Crescent Theatre Blog

The Crescent’s new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd opened on Saturday 28th May to an enthusiastic audience reaction, play the video above to hear some of the comments at the interval. The show is only on for one week until Saturday 4th June so book now to make sure you don’t miss it.

In my last blog everything about Mary Stuart was still theoretical; I was editing the script, thinking about the staging and the characters were just voices in my head. Now the script is printed and bound, the set design has been approved at pre-production and the cast have been rehearsing for the last three weeks.

My feeling from the start, based on my own shameful ignorance of Tudor history, was that an hour and a half of 16th century politics would be a stretch for an audience if they didn’t recognise the contemporary parallels. But now the characters are inhabited by real, live actors the politics have become secondary to their personal stories.

Consequently I now feel I can chuck out some of my more egregious directorly interventions (but not the orange boilersuit – that stays!) and concentrate on telling the story. I spend rehearsals telling the actors to try everything in rehearsal and then get rid of what they don’t need and I’m in the process of taking my own advice.

Andrew Cowie (director)

One of the best things about directing a play is researching who wrote the play and why, especially if it’s a period piece like Mary Stuart. Mary Stuart, better known as Mary Queen of Scots in this country, was descended from the first Tudor king, Henry VII, and Schiller’s play revolves around hers and Elizabeth I’s competing claims to the English throne. Considering they occupied such a short period in history the Tudors still exert a surprising hold on the popular imagination and last weekend I found myself reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and watching David Starkey’s TV documentary Elizabeth so I’m not short of research material.

Schiller was an 18th century German republican so he had his own take on the 16th century English monarchy. It’s no coincidence that the French Revolution ended in 1799 the year before Mary Stuart opened in Germany; for Schiller, the story of Mary and Elizabeth is a parable about the corrupting influence of power which he witnessed in the French Reign Of Terror and to do justice to his original intentions I want our 2010 production to look for equivalent contemporary political parallels.

So with the production still three months away I’m juggling three separate timelines in my head; the 16th century English monarchy, 18th century European republicanism and 21st century abuses of power. I think some kind of a show is starting to emerge out of all that but in the end the cast will determine most of what the audience sees so the next milestone will be the auditions.

Mary Stuart, otherwise known as Mary Queen Of Scots, is detained without trial on suspicion of plotting to depose Queen Elizabeth I. As pressure builds on Elizabeth to authorise her execution, the supporters of both queens will stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

I am delighted to confirm that I have been invited to direct a new translation of Friedrich Schiller’s fascinating political thriller, Mary Stuart. The parallels with current politics are uncanny; internment without trial, religious fanaticism, a divided Europe and a Government struggling to establish a legal basis to act against a terrorist threat.

The performance dates are 6 – 13 November 2010 and it will be in The Ron Barber Studio. I’ll hold auditions in August but in the meantime you can download the script here

You can also download some background notes on the play here.

Andrew Cowie (director)

On this blog we mostly talk about plays you can buy tickets to but there is a whole other side to The Crescent Theatre including music-making. The biggest-selling show of the year is always the Christmas Wassail and there are regular slots in the season for musicals but the musical director, Gary Spruce, also creates opportunities for people to come together and make music throughout the year, sometimes in public and sometimes not. This recording was part of an educational project to encourage young people to make music which included a jazz band, a skiffle band and solo singers. This piece is Palestrina’s Alma Redemptoris Mater sung by members of The Crescent Theatre in St Paul’s Church in The Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham. If you’d like to hear more then the same people will be singing in the Christmas Wassail and if you’d like to join in then please apply to join the theatre through the membership page.

Thomas Middleton’s and William Rowley’s classic tale of desire and revenge is at The Crescent Theatre from 8th to 15th May 2010.

Slightly ahead of schedule the Hamlet billboard poster went up on the morning of Tuesday 16 February and Gary the billposter created a lovely piece of street theatre in the glorious Spring sunshine while he was doing it. In case you can’t place where it is, it’s on the corner between the Birmingham Markets and The Arcadian so go and see the billboard for free and then buy a ticket for the show!

Rehearsals are now well under way for Hamlet, last performed by The Crescent Theatre company in 1989. This is Alan K Marshall’s first production at the theatre since his stunning Macbeth in 2000 so it promises to be something special.