David Tennant and Gregory Doran were interviewed by Mark Lawson
on BBC Radio 4’s arts show Front Row this evening about their preparations for
the new Royal Shakespeare Company production of Richard II.
Mark Lawson mentioned that he had read that David turns up
to rehearsals having learned all of his lines and one all of the work. In that
case what else does he have left to do?
“I wish that were true,” responded David “I suppose the sooner
you know the lines the better I think because it allows you to play with it
which, particularly with classical texts, it’s about wrestling them into your
own kind of soul, really. It’s about finding away that those words feel they
come from you. It’s partly through repetition, partly through investigation and
partly through experimentation in the rehearsal room.”
Greg added, “We take the text around the table and nobody
speaks their own lines for however long it is and we put it into our own words.
And somebody will say something which will explain a line in a way I’d never
thought of it before. And it also means that people kind of invest in the
production because their contribution is a collective understanding of the
whole play.”
Mark Lawson had watched a rehearsal of Act 3 Scene 2, where
Richard loses his power and was intrigued by mention of improvisation and how
that had helped the development process
David explained, “We just ran through the scene without
staging it where we used what we could find in the rehearsal room to
physicalise what we were talking about – other company members, chairs and prop
swords, whatever else that felt appropriate within the moment – again just a
way of unlocking the words really.”
Greg reminded David that at one moment he had built himself
a defensive ring of plastic chairs
“With two weeks to go before we go on stage,” joked David, “That’s
how I’d like to spend my life.”
Mark moved on to the political context of the play and how much
David believed it still relates to modern politics, especially as he had
recently played a cabinet minister in The
Politician’s Husband. Does King Richard act in ways that modern politicians
still do?
“Yes,” agreed David, “And he thinks he’s entirely justified
and right to do the things that he does because he’s been put there by God –
for God, read the electorate -
absolutely, he believes he has the ultimate power and should never be
challenged and I think that’s some thing we can all recognise from the politics
of today.”
Mark mentioned new that audiences were coming to the West End because they had seen many of the stars, like
David and now David Walliams, in other shows such as Doctor Who
David replied, “That’s almost not for me to say. It’s not
something I set out to proselytise about, if that happens, then great. Certainly
with Hamlet there was a lot of talk before we opened the show that there would
be people in some way spoiling it. It’s this weird differentiation between High
Art and Low Art and the two should never mix; the assumption within that being
that Doctor Who is Low Art which I refute, highly. That never happened. It
never happened in Hamlet once. In Much Ado About Nothing it was often quite uproarious
which was led by the play. It wasn’t like I popped out of a blue door and
Catherine Tate came on with a sonic screwdriver and the house roared. If people
want to come and see you in something because they’re interested in your career
because they’ve seen you in something else, then fine. We’re all whores!”
Greg agreed, “The audiences that came in for Hamlet, there
was a sense that they would be rustling their sweet papers when David was off
the stage but that never happened so that must be evidence of that.”
“Doctor Who fans tend to be rather intelligent, so you don’t
have any worry about Doctor Who fans spoiling and audience,” added David
Mark moved on to the live broadcast and whether it would be tackled as screen
acting or stage acting. In acting terms will David just do it as a stage
performance?
“I’ve never done it and I guess you do,” said David “I’ll be
honest, I’m not without some nervousness of it. I think you just have to …it’s
worth a go…”
Well, there’s an audience in there,” explained Greg. “What I
don’t want it to be is a second hand experience of ‘If only I was sitting in
that theatre’ that wouldn’t be a first hand experience. Back at the Barbican we
filmed the production we were doing of A Winter’s Tale and you had to solve the
problem of how the camera was going in for a close up on an actor who was still
trying to hit the back of the Barbican Theatre, and that’s a conundrum in a way.
The trick is not to put backlight, because that’s the only thing that makes you
see all the spit!”
A clip of rehearsals revealed that David will be using an English
accent to play King Richard. Mark commented on the accent and ease with which David
switched between his stage voice and natural accent.
“I suppose I’ve done it quite a lot, it’s just part of the
game I guess. And it’s not an accent I particularly have to reach for, I
suppose because I have used it a lot.” David admitted. “Maybe if I was doing
South African or something I’d be slightly more worried about it. “
Greg was asked about how he balances the dual role of
director of the play and artistic director of the RSC.
He explained, “I had a bit of time to adjust to being
artistic director by myself, but what I’ve got is a fantastic team. Every day
there is something that has to be dealt with, but as long as you can teach
yourself to focus when you’re there, it seems to work so far.”
Finally Mark asked David an apparently easy question – would
he be in the second series of Broadchurch?
David flailed a bit and avoided a straight answer.
“You’d think it was easy, but I have no idea. You’d need to
ask Chris Chibnall. He’s writing it as we speak.”
But was he available? “Um...I..I..I ..I will see what I can
do. The first series I very much enjoyed so I’d like to be involved in series two”
Mark also asked if, with him being one of the few with the knowledge
of the outcome he had been banned from going and placing a bet at the bookies
on the series killer.
“No we weren’t, nobody said that. I thought of it, and I had
friends who strong-armed me,” laughed David. “I think the idea that it might
get traced back to you would play so badly that I think you realise that you
have to be quite careful.”
Richard II will open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on 10th October 2013 and will
run until 16th November 2013. It will then transfer to the Barbican Theatre in London from December
9th 2013 until 25th January 2014. The cast includes David Tennant, Emma
Hamilton, Nigel Lindsay, Michael Pennington, Jane Lapotaire and Oliver Ford
Davies and it is directed by Gregory Doran. Both the Stratford-upon-Avon and London runs are now
sold out.
The production will be filmed and streamed live from the
stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre into cinemas around the UK on Wednesday 13th November, and
subsequently into UK schools
and to cinemas worldwide in screenings running until February 2014.
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