20 Years in 20 Weeks - Looking back to Bard in the Botanics 2008
/20 YEARS IN 20 WEEKS
We continue our weekly Throwback Thursdays this week by looking back to 2008 and the beginning of a new era for the company.
After facing the difficulties of 2007 – a summer of bad weather and accumulated financial uncertainty – the company was determined to move forward and make real strides both artistically and organisationally. It must be said that without the support of a dedicated Board of Directors it wouldn’t have been possible. Our voluntary Board of Directors have all shown incredible loyalty and support for the company throughout the years with current Chair, Val Atkinson, having sat on the Board since our very first year – her dedication makes her as much a key part of the company’s success as any performance you see on stage and we would like to take this opportunity to thank Val and everyone who has sat on the Board of Directors across the past two decades – we wouldn’t be here without them!
Fundraising efforts; a reinvigoration of our “Friends & Patrons Scheme” and a new corporate sponsor in the form of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau all helped the company to navigate our way through to a more secure situation than we’d had in recent years and so the stage was set for our 7th annual Bard in the Botanics summer season.
The season opened with Artistic Director, Gordon Barr’s production of “The Merchant of Venice”. The production, led by Sarah Chalcroft as Portia & John P Arnold as Shylock, fully embraced the play’s contradictions to create a complex rendering of the story. Set in 1930’s Europe, the production acknowledged the simmering racial tension and anti-semitic feeling bubbling under the surface that would, historically, produce such terrifying results. In his Director’s Notes, Gordon Barr wrote that “this play throws up more questions than it answers, it has the potential to make us confront our own prejudices just as its characters must do but…at its heart is a plea for understanding and a warning of what happens when, for whatever reason, we lose a sense of our own humanity.” Portia had the last line in this version – “It is almost morning” – and as the strains of “The Clouds Will Soon Roll By” floated out ironically from a gramophone and Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, stood clutching the yarmulke ripped from her father’s head in the trial scene, the audience were left wondering just what that coming morning would bring with it!
The company of “The Merchant of Venice” (2008)
From L to R: Sarah Chalcroft (Portia); Stephen Clyde (Antonio); Nicholas Cowell (Bassanio); Tom Duncan (Gratiano); Jennifer Bates (Nerissa); Roisin Gallagher (Jessica); Stuart Martin (Lorenzo)
Photo credit: Pete Searle
The second show of the season – “Much Ado About Nothing” (directed by Gordon Barr) – saw a promenade production return to Bard in the Botanics for the first time since 2005. The Botanic Gardens became a perfect stand-in for Leonato’s estate and the beautiful 18th century costumes from Designer, Kirsty Mackay, and Wardrobe Supervisor, Fi Carrington, created a fully-realised world in which audiences could bask in the perfectly-balanced comedy & drama of this great play. Beth Marshall returned for her 3rd consecutive season to play Beatrice and was joined, in his first season, by Stephen Clyde as Benedick – both actors would become Associate Artists and play a major role in shaping the artistic identity of the company.
“Much Ado About Nothing” (2008) - Beth Marshall as Beatrice & Stephen Clyde as Benedick
Photo credit: Pete Searle
Our summer school for young people – “B in the Park” – returned for a second year, with directors Jennifer Dick & Sarah Chalcroft creating a new adaptation of “Love’s Labours Lost”, with many of the cast of 2007’s “Twelfth Night” returning to prove just how skilled they had become in performing Shakespeare as they tackled one of his trickiest and most beautiful scripts. Meanwhile, in Stirling, we were delighted to team up with Macrobert Arts Centre to run a second “B in the Park” summer school that led to a vibrant production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, directed by Kirstin McLean.
The company of “B in the Park: Love’s Labours Lost” (2008)
Looking back on 2008, Artistic Director, Gordon Barr, had this to say:
“It absolutely typifies the resilience and spirit of Bard in the Botanics that, after facing a crisis like we had in 2007, the company should then choose to look to the future with optimism & determination – and that really paid off in 2008. The shows felt richer and fuller than ever before, the cast were exquisite and firing on all cylinders and the designs were absolutely stunning. The company had looked disaster squarely in the face and said, no, we won’t buckle under – we’ll come back better and stronger than ever before. It was a thrilling season to work on.”
FUN FACTS:
- The 2008 production of “The Merchant of Venice” was the first to be staged on our purpose built outdoor stage at the end of the Botanic Gardens’ Main Glasshouse – now the regular performance space for the vast majority of our “mainstage” productions. Building an outdoor stage opened up Shakespeare’s repertoire for the company, allowing us to produce plays which had a more “urban” or “city-based” feel, like “The Merchant of Venice”.
- 2008’s Benedick & Beatrice – Beth Marshall & Stephen Clyde – have been partners for many years and their real-life chemistry brought the characters to life in a brilliantly vivid manner. In subsequent years, they were often cast opposite each other in antagonistic roles – perpetual enemies Malvolio & Maria in “Twelfth Night” (2010); warring siblings Prosporo & Antonia in “The Tempest” (2012) but perhaps their most memorable pairing was as the lovestruck Titania and the hapless Bottom in 2011’s 10th anniversary production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – they managed to be both hilarious and sexy, all at the same time!
- Love must have been in the air in 2008 as the season also ultimately led to Bard in the Botanics’ first marriage! Associate Artist, Sarah Chalcroft, met husband Andrew Root that summer when she played Portia and he played Solanio in “The Merchant of Venice” and we were thrilled to be able to share in their wedding a couple of years later.
- 2008 saw us fully launch our Emerging Artist (Actors) Scheme, with 4 recent graduates – Jack Brear, Roisin Gallagher, Stuart Martin & Andrew Root – joining the company. We’re thrilled that they have all gone to fruitful careers – you might have seen Stuart Martin in leading roles in a number of TV series, including “Medici”; “Jamestown” and, most recently, one of the title roles in “Miss Scarlet & the Duke” (he was the Duke, not Miss Scarlet!)
2008 COMPANY:
Gillian Argo (Designer – B in the Park); John P Arnold (Actor); Gordon Barr (Artistic Director); Jennifer Bates (Actor); Sarah Bloomfield (Stage Manager); Jack Brear (Actor); Fi Carrington (Wardrobe Supervisor); Sarah Chalcroft (Actor – Merchant; Director – B in the Park); Stephen Clyde (Actor); Nicholas Cowell (Actor); Jennifer Dick (Director – B in the Park); Elaine Diffenthal (Stage Manager); Tom Duncan (Actor); Roisin Gallagher (Actor); Kirsty Mackay (Designer – Much Ado); Beth Marshall (Actor); Stuart Martin (Actor); Iona McCallum (Wardrobe Assistant); Kirstin McLean (Director – B in the Park); Sarah Paulley (Designer – Merchant); Andrew Root (Actor)
