Bell Shakespeare plans for bright future
When is a season launch not a launch? Perhaps when the plays have already been announced (Macbeth, Othello and The Government Inspector); the new "development" project is still semi-under wraps and there's not much to say about it; and there's no scandal or disaster shrieking to get out. ("It's no secret 2005 was pretty rocky, we ended the year more than $400,000 in the red but we turned it round and last year we were $650,000 in the black," says general manager Jill Berry.)
So, instead of pulling threadbare rabbits out of hats and trying to wow the gathering, in their 17th year of taking Shakespeare to the nation, the top people from Bell - the man himself plus the effervescent Berry, his new associate director Marion Potts and a sprinkling of actors and admin types - are able to simply talk about what they do and their hopes and fears for the future. It's a novel approach.
Macbeth is seen as a dangerous play, Bell muses. And of course, with the number of swords and daggers, evil incantations and murderous intentions flying about, it often is. But said John Bell, "I have an idea it's for different reasons. It's always been a popular play with audiences, so in the old days, if a company was doing badly they'd program Macbeth and the actors would think - uh oh, there goes the pay packet. So that's why it's regarded nervously by actors."
Not that Bell Shakespeare is in trouble, he went on. Far from it. The production features Sean O'Shea and Linda Cropper as the homicidal couple.
Next in the season is the company's first ever production of Othello. First ever because John Bell was adamant that it could not be staged until a black Australian actor of the right age and calibre was available to take the role. "And we've found the actor in Wayne Blair," said Bell. And Marcus Graham will play Iago with Leanna Walsmann and Desdemona and associate Marion Potts directing.
Of the role of the tragic Moor, Wayne Blair says, "It's a real privilege, I can't say how much I'm really looking forward to it."
Bringing some laughter into the mix is The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. But this classic comedy of corruption and bureaucracy in a small town is being turned inside out by playwright-director Roger Pulvers. The 19 characters of Gogol's original will be played by just two of the most gifted actor-comedians on the Bell books: William Zappa and Darren Gilshenan.
The most potentially far-reaching initiative for this coming year is the scholarship program for 12 teachers from regional and remote Australia. Teachers will come to Sydney for a week's intensive workshops with the company. They will eat, sleep, talk and watch Shakespeare - in rehearsal, in discussions and sessions with the actors and directors. Then take back their new experience to share with pupils and communities alike.
Further expansion will come in the form of the enhanced primary school program which takes actors to the schools in a mutual education experience. Young audiences have the chance to see topflight theatre in their own backyards - especially written and adapted for them; while young actors experience a year of intensive on-the-job learning as they travel the country, sometimes doing three or four shows a day.
Macbeth opens at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House on March 13 then tours nationally. Othello opens at the Civic Theatre Canberra on May 16 then tours nationally. The Government Inspector opens at the Civic Theatre, Canberra on September 12 then tours nationally. For more information: www.bellshakespeare.com.au.
