Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
York Theatre Royal’s TakeOver Festival culminates this weekend with the theatre’s company-in-residence Belt Up performing a new adaptation of John Gay’s 1728 masterpiece The Beggar’s Opera. Crafting an image of imaginative and a highly innovative brand of theatre, Belt Up’s success has moved from strength to strength after the founders graduated from the University of York in 2009. With their first ever British tour, extensive runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and performances at The Southwark Playhouse in London, the company are now facing perhaps their most challenging role yet with their first-ever attempt to take on a full scale musical. I spoke to the director Alex Wright and assistant director Joe Hufton, along with James Wilkes who adapted the piece to find out more about this exciting new project.
Can you tell us the basic plot of The Beggar’s Opera?
The Beggar’s Opera, or how we’ve chosen to interpret it, tells the story of a group of 1980s political activists putting on a play as a response to what was happening to the Arts world during the 1980s. And the play they put on is a “version” of Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera which was originally performed in 1728. Like the original, it focuses on a man called Mr Peachum who has lost all his money and so, to pay off his debt he decides to sell off his daughter Polly for profit. Although, what he doesn’t realise, is that Polly has secretly married one of Peachum’s thieves, the notorious Macheath. Peachum then sets the whole country against Macheath, trying to arrest him and have him executed but obviously he can’t do that himself because of Polly. So he sets this sort of defamation campaign against Macheath eventually landing Macheath in prison. What we see then is a continual mix of escapades following Macheath’s time in prison.
What inspired you to update it?
J.W: Because the original was so much about the political climate of 1728, we thought it was a bit odd trying to make that relevant. We were faced with a contextual chasm that we had to leap so we thought we would make it about politics today, or rather 1988. Our reasoning for this may see complicated but there was very similar political theory between our current government and Thatcher’s in the 1980s: we have a government in power who very much want to get rid of a welfare state and also with the coalition and the cuts.
J.H: We found a lot of relevance and a lot of links between 1728 and 1988 - perhaps more than you would expect. 1728 was quite an interesting time. It was the first time an official Prime Minister was used: Robert Walpole, who remained in power for twenty one years and, like our leaders today, proved a very much divisive figure. It was also common for coalitions to occur between Torys and Liberals. The Beggar’s Opera was someone’s first attempt to satirise this and what it reflects upon is what the ordinary people of the time felt during this ever-conflicting government.
The Beggar’s Opera is Belt Up’s first attempt at staging a full scale musical. How are you coping with this so far and are there any challenges you have come across which are new to you?
A.W:It’s different and it’s difficult. There are more problems that you have to deal with that may not have been so apparent before, such as people losing their voices. But it’s exciting. Really exciting. It’s always good to challenge yourself as a company and challenge the way you work and try and find new ways of doing things and push yourself. A few members have never sung in public before or indeed even acted and it’s great to find work with such a range of performers.
J.W: I’m playing the character of Macheath and it’s the first time I’ve properly sung in public so I’ve had to learn to sing with the assistance of Dan Wood, our musical director, but I’ve had to learn quickly.
J.H: It has sounded really good actually. Really amazing. The last couple of days has really seen the musical element of the show come together. The thing is a lot of us were OK with musicals before but this was a brand new musical. Nobody has heard this music before which is exciting and terrifying. It’s exciting for such an amazing opportunity and if it’s not working we can change it but equally it’s tough because you don’t know what people will make of it.
Do you find the musical theatre element makes it more accessible?
J.W: Political satire can go hand in hand with musical theatre. It’s a good way to deal with serious issues. When people sing you strip away at it all. It makes you look at the meaning in a completely different way.
A.W: Also, more people listen to music than go to the theatre.
J.H: The Beggar's Opera was the first musical. It really started the notion of a musical in a way that hadn’t really been done before. It was the huge success of the original production in 1728 that actually provided the funds to bring about what we now know as The Royal Opera House.
What typical Belt Up things can the audience look forward to?
J.W: Meta-theatricality, very self-aware performers. All our shows are meta-theatrical. It has become kind of our signature I suppose. There’s also the added use of anarchic performances and it won’t at all go smoothly due to heavy amounts of improvisation on the night. It’s going to embrace live theatre and take advantage of that and of course the actors will be sharing the same space as the audience at moments. There’s also a few new things but we’re keeping that a secret.
How are you finding the rehearsal process?
J.W: Good. It’s the longest rehearsal process we’ve ever had which is odd. We are usually used to working fast rehearsing multiple shows at the same time.
J.H: With a lot of our shows you get to a point where you can’t do any more until you get an audience. In this show there is a lot more to do before we get to that point such as perfecting the singing and working with a musical director.
Where do you see yourself going after your stint as company-in-residence at York Theatre Royal?
A.W: Straight after The Beggar’s Opera we go into rehearsals for Macbeth which we will be performing in an underground prison in London.
J.W: The character of Macheath was actually originally based on this guy called Jack Shepherd who haunts the prison where we will be performing it.
A.W: We’re back to York Theatre Royal in the summer when we’re working with the ensemble theatre and then, after that, we have so many plans in the mix but nothing definite as of yet.
Are there any other companies or people who have directly inspired you?
A.W: I’ve always been inspired by people who just get up and do things. Just get up and do some plays. There’s a lot of companies at TakeOver - Rash Dash for instance who are currently performing their new play Another Someone in the studio space. What I find inspiring are people who haven’t had loads of Arts funding and have managed to make something from whatever they can find. York Theatre Royal and TakeOver is such a brilliant way to bring in younger people to theatre introducing them to such a wide range of ideas and keeping it as accessible as possible.
J.W: As for The Beggar’s Opera, you have to remember that John Gay was satirising the political figures at the time. We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from old comedy shows like Spitting Image and the alternative comedy scene that was happening in the 1980s.
Do you have any advice for those wanting to go into the industry?
A.W: Make work. You can make work with surprisingly little money and we always do. Be ballsy and go and do it and try and get people to come and see it. I think for us we’ve always just made work. We’ve never really thought about how; we just think we’ll go there and do it. Some things may go wrong but I’ve never thought sh*t. I’d never change anything. You have to take some risks.
Why should people come and see The Beggar’s Opera?
J.H: I think it’s very relevant. It’s our first attempt at doing political theatre of any description and I think it’s really relevant for now. What’s going on in society and politics now and, in particular, student politics and issues affecting students. I think that, especially in terms of your audience, that is the reason they should come and see it because it is incredibly relevant to them and to student protests and student fees and to all those things and government cuts and everything, even though it’s not explicitly mentioned. I think that’s a really good reason to come and see it.
A.W: The reason it is so important is the reason we’re doing it. We wouldn’t have met and formed and created all this theatre without going to university. If you’re going to be paying £9,000 a year it’s going to be difficult especially if you’re doing an Arts degree. People can reflect on the show and realise how important it is to have these attitudes.
J.W: It’s a very positive thing in that so much of what’s been represented in the current political climate is so negative and so fear-mongering and that’s kind of a resolve. All of those things you read about and worry about and we’re told to be scared of we just start poking fun at. Yet, ultimately, the conclusion of the show is what you make of it and what you can change and what you can do to change it and hopefully it’s going to encourage people to not accept the rubbish that is thrown at us and ask yourself are you going to do something about it?
J.H: It’s going to be f**king fun as well. It’s going to be a really fun three nights where anything can happen and I think that hopefully the fun that we’ve had doing it and researching and all that, if we can convince even half the audience of that it will be great.
J.W: I think what’s important is that although it’s quite provocative, no matter what you believe, no matter what kind of politics you follow, no matter what religion you are it’s an accessible piece, an entertaining piece and even if you don’t agree with the content you can still enjoy it!
The Beggar’s Opera runs from the 24th – 26th March, 7.30pm at York Theatre Royal with a 2.30pm matinee on the Friday and Saturday. Make sure you get your tickets now for what promises to be an exciting and highly provocative piece of theatre from one of the country’s top new young theatre companies!
http://www.beltuptheatre.com/
http://www.takeoverfestival.co.uk/
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