You could be forgiven
for thinking that Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill is
taking a breather. As the Herald exclusively announces Hill's plans
for the Gorbalas-based theatre's autumn season right through to 2014
as tickets go on sale today, Hill is characteristically laid-back.
This despite having just directed his current season's final show, a
double bill of Far Away and Seagulls, a double bill of short plays by
veteran iconoclast, Caryl Churchill.
In fact, despite
appearances to the contrary, Hill is anything but in repose. The
afternoon we meet, Hill is in and out of meetings working on a major
refurbishment dor the Citz's auditorium, set to take place this
summer. He's also working on long-term projects, including developing
new musicals which may see the light of day at some point. For the
moment, however, before looking forward, Hill allows himself a brief
moment of reflection.
“It seems a long time
since the beginning of the season,” he says, “when we did The
Maids, which was exactly the sort of work I think we should be doing
here. It made me feel like we were doing something different from
anywhere else in Scotland, and to have that reason for existing felt
good.”
Hill capitalised on
Stewart Laing's radical take on French writer Jean Genet's rarely
performed play with his own production of Doctor Faustus, a
co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse that inserted two freshly
written acts into Christopher Marlowe's already mighty look at good
and evil. To follow this, where other theatres might fall prey to the
temptation for light relief, the Churchill double bill demonstrated
Hill's ambition for the Citz even more.
His new season looks
set to go even further, opening as it does with a new stage
adaptation by Chris Hannan of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel,
Crime and Punishment. This already announced co-production with the
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, will be Hill's first collaboration since
Hill was in charge of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre and directed
Hannan's reimagining of The Three Musketeers.
“Chris suggested I
should read the novel,” Hill says, “and became excited about
creating a big piece of storytelling. What's great about the novel is
the characters are, not larger than life, because that implies that
they're caricatures, but they announce themselves in the way that
characters in Chekhov do. I knew that would lend itself to a certain
kind of theatricality that Chris and I enjoy, and his version is
brilliant. His version is very much about Raskalnikov as a man who
has removed himself from society, and then re-engages with the world
through his love for Sonya. It's a very moving piece of work.”
Crime and Punishment
will be followed on the Citz's main stage by a new production of True
West, American playwright Sam Shepard's blistering study of two
brothers. In director Philip Breen's first visit to the Citz since
his production of Peter Nichols' play, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg,
one of the brothers will be played by former East Enders star, Alex
Ferns, last seen onstage in a major revival of Tom McGrath's The
Hardman.
“True West is such a
good play, and Sam Shepard is such an amazing playwright,” Hill
observes. “He manages to be really theatrical, but in really
domestic situations. It's good writing, and Shepard has such a sense
of theatre, even though True West is set largely in a kitchen. His
characters have a real mania to them, and there's this scene full of
toasters, and they keep on popping up.”
Inbetween these two
main-house shows, Vox Motus co-director Jamie Harrison will return
from working on the west end production of Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory to open his and fellow Vox Motus director Candice Edmunds'
long-awaited tour of their new show at the Citz. Dragon, written by
Oliver Emanuel, is a co-production with the National Theatre of
Scotland and Tianjin Children's Arts Theatre, and tells the story of
a boy and a dragon living in Glasgow.
“Vox Motus are based
in the building,” says Hill, “so it's nice to have them opening
here, and I think visually Dragon will be amazing.”
Stuart Paterson's take
on The Jungle Book will brighten up the festive season in a
production directed by Nikolai Foster, whose production of James and
the Giant peach is currently on a major UK tour.
“Christmas is always
difficult,” hill says, “in that there are five pantos on in
Glasgow, and we need to do something different. The jungle book is a
real chance to do something that has huge multi-cultural influences.
It's also nice to go back to doing something by Stuart Paterson.”
While their will be no
outright Citz productions in the new year, January will see cutting
edge company Filter visit Glasgow with their radical version of
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
“I suppose I have a
vague connection with this,” hill reveals, “in that Sean Holmes
the director and I were assistants together at the Orange Tree in
Richmond. So I know him, and I know Filter's work, and this is a
riotous, joyful mash-up of the play that's got great heart.”
Holmes' production will
be followed by Scottish Opera's revival of Hill's production of
Macbeth, which continues to highlight Hill's skill at navigating his
way through large-scale work, as well as contributing to a continuum
of Citizens directors who've dipped their toes into operatic waters
in a way that few other directors in Scotland have.
“It just seemed like
a nice thing to do,” Hill says of the revival.
For the first time
since his arrival at the Gorbals almost two years ago, Hill has
opened up the theatre's Circle Studio space for a significant
programme of complimentary events to the main programme. Another
Dostoyevsky adaptation, Notes From underground, will run alongside
Crime and punishment, while a Gaelic language version of Macbeth,
Macbheatha, will appear. Ankur Arts and the Citizens Young Company
will also present work in the Circle Studio.
“I want the Circle
Studio to be about opportunities and development rather than just
getting visiting companies in,” says Hill.
Beyond this, Hill is
currently mulling over plays for 2014.
“I think next year
there will definitely be one, if not two, Glasgow plays,” he
says.Then in 2015 it's our birthday, so we'll be doing something big
for that. Ideally I'd like to get an ensemble together, so there's
still lots to do.”
Tickets for the new
Citizens Theatre season are on sale now.
The Citz 2013/14 Season
– A Primer
Crime and Punishment –
Fydor Dostoyevsky's classic novel about ex student's Raskalnikov's
murder of a pawnbroker was originally serialised in twelve parts.
Chris Hannan;s new stage version should tapm into the story's epic
sensibilities.
True West – Sam
Shepard's play about two brothers is a fine vehicle for charismatic
actors. Alex Ferns follows in the footsteps of the likes of John
Malkovitch, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bruce Willis.
Twelfth Night - Filter
Theatre's version of Shakespeare's play was originally commissioned
by former Tron Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company director Michael
Boyd, and in Lyric, Hammersmith director Sean Holmes' production,
condenses things to a ninety minute tour de force.
The Herald, June 11th 2013
ends
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