Arts > Interviews
Directors of Twelfth Night @ Maddermarket Theatre
Maddermarket Theatre
16/05/24
Shakespeare: a great from the world of theatre whose work has inspired generations of actors and actresses to take to the stage for the first time, and whose plays have been entertaining many of us for hundreds of years. This month, you can witness the beauty of Shakespeare for yourself as the Norwich Players Theatre Company bring their production of ‘Twelfth Night’ to the stage of the Maddermarket Theatre between the 21st and the 25th May!
A few weeks ago, I caught up with Director Tony Fullwood and Assistant Director Phil Davey to give us a backstage pass into their production of ‘Twelfth Night’!
· When/ how did your love for theatre begin?
(Tony) I acted in productions at school and university and I read English for my degree so theatre has long featured prominently in my life. I have been to the theatre a lot!
· How long have you been directing plays for?
(Tony) I taught in schools for about 35 years where I directed many plays with 13- to 18-year-olds. Since I retired, I have relished the opportunity to work with actors of all ages – my last Maddermarket play featured an 18-year-old and an 80-year-old. This will be my 10th major production at the Maddermarket.
· What can we look forward to when ‘Twelfth Night’ comes to the stage of Maddermarket Theatre this month?
(Tony) Twelfth Night is both very funny and very cruel. There is love and there is pain and humiliation. There will be plenty to laugh at but we bring out the darker shades of the play too, showing there are both winners and losers – those who find happiness and those who are denied it.
(Phil) Twelfth Night is a play for today in its bitter-sweet comic exploration of love, desire, narcissism and gender identity. The plot unravels, as in Othello, though with less tragic consequences, to show how we know what we know: how we interpret, or as in Othello, profoundly and fatally misinterpret, what we see, hear or read. In Twelfth Night, there are no murders, but the interplay of fantasy, imagination and false reasoning can lead to hilarity and deeply vengeful cruelty, sometimes both at once, madness and mortality only one laugh round the corner. In an age of deep fakes, the play’s early seventeenth century comic scepticism about the limits of human knowledge and reason is resonantly contemporary.
· How did you approach directing this play?
(Tony) My motto for our production is ‘The place is imaginary; the time is now.’ The play’s action and language centre on the sea so we have set the play on the shoreline of Illyria – a place that stopped existing long before Shakespeare chose to set it there. Characters dress accordingly.
I believe this play speaks powerfully to our own times. It is about shipwrecked twins who are separated and think they are alone in the world – refugees in a foreign land. We link their story with that of today’s refugees: the feelings of loss and suffering characters feel in the play with what is shown on the news this evening.
(Phil) After auditions and cast selection, the aim of this production has been to give the actors the time and space to explore freely their characters and their relationships both with other characters and the audience. Certain decisions have been directorial prerogative: the modern-day costume and setting, the inversion of the first two scenes, and, particularly important, the use of mobile phones rather than letters for messaging at key points in the plot. For the rest, direction has been a process of facilitating the actors in their exploration of their role rather than dictating how to move, gesture and voice their lines. Warm-up games and exercises before each rehearsal have been crucial in building trust and confidence: a spirit of ensemble. In rehearsals, actors have been encouraged to experiment: “try it out” is the key phrase. Each variation is discussed and noted for further exploration in future rehearsals, only being “fixed” as the first night approaches. This process of empowering actors to “play” together and take collective responsibility for their performance in the presence of an audience is, at least in non-professional theatre, at least as important as the performance itself. Therein lies the pedagogical power of theatre in a world of mechanical reproduction and screened mass media
Two interconnected principles have informed the development of this production: the first being that Shakespeare is for today; and the second that Shakespeare is for actors and audiences, not directors.
· What impact do you aim to have on audiences who watch your production of ‘Twelfth Night’?
(Tony) We want them to enjoy themselves, to laugh at and with the characters but also to reflect on how what is billed as a romantic comedy has much more besides. We want to bring this play world, which may seem fanciful and escapist, close to
our real world where happiness and suffering, inclusion and exclusion so often sit side by side.
· What do you believe is the most important message/ theme in this play?
(Tony) It has many themes but identity is perhaps the most prominent. Characters disguise themselves (and their gender) and try out being other people. For some of them, this leads to self-knowledge, to discovering who they really are. It is also about desire, about how little control we have over whom we are attracted to, how love is deceptive and elusive, brings joy and pain and can make us act recklessly.
· How important are the relationships you craft with the cast during rehearsals?
(Tony) They are central to how I work. When an actor says to me: ‘How should I do/say etc. this?’ My usual reply is: ‘I don’t know. Try it.’ Theatre is an ensemble activity; we make the play together and our Twelfth Night will be different from any there has ever been.
I have enormous respect for actors. They take risks every time they step into the stage. Equally important is the stage crew. Without them nothing will happen.
· What importance do you believe Shakespeare’s plays have in our world today?
& Why do you believe Shakespeare has become an iconic name in the world of theatre?
(Tony) Shakespeare’s plays are always about then – the world he wrote in - and now – our world. His plays are performed round the world every day and speak to many cultures because he deals with human fundamentals such as power, identity, relationships and powerful feelings. His plays tell human stories in some of the richest language ever written. They are kept alive in performance because every production is about its own ‘now’.
· What power do you believe theatre holds?
(Tony) It is live. Real people perform in front of real people. It is dynamic and present in the moment for both actors and audience. Therefore, every performance in a production is different.
· What do you love most about the community at The Norwich Players Theatre Company/ Maddermarket Theatre?
(Tony) Theatre is the most co-operative of art forms. Everyone who volunteers at the Maddermarket – on stage or behind it – is essential to its identity and its continuance - and that is our strength.
· What advice would you give to anyone wanting to enter the world of theatre (directing, acting etc)?
(Tony) Get involved. Covid-lockdown presented live theatre around the world with enormous challenges. At the Maddermarket it caused a total reinvention of the theatre’s operations. We are now entirely volunteer-managed and run. To keep going we needed to attract new volunteers to work with us. Come along: play a part in keeping this unique venue open and find what you can contribute to it as you explore and develop your own talents.
If you want to keep up to date with the work (and amazing productions!) of Maddermarket Theatre, then you can head to their website, at- maddermarket.co.uk, or check out their Instagram (@maddermarket_theatre)!