20 Years in 20 Weeks - Looking back to Bard in the Botanics 2002

Each Thursday, we're going to be looking back at 20 years of Bard in the Botanics' history - starting with our first ever season in 2002.

Our 2 main outdoor productions that year were a beautiful, period-dress promenade performance of "As You Like It" and a dark, contemporary take on "The Tempest", both directed by original Artistic Director, Scott Palmer.

The company of As You Like It (2002)

Scott also directed our first-ever Kibble Palace production that year, long before our "Lesser-Spotted Shakespeare" Kibble shows became a mainstay of the season. "Kabuki-Titus" was a small-scale version of "Titus Andronicus", focusing on the tragic story of Lavinia and played in the style of Japanese Kabuki theatre. It started at 11.30p.m at night and the 3 actors involved would finish their roles in the other shows in the season before taking on this emotionally gruelling tale - we definitely worked our actors hard in those days!

Lavinia (Johanne Scoular) in Kabuki-Titus (2002)

The final production in the season - "Romeo and Juliet" - marked the professional directing debut of current Artistic Director, Gordon Barr. Looking back, he had this to say about the experience -

"I was incredibly lucky to be given a platform at Bard in the Botanics so early in my career but I remember being terrified - I'd never directed an outdoor performance and really didn't know what I was doing - it was a very steep learning curve and I don't think I'd class it as one of my best shows but it began the most wonderful professional relationship and laid the foundation for my entire career. My abiding memory of that first year was just how much fun we had as a company - working hard & learning how to make outdoor theatre but also having a great social life - we were all very young then and probably spent as much time in the pub as we did rehearsing (not much has changed there!) and formed friendships that have endured to this day - it was a very special time!"

Romeo and Juliet (2002) - Ellie Piercy as Juliet & Lee Scott as Romeo

And the summer season wasn't the end of the work in our ambitious first year. In Autumn 2002, Gordon Barr directed a production of John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi" in the Ramshorn Graveyard as part of the Merchant City Festival while Scott Palmer directed his radical adaptation, "Lear", at Gilmorehill G12. That's a total of 6 productions in our very first year of operations - Bard in the Botanics has been nothing if not ambitious since the beginning!

Lear (2002) - Lear (Paul Gillingwater) with his daughters - Regan (Carrie Westwater); Cordelia (Sarah Chalcroft) & Goneril (Jennifer Dick)

Fun Facts:
- The summer season employed 22 actors in total, including the Bard in the Botanics debut of Associate Director, Jennifer Dick, playing Phoebe in "As You Like it" and Caliban in "The Tempest".

- 6 members of the 2002 company - Scott Palmer (Artistic Director); Sarah Paulley (Season Designer); Pete Searle (Production Manager); Kay Hesford (Stage Manager); Kirk Bage (Actor) & Sarah Chalcroft (Actor) - are still Honorary Associate Artists of the company, recognising the significant artistic contribution they made to the history of the company. We're delighted that, 20 years later, they all remain such good friends and supporters of our work - without the work that they did in that first year, and for many years after, we wouldn't be here today.

- Scott Palmer's dark, radical take on "The Tempest" and his Kabuki version of "Titus Andronicus" made a real statement from our very first season about the company's risk-taking approach to classical theatre and set out a bold, innovative approach which still underpins our work 20 years later. "The Tempest" proved somewhat controversial with the critics but we're certainly not averse to a bit of controversy at Bard in the Botanics - even when they don't get it quite right (one critic vociferously lamented the transferring of "Ariel's epilogue" to the character of Caliban - the epilogue is actually originally spoken by Prospero!)

- "Lear", Scott Palmer's heartbreaking version of "King Lear" focused its attention on a family being torn apart by the burden of caring for a loved one with dementia. This powerful adaptation set the blueprint for numerous other Bard in the Botanics' productions that utilise Shakespeare's plays to shine a light on contemporary issues.

- Ellie Piercy, who played Juliet in the 2002 season while still a student at Glasgow University, has gone on to play a number of leading roles at Shakespeare's Globe, including another version of "Romeo and Juliet" alongside fellow Bard in the Botanics' alum, Richard Madden (more on him in the coming weeks!)

- Bard in the Botanics is recognised for our progressive work on gender representation in Shakespeare - work that has its roots in this very first season which saw a gender balanced acting company and a number of cross-gendered roles, most notably Jennifer Dick's highly praised performance as Caliban.

2002 COMPANY:
John Austin (Actor); Kirk Bage (Actor); Victoria Balnaves (Actor); Gordon Barr (Director); Tim Barrow (Actor); Andreas Beltzer (Actor); Fi Carrington (Wardrobe Supervisor); Heather Cassidy (Actor); Sarah Chalcroft (Actor); Kati Clark (Designer - R&J); Jennifer Dick (Actor); Toni Frutin (Actor); Brian Gardiner (Designer - Malfi); Paul Gillingwater (Actor); Francis Hagan (Actor); Seth Hardwick (Actor); Jane Hensey (Actor); Kay Hesford (Stage Manager); Nina Kirk (Actor); Emma Larrson (Actor); Polly Lister (Specialist Costume Design); Michael Percival Maxwell (Actor); Morag McIntosh (Stage Manager - R&J); Katherine Morley (Actor); Jamie Neil (Actor); Scott Palmer (Artistic Director); Sarah Paulley (Season Designer); Ellie Piercy (Actor); Sarah Punshon (Assistant Director); Lee Scott (Actor); Johanne Scoular (Actor); Pete Searle (Production Manager); Christopher Stevenson (Actor); Alan Thornton (Actor); Kate Varney (Assistant Director); Carrie Westwater (Actor); Simeon Wren (Actor)