, Nicole Cooper (Hamlet, Coriolanus, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Timon and many, many more) has written a beautiful account of what makes Bard in the Botanics so special to her - and it's made us incredibly proud and more than a little bit emotional!

There are many reasons why I am sad to be losing the season this summer at Bard in the Botanics. I’m not going to dwell on those. Instead I would like to share some of my experiences and thoughts about working with and for the company. And perhaps demonstrate why they are a precious thing that we need to protect.

Bard in the Botanics (BITB) is unfunded. It didn’t lose its funding like many companies did in the last round of funding applications....it has NEVER had regular funding. Whilst the lack of financial support, so far, may have stopped it from growing into the national company it deserves to be... it hasn’t stopped Gordon and Jen (Associate Director, Jennifer Dick) from making bold, ambitious choices that produce regularly critically acclaimed productions. Be Bold, Be Brave is their motto. You will never see a ‘safe’ production of a classical play with this company.

I met Gordon back in 2009. I had just had my second daughter and I was desperate to see the inside of a rehearsal room. I approached my former teacher, Hugh Hodgart, and asked him to think of me if any of the directors working with his students at RCS needed an assistant. He asked about, and Gordon Barr said he would be happy to have me join him on his production of King Lear.

That’s how we met. I fully expected to just be sat behind the table, observing, but within days Gordon was asking my opinion and including me in the creative process. A generosity and support of emerging artists that is embodied in the Placement Scheme at BITB. A scheme that gives many students their first professional experience. Experience with a classical text, no less - a rare thing indeed!

I was so happy to be at work again and to feel valued in the room but I was also struggling with being away from my two daughters, especially as I was still nursing a 4 month old Bailie. I will always remember Gordon, somewhat awkwardly, helping me find a private and comfortable place where I could use a breast pump! The glamour of being a working mum! We had a laugh about it and our friendship began.

My three children (and other Bard babies) have gone on to become part of the BITB family. Regularly showing up during rehearsals and always being welcomed backstage or behind the scenes. Bard in the Botanics have always considered my family as part of the package of having me!

They have approached every season by asking me what, if anything, I would need to work and be a parent at the same time. Did we need to start rehearsals later so I could do the school run? Did I need a space to feed/change a baby? When I was pregnant with Io and performing in Othello and Julius Caesar, Gordon and Jen went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable and happy with every element of the work we were doing - from the sick bucket backstage (#sorrynotsorry Othello) to Gordon phoning me after rehearsals to make sure that the emotional toil of certain aspects of the story weren’t too much for me.

The company’s support for parents in the workplace brings me to my next point. Women. A few years ago, just before we started a dress rehearsal, I looked out into the lawn to see our production team waiting for the dress to start. Something struck me so I took a photo. An entire row of women. Our Director, Designer, Company Manager, SM, DSM, and the entire wardrobe team were all women. In fact, other than Gordon, the entire creative and production team at BITB are all women. It has been the norm at the company for a very long time.

Several years ago the company made a commitment to 50/50 gender parity in its casting. There was no big song and dance about it. It was the right thing to do, so they did it. A decision which brought us a female Cassius, Coriolanus, Timon, Lear, Hamlet - to name but a few. Back in 2017 we had an entire season dedicated to telling stories from the female protagonist’s point of view: The Headstrong Women Season. Changing the gender of key characters has become a BITB forte. And yet, it never feels like a gimmick but rather, an opportunity to reveal and explore a new perspective of a well-known story. Challenging the audience to hear the same lines that they know, and love being interpreted in a completely different light. We’ve had a male Viola and a male Beatrice (Bertram) too - because that change of perspective works both ways!

Not only that - last year in As You Like It - the stage was filled with couples of every combination. With characters who identify ‘As They Like It.” The message? Love is love is love is love!

There are so many reasons why this company is special. It has been, quietly, leading the way in professional practise, pushing boundaries, exploring gender and sexuality on stage, taking creative risks, and making some of the boldest choices you could imagine. Remember, they don’t have funding. Playing it safe should be the way to go for a company that depends on ticket sales and good weather! But then their motto wouldn’t be: Be Bold, Be Brave!

However, my favourite aspect of the company and far and above its most undervalued element, and best kept secret, is the way in which the work is produced. Nowhere else can any random person sit down and watch a piece of theatre come together.

Last year, during rehearsals for Hamlet, one of the actors, a new member of the family, was a little taken aback by the fact that we were going to be rehearsing highly emotional scenes outdoors, on the stage, in broad daylight, in front of a lawn full of people enjoying the sunshine!

“Are we going to do this here?”
“Yup!”
“Now?”
“Yup!”

It is a baptism of fire, of sorts. It forces you to focus on your work in a completely unique way.

Yes, you have to work on “To be, or not to be” whilst there is some kid playing frisbee as close to the stage as is humanly possible! It’s a ludicrous situation for an actor to find themselves in but it’s also ridiculously rewarding.... because slowly you start to see people stop and watch. And then they move closer, and then they ask to borrow a stool, and then before you know it, they’ve sat and watched almost the whole thing. Sometimes they even sit and listen to the note session after a run! But where else can you do that? Where else can you come and see a scene grow from a first fumbled read to a full on ‘throw everything at it’ run? I have often wondered why there aren’t scores of drama students sat watching us, learning by osmosis.

Working with this company is a gift for an actor. Equally rewarding and challenging.

You are working in an environment that demands so much from you: linguistically, mentally, emotionally, vocally, and even meteorologically! You are dealing with any number of outside factors - busy gardens to rehearse in, heavy traffic on Byres Road during a show, the ubiquitous hovering helicopter and believe me, there is nothing worse than spending the day mentally preparing to play a part, only to have the show rained off and be left with all that pent up energy with nowhere to go!

But we all do it year after year because there is nothing better than feeling the shared intake of breath from the audience on the lawn as they watch a character’s moment of pain. Nothing better than being able feel the focus in the room when there isn’t even a room!
There is nothing better than giggling with the audience when you steal from their picnic whilst hiding from the characters on stage. There is nothing better than working with people who love their jobs and go above and beyond the call of duty to make the work happen for loyal audience members, who will sit in the rain willing it to stop so the show can go on.

I never imagined when I was working as an assistant on King Lear, all those years ago, that BITB would go on to become such an important part of my life, my career. Pushing me far beyond any boundaries that I had subconsciously set myself. I always knew that I wanted to become an actor but I never imagined I would ever play parts like the ones I’ve had the fortune to play with Bard.

I feel extremely lucky to have experienced this company’s forward thinking, exemplary professional practise, concern for its creatives, concern for its audience and I hope, with every fibre of my being, that they have many, many more seasons to come.

Please donate to our "Support Bard in the Botanics" campaign so we can get this brilliant actor and so many other artists back on our stages in the future!