20 YEARS IN 20 WEEKS

It’s “Throwback Thursday” time again and, after the excitement and triumph of the 10th anniversary, we turn our attention to 2012 and one of Bard in the Botanics’ most difficult years featuring a villain more potent than any of Shakespeare’s creations – the weather!!!

As the company entered its second decade, we looked to the future with a season themed around concepts of discovery, exploration and new horizons under the title of the “Brave New World” season. Physical journeys took the characters of “The Tempest” and “As You Like It” to new locations (Prospero’s island and the Forest of Arden) that revealed something about themselves while the season’s third production, “Romeo and Juliet”, saw its young protagonists encounter new emotional landscapes that would impact their lives forever.

The season opened with Jennifer Dick’s radical new take on “The Tempest”, the first time we had staged the title since our inaugural season back in 2002. The production saw Prospero’s island littered with the flotsam & jetsam of a shipwreck in Gillian Argo’s set design – a landscape inhabited by spirits, led by Ariel and each representing one of the Elizabethan “elements” that make up all matter (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Sulphur, Mercury and Aether). Only Prospero and Caliban were flesh and blood creatures with the spirits taking on all the other roles in the story. In the production’s final act, we suddenly realised the shocking reason behind this. A flashback showed us Prospero’s journey to the island many years ago and we discovered that his infant child, Miranda, had been swept overboard and lost. The whole narrative of forgiveness and reconciliation played out in Shakespeare’s story became a fantasy created by Prospero and Ariel’s magic to give his daughter the happy ending she could never have in reality – an absolutely heartbreaking take on the play. An ensemble of some of Bard’s core acting company (including Nicole Cooper as Miranda, Tom Duncan as Ariel, Paul Cunningham as Caliban & Kirk Bage as Alonso & Stephano) were led by Stephen Clyde, proving as emotionally powerful as Prospero as he had been hilarious as Bottom in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” the year before.

 Meanwhile, Gordon Barr’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” was also haunted by ghosts. In a ruined landscape of wire fencing, junk metal and even a burnt-out car, the one young character left alive at the end of Shakespeare’s story – Benvolio – had to face his survivor’s guilt as the ghosts of those who had died (Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio & Tybalt) confronted him with the events of the past. Five young actors (led by Robert Elkin as Benvolio) each took on one of these young characters while also playing one of the story’s older characters in a production full of the fiery energy of youth. Filled with passion, humour and sickeningly realistic violence, the production was a hymn to wasted youth, failed by their elders and condemned to die in a cycle of violence that was not of their making.

 “The Tempest” and “Romeo and Juliet” were productions that the company are incredibly proud of but both shows suffered incredibly with bad weather – the worst the company had encountered in its history and, empirically, the wettest summer that Scotland and the United Kingdom had seen in the 21st century.

“The Tempest” lost 50% of its performances (our average is 15%!) and would have lost one more if we hadn’t moved its final performance across the road to the venue for “A Play, A Pie & A Pint” at Oran Mor (which by some miracle happened to be free that night – it’s normally booked out by bands months in advance!). It was a crazy move to take the show to a completely new venue with minimal rehearsal time but desperate times called for desperate measures and we really wanted the cast to actually finish the show’s run and for more audiences to have the chance to enjoy this stunning production. One of the unforgettable sights of 2012 was the production team (Artistic Director Gordon Barr, Stage Manager Suzie Goldberg, Associate Director Jennifer Dick and current Festival Manager Sam Ramsay – who wasn’t even working on that season and had only come to see the show that day!) manoeuvring a wooden sailboat across the busy junction of Great Western Road & Byres Road on a tiny trolley in the driving rain. It’s maybe no surprise that the company is now very superstitious about staging “The Tempest” again!

Meanwhile, “Romeo and Juliet” was due to play under the tent canopy that we had used for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2011. This was meant to give shows and audiences some protection from bad weather – unfortunately the consistently high levels of rain that summer flooded the space and made it completely unusable – so much for that idea! The production lost its entire opening week of performances before the decision was made to restage it (with 1 day’s rehearsal!) for the Kibble Palace Glasshouse and move the whole show indoors. The run was extended by a week and every show sold out – so victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat but it was a tough time for everyone!

The weather had improved slightly by the time our final show of the season – “As You Like It” – opened but only just – the entire company were still staring nervously at the sky throughout its run and more often than not, actors were huddled behind trees with extra coats & umbrellas to shelter them from the continued unpredictability of the weather! This promenade production was set in the Victorian period with the Botanic Gardens doubling beautifully as an idyllic Forest of Arden, populated by a host of vivid characters. From Nicole Cooper’s passionate Rosalind to Jennifer Dick’s cheeky Celia, from Kirk Bage’s cynical Jaques to Finlay McLean’s cameo as the drunken vicar, Sir Oliver Martext, every character was individually drawn and given real humanity by 2012’s acting ensemble. In the face of a wet, dreich summer, audiences could at least have their hearts warmed by this tale of community and love triumphant.

 So the summer saw an artistically successful season beset by weather problems – but the year managed to end on a real high as we headed to the Byre Theatre in St Andrews to co-produce our first panto there – “Snow White”!

 Artistic Director, Gordon Barr, had been involved in pantos since he was a child (his dad was a renowned panto dame on the Northern Ireland amateur theatre circuit and Gordon started writing panto scripts at the age of 14) but this was his first chance to write and direct his own panto professionally. A number of Bard core company members (including set designer Gillian Argo, production manager Sam Ramsay and actors Stephanie McGregor, Alan Steele, Tom Duncan & Luke McConnell) made the trip to St Andrews and started a tradition for the company which continues to this day with our annual pantos now as important a part of our work each year as the summer season.

 Looking back on her first season with the company in 2012, Associate Artist, Stephanie McGregor, had this to say:

“I felt so nervous! I remember wondering if I would be able to do it (especially playing an iconic role like Juliet) as it was my first Shakespeare since Drama School but the company were so welcoming that my fear very quickly disappeared. I remember just being able to play in the room without any judgement and if I didn’t understand something, I wasn’t afraid to ask. 9 years down the line, this lovely company have become like my family here in Glasgow.”

 FUN FACTS:

- Other than Robert Elkin (who was establishing himself as a core Bard company member in this his third season), the other 4 young actors in “Romeo and Juliet” – James Rottger (Romeo), Stephanie McGregor (Juliet), Daniel Campbell (Tybalt) & Luke McConnell (Mercutio) - were all making their Bard in the Botanics’ debut, emphasising the production’s focus on the potential of the younger generation.

- Stephanie McGregor would go on to play Juliet in 2 further tours of “Romeo & Juliet” for the company (in 2013 & 2015), giving her the record for the most performances played by an actor at Bard in a single role – she played Juliet for the company in more than 60 performances.

- Since then, Stephanie has gone on to play many major roles for the company and is currently one of our Associate Artists. Her recent roles include Rosalind (As You Like It), Ophelia (Hamlet), Kate (The Taming of the Shrew?), Regan (Queen Lear), Feste (Twelfth Night), Princess of France (Love’s Labours Lost), Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) and her personal favourite, the demonic Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus.

- When working outdoors over long distances, actors often can’t hear their entrance cues – so our Stage Manager, Suzie Goldberg, cues them by means of arm signals. In “As You Like It”, however, the gathering dark in one of the later performances led to some confusion over who was being cued for entrance and Steven Rae’s Oliver managed to arrive in the Forest of Arden at least 2 scenes early. He came confidently bounding down an entire lawn before realising his mistake, slowing down, doing a quick U-turn and bounding straight back up the lawn again without saying a word – just another of the unexpected perils of working outdoors!

- “As You Like It” featured not one, not two but 3 incredibly quick changes all happening at the same time. Stephen Clyde, doubling as Duke Frederick in court and Duke Senior in the forest, and Stephen Grawrock & Steven Wallace, doubling as his lords in both court and forest, (apparently 2012 was the season for actors named Stephen!) were the last to leave the stage in our first promenade space and the first to enter the second promenade space (as completely different characters) – and they only had the time it took the audience to move between spaces to change costume completely. A lot of underdressing and “stripper” trousers (held together by Velcro) made the quick changes possible – they got so good at it that sometimes they even managed to arrive before the audience!

- While many of Bard’s acting company have appeared in our St Andrews pantos, only one has appeared in all 7 to date. Alan Steele made his debut as Nanny Ticklepenny in Snow White in 2012 and has been our dame in every Bard / Byre Theatre panto since – it wouldn’t be Christmas without him!

- “Snow White” would prove to be responsible for our second Bard marriage! Tom Duncan (playing Prince Valiant) and Lynne Jenkinson (playing Mirabelle, the Magic Mirror) met on that show and we were thrilled to celebrate their wedding just a few years later in 2015. They even timed their wedding so that they would be back from honeymoon in time to start rehearsals as Cinderella & Buttons in that year’s panto – now that’s dedication!

2012 COMPANY:

Stephen Arden (Choreographer – Snow White); Gillian Argo (Set Design – The Tempest & Snow White); Kirk Bage (Actor); Gordon Barr (Artistic Director); Phil Bartlett (Assistant Director – As You Like It); Daniel Campbell (Actor); Stephen Clyde (Actor); Nicole Cooper (Actor); Paul Cunningham (Actor); Jennifer Dick (Actor; Director – The Tempest); Tom Duncan (Actor); Robert Elkin (Actor); Gillian Ford (Actor); Chris Fulton (Actor); Suzie Goldberg (Stage Manager); Steven Grawrock (Actor); Simon Hayes (Lighting Designer – Snow White); Carys Hobbs (Costume Design – The Tempest & As You Like It); Lynne Jenkinson (Actor); Deanne Jones (DSM – Romeo & Juliet); Ashleigh Kasaboski (Actor); Kylie Langford (Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor); Beth Marshall (Actor); Luke McConnell (Actor); Finlay McLean (Actor); Stephanie McGregor (Actor); Lindsey Miller (Musical Director – Snow White); Levi Morger (Actor); Iain Orr (Production Manager); Steven Rae (Actor); Sam Ramsay (Stage Manager – Snow White); Socks Rolland (Wardrobe Assistant); James Rottger (Actor); John Scougall (Actor); Marc Silberschatz (Fight Director); Alan Steele (Actor); Steven Wallace (Actor); Alice Wilson (Designer – Romeo & Juliet)