Gatehouse Theatre
Stafford
22/6/05

by Angie

For fans of Bruno Langley, finding out that he would be performing the lead role of Romeo at the Stafford Festival Shakespeare this summer was great news. An equally famous young face from the soap world, Scarlett Johnson, was soon revealed as his Juliet.

As the event draws closer, anticipation mounts, and the announcement of an Open Doors session inviting members of the public to quiz the cast and production team behind the open-air theatre production seemed too good an opportunity to miss. So, I set off to the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford, armed with notebook and a long list of questions!

As it happened, I didn't get the opportunity to ask my questions, but they, and many other subject areas, were covered fully at the hour-long event.

Because this report is for a Bruno Langley fan-site, I make no apologies that a lot of my observations focus on his role in the proceedings, as I know that is what you are interested in! But the session overall was a very thorough, relaxed and informative insight into what makes a huge production like this tick. The logistics of building a set and performing in the open-air, coupled with the demands on actor and audience alike in ensuring a successful play, are huge. If there is a glue holding this operation together, it is surely the easy rapport between all parties – actors, producers, directors and backroom staff. This came over extremely well at Open Doors, and reinforces my opinion that the final product will be very successful indeed.

Thank you to all concerned for their participation!

The Theatre Studio

I arrived at The Gatehouse Theatre at 3.50 p.m. and was surprised at how small the audience would be for the event – just 24 people. The Studio theatre was small and dark, and extremely stuffy on this hot afternoon! Nevertheless I settled myself down, and waited for something to happen.

The studio was decorated with displays with little A5 handbills (like the website) and huge A1 posters (same pic!) There were quite a few of those large posters up around Stafford as well, I saw several on my walk over to the theatre.

One or two photographers arrived and began checking out the lights and angles. One asked for the names of the panel, and on hearing Bruno's name, said "Bruno who?" He obviously wasn't a Corrie fan then! The Education Officer, Rob Salmon, had to spell out his surname for the hapless reporter!

Meanwhile, a group of young people (mostly girls) sat on the front row. All were chattering about Bruno, and how they'd been following him around town, and how wonderful he was. That made me laugh!!

About 4.05 p.m. the panel arrived through a side door, and took their seats facing us in the small studio.

The full panel was as follows, left to right, facing the audience:

John Brooking - set designer; Freya Coplend - Lady Capulet, Rachel Bell – nurse, Stephen Freeman - producer; Peter Dayson - director, Scarlett Johnson - Juliet, Bruno Langley – Romeo, Ken Gilbert- Friar Lawrence.

So, we got a good turnout of cast and production team.

The event was introduced by Rob Salmon, who also directed most of the questions at the cast and crew.

About Bruno and Scarlett

Bruno was wearing a pale green plain t-shirt, white beads, blue jeans and brown leather flip-flops. He was carrying sunglasses, a bottle of water (which he glugged at frequent intervals, usually just as someone asked him a question!)

He was also carrying a well-worn book, which he opened out on the table in front of him, and he later revealed it to be Romeo and Juliet! I think he thought we were going to test him!

Bruno was rather quiet, and had to be coaxed into answering questions.

I did notice he listened to everything, turned to whoever was speaking, nodded, and mm-ed etc. He's quite an active listener.

It was quite a while before he spoke directly. One of the others (Peter Dayson, the director) kept saying "Bruno, what do you think about that?" to try to encourage him to join in a bit more – and then he answered. Bless you, Saint Peter!

Scarlett was wearing a pink top with blue bra, denim shorts and flip-flops (of course!) She has really long hair that was tied back into a sort of chignon that reached down to her waist. I'm not sure if that was a hair-piece or not, but it could be part of her costume for Juliet.

Scarlett seemed much more outgoing than Bruno. She answered questions at length, and often un-prompted.

They both had an easy manner, and seemed to get on well with each other, and the other cast and crew members.

So, into the actual discussion.

The Set and Setting

Peter and John explained this. Apparently it is quite a novelty for them to do a traditional set, they like to experiment with different time periods.

The stage is set on quite a slope in front of the castle. To get around this, they have built it on 3 levels. They said the actors will need to be fit to get around it, and they are expecting quite a few tumbles if the weather is wet!

All the sets are in the open air, and they are all exteriors. So, if there's an indoor scene it's set in a courtyard or something. (It will be interesting to see where they do the bedroom scene!) There's lots of water, trees, stone and stairs on the actual set – it sounds fascinating. They said it was very "Newstead Abbey" – for those of you that know the venue.

The actors will be dressed in full traditional costume. The biggest problem with this will be people losing shoes in the mud! As there are two "gangs" (Montague and Capulet) the costumes will be in two main strong colours, representing the two houses, so we will know immediately which "side" they are on. People with no allegiance are in neutral colours or a mix of colours. There's no place for any quick changes near the stage so it will just be the odd jacket or accessory.

They are all praying for good weather. They don't usually get it and when Matthew Kelly performed there two years ago they had the worst weather ever.

It can also be too hot, though. When they did Richard III they had to throw buckets of water over the actors as they came offstage to cool them off.

Bruno laughed at this and shouted across to John, "Sure, buckets of water to cool them down, yeah!" sarcastically. It made everyone laugh!

There was a nice discussion about performing in a natural environment. Apparently the first night Toyah Wilcox performed she got bombed by two bats and none of the press mentioned the performances, just the bats! They've also had incidents with rabbits, butterflies and noisy leaves!

Rachel was worried she wasn't thin enough to manage all the steps – apparently her nurse's costume is heavy. Rain makes them even heavier! Ken says it's easier to perform outdoors abroad, at least then you know what to expect.

One aspect was that they would be working half in daylight, half under lights, but that you don't actually notice it getting dark while you are performing.

If it rains the lights apparently dry you out, Bruno fell about laughing at this. His laughs were really audible, more noticeably so then anyone else's.

Scarlett said she thought it was a massive gift working inside nature, she turned to Bruno and said "I was talking about this to you the other day". He nodded in agreement. She says it's wonderful to be able to act "to the heavens."

There was some talk of the difficulty in playing to an audience that is essentially split into three parts, especially as you get fractured laughter at the funny bits. It's like playing in three separate auditoria.

Peter said they like to use the setting as part of the "event". When they did ‘The Scottish Play' (the girls in the audience kept calling it Macbeth, and the panel kept correcting them!) they had battles in the woods on the way up to the castle, and when they did Midsummer Night's Dream, they had fairies in the forest! Apparently there is quite a walk up to the castle, for spectators as well as actors!

Because of its high profile, the play does attract newcomers to live performance. When they did the Matthew Kelly play (The Taming of the Shrew) they carried out some audience research, and 25% of the audience hadn't been to a play before, let alone a Shakespeare play. They are expecting similar figures this year, because of the draw of Bruno and Scarlett, and they said how lucky they were to have them!

John said that Romeo and Juliet is an occasion in itself, as the play is so well known. That moment when Romeo and Juliet lie on the bed, they are literally looking up at the stars. Bruno agreed "Yes, what an experience".

Scarlett said she was really looking forward to "the bed scene." (No comment necessary there, I think!) She also said that she is a bit worried about the audience being so close, being able to see their faces. Bruno agreed, adding "especially the family. Oh my god, there's the family – don't look at them!!"

Peter asked Bruno what about the setting attracted him, and he replied "It's great, the language of Shakespeare is full of nature, it's beautiful to do the play near to nature, and where better than the castle." He added that they'd all been up to the castle for the first time together this week.

The Play

Rob said that everyone knew about Romeo and Juliet. They knew they were young, they knew they were lovers. That's the starting point, what do you bring to the parts from that starting point, Bruno and Scarlett? Bruno had just taken a swig of water, and gestured to Scarlett to answer first!

Scarlett spoke at length about how she hadn't brought any pre-conceived ideas about how she was going to play the part to rehearsals. But as she started to rehearse, she felt that she was going to play a Juliet "with balls" (her exact words!) as she felt that she is seen as too submissive. Bruno laughed and added that "She's a vicious Juliet!

Scarlett explained that she wanted her Juliet to stands up for herself, to be more feisty. She wanted her to remain sympathetic, but feisty.

Bruno said "Good, good, very good" to Scarlett. When Rob prompted him about what he was bringing to the role he said that for him the main point was that he was young and it was first love, so he was just remembering how he felt about his first crush and was bringing that to the part.

Scarlett jokingly responded that it also helps that "I'm pretty gorgeous" at which point they held hands and Bruno said "Yes, yes, of course!" and reached across with his other hand to give her a bit of a hug. It was all light-hearted, don't read anything into it guys!

Ken said that the parts never get easier, even though he's being playing them for 20 years, he's still nervous. Bruno agrees, "Mmmmm" listening closely to him. Ken talked quite a lot, as Bruno sat next to him I could see him listening and agreeing with him. They seem to get on well, and Bruno is obviously keen to learn from the more experienced actor. Ken talked about the Friar as being in a no-win situation, he was often seen as the bad guy, but actually he was trying to help them right up to the end. He said that in getting into his role he liked to think that The Friar has probably known Romeo and Juliet all their lives and had baptised both of them, so he cares for them and what happens to them.

Freya was asked to comment on the fact that Lady Capulet is an unsympathetic character. She said she was, she did have some sort of a bond with Juliet, but that it wasn't a close bond, she hadn't breast fed her. She felt there was a distance between them, and that she wanted to be a part of Romeo and Juliet's relationship, and is jealous because she feels outside of their special bond.

Rachel (as the nurse) joked about Lady Capulet "She's my baby, not hers!" The nurse, of course, did breast feed Juliet after her own baby died. Rachel was trying to match Scarlett's feistiness in her portrayal of the nurse. Lots of joking between Scarlett and Rachel about who was winning this little battle!

Rachel has never done Shakespeare before either and she said it was "the curviest of learning curves ever!" She said the experience was "fantastic and that the demands of the parts actually hold you up", Bruno nodding in agreement.

Preparing for the Role

The actors were asked what preparation they had done. Scarlett said she hadn't figured anything out before rehearsals, nothing had informed her approach. Peter said that was good, you need to start each production with a blank canvas, not try to repeat previous performances of the play.

Rob commented that both Mercutio and the nurse bring comedy to the play, and asked how the comedy and tragedy are balanced. Rachel said they were "playing it out" for the first time that evening and she'd let him know!

There was some general talk about different audiences affecting how the play comes over. Apparently Friday night audiences are notorious because they've rushed around to get there, and just want to sit back and be entertained, so they are hard to act to, as feedback is limited! A good receptive audience helps the play to succeed.

The actors were asked how they got into Shakespeare, the language, the words.

Rachel said she'd had to work really hard, had spent three weeks learning lines before rehearsals, which she never usually does. "You just have to work!"

Bruno laughed at that. He said, "I'm still doing it now" and points to the book open in front of him. "It's really difficult, I started before we came as my brain can't fit it all in during the rehearsal period. I just have to read, read, read!"

Ken said that it was hard to learn Shakespeare in isolation, what you read in black and white doesn't come over the same in acting it out. When someone else says their words it might be in a totally different way to what you were expecting. (Laughs with Bruno as if sharing a particular memory of that happening!)

Ken said he's reached that week "and everybody has one" where he can't remember any of his lines. You just have to hope that it doesn't happen on the nights of performance.

Peter asked what was the difference in say learning lines for a soap and with learning them for Shakespeare. Scarlett, Bruno, Rachel?

Scarlett said that the first thing she noticed was how long the scenes were. The longest scene she'd ever done in Eastenders was just three minutes talking time (apparently about eight pages of script) whereas Juliet "doesn't stop talking, she just rambles on!"

She said she just used to learn her Eastenders lines in the car each day on the way to work. Bruno laughed and said "whilst also driving" and did a little acting out of how Scarlett would look turning the steering wheel, with a script in hand. That made everyone laugh. Scarlett protested that was before she learnt to drive and someone else was at the wheel!

Scarlett said that the way she learnt her lines for Eastenders was very short term, "Learn it and throw it away, you didn't keep it." She said this was her first Shakespeare but she hadn't been worried beforehand as she thought if she struggled she would just "wing it" (Bruno's face was a picture when she said this – she's a lot more confident than he is!)

She said that "You don't know if you can do it because of the language, you put it up on a pedestal, it's inaccessible, but once you get used to the language it's just like any other play."

We never got to hear what Bruno or Rachel thought about learning their lines in comparison to a soap.

Someone in the audience asked if there was a prompter, like in a studio play. Bruno laughed quite loud at that! Peter said "no, but it is very rare for someone to forget their lines onstage, and if they do they are usually good enough to get out of it themselves, or another actor helps them out.

Only once could he recall such an incident. In The Scottish play, an actor called Nichol Williamson completely dried up whilst alone on stage, and he went to the front of the stage and said "Excuse me, can someone tells me what comes next?" to the audience, and someone did!

There was an exchange amongst the producers about the 24/7 pressure of putting on such a high profile event. There's extra pressure because the play is so well-known, as are Bruno and Scarlett, but they have the best outdoor production in the country, and fantastic profile artists.

The producers task is to get rid of people's pre-conceived ideas about Shakespeare, to make the whole thing fun and accessible. To make it "an event."

Peter said in this day and age it's much cheaper to go to Blockbuster to rent a video, but people are coming out to see Bruno, Scarlett and the others. It's great.

One of the audience told how Rob had been working with the children in school on the play. They can't wait to attend and want to get involved in the fights. Bruno smiling and banging his sunglasses on the table at this!

The kids don't like acting out the kissing scenes, though, and they won't do the bedroom scenes!

Scarlett said how good it was as an actor to be performing before a live audience.

We were getting towards the end.

Rob thanked the panel, said it was going to be a great product and a great event. We all clapped and some of the panel clapped back. Bruno stood up, grinned and applauded us loudly, as did Rachel.

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That's it! I thought the panel might hang around, talk to the kids or something but they filed out quickly. I took a very quick photo, which turned out to be the backs of Bruno and Scarlett as they departed.

I'm really pleased that I went to Open Doors, and that I can share my experience of it with you.

If, like me, you are going to see Romeo and Juliet at Stafford Castle in the next few weeks, I hope that reading this has added to your anticipation of a great evening out "under the stars"!

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