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The RSC's Mobile Touring
Theatre or How To Make A Real Theatre Out Of A Sports Hall.
What? | How? | What
is it Like? I Who thought it Up? | Where
is it going in Britain? | Reviews of the two tour
production in 2033
What is mobile theatre? A banal item of bedroom
furniture transported little Lucy into an enchanted icy world in The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe. How did she feel as she stepped through a
mirrored wardrobe into the night time snow of Narnia in C.S. Lewis's classic
children's tale?
If you buy a ticket for a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) mobile tour
production, you can get pretty close to understanding how the wide-eyed
young girl must have felt. They transform admittedly worthy, utilitarian
buildings and arenas into fantasy worlds where theatrical dreams can come
true day and night. Five 45 foot articulated lorries, bring the whole
show, over 50 tonnes of equipment, including everything from the auditorium,
seating, costumes and set, to the tea-urn and the washing machines.
When the RSC Mobile Tour swept into Glasgow, it descended on a decidedly
unattractive, yet eminently popular local facility - the Barrhead Sports
Centre. Ostracised somewhat on the periphery of Scotland's largest city,
Barrhead is the home of a secondary school, housing estates, and East
Renfrewshire Council's headquarters. But thanks to the RSC, it became
a veritable epicentre of neo-Elizabethan suburban renaissance.
How? - As company manager, Richard Clayton is
responsible for assembling the theatre, which involves some heavy-duty
hands-on work. Richard, who turns 30 in June, said, "We travel with
15 support staff who turn up on the Monday, and we work with 14 local
staff provided by the venue. There's five lorries worth of stuff we have
to unload and build, and we work from 2pm to 1am on the Monday and then
from 9am to 7pm on Tuesday.
A lot of that time is taken up with sorting out lighting rigs. We place
a black carpet on the floor and bring in the lighting rig in five metre
long sections, bolt all that together and hoist it up. The black curtains
around the theatre hang from posts attached to the back of the seats.
Then the set goes in, but there's nothing quite so structural about that.
It's a conscious design by Peter McKintosh and Ti Green - the red stage
draws the eyes and compliments the costumes and is used for both productions."
When I said that it was clearly hard work this transformation, Richard
nodded, "I'm working 80 to 90 hour weeks, so there's no time for
anything else, but we do have a lot of on-going relationships with staff
at venues across the country and that's very rewarding."
I asked about how the actors change in out of their costumes, the exact
same ones as those used when the production opened in Straford. "We
have have little change areas in black out spaces, but that's not always
possible, so sometimes actors are changing in corridors! "
What is it Like? And is it worth it? Well
stepping into the theatre to see The Merry Wives of Winsor is like slipping
into a dream world. One where all the action takes place on a blood-red
stage in a night time cocoon of black curtains. The simplest tribute to
the understated ingenuity of the RSC Merry Wives' set one can pay is to
say that it heightens the effect of the sublime text. And judging by the
approving smiles and comments from fellow audience members, I clearly
wasn't the only one who felt this way.
Richard had told me that " We're basically trying to bring the RSC
to people who won't travel to Stratford or London. We get lots of school
groups and people in the community who would never think of coming to
see us." And the RSC for the last years have been bring the opportunity
of seeing an full RSC productions to Sports halls and conference centres
across Britain. Having seen the transformations they bring both with the
theatre and on the stage with top quality productions it's clear when
the RSC mobile theatre comes your way you'll get the full authentic RSC
theatrical experience brought close to your doorstep. It's a considerable
achievement.
Who thought it up? Trevor Nunn, Sir Ian McKellen
and Jack Phipps of the Arts Council of England were the visionaries. In
1977 they met to discuss the lack of classical theatre provision away
from the large cities.The first tour began in 1978 with productions of
Twelfth Night and Chekhov's The Three Sisters, starring Ian McKellen.
Since then the company have toured over 30 different productions in its
state of the art mobile theatre both here and abroad. They've gone to
over 120 different British towns and cities in the past 20 years. Increasingly
the company has been invited to perform overseas and last year audiences
in China (the first time the RSC has ever played China), Japan, Kuala
Lumpur (another first time visit for the RSC) and America saw The Merchant
of Venice. And out of the back of five vans, travelling players bringing
theatrical dreams to life indeed.
© Andrew Clark 18 April 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
For more information on the Royal Shakespeare Company as a whole see their
website.
Reviews
of the two RSC productions touring with the mobile theatre
in 2003 - The Merry Wives of Windsor and Coriolanus.
Review of Midnight's
Children an RSC production coming to conventional theatres in Aberdeen
and Glasgow with details of dates
Tour Details of RSC productions touring with
the mobile theatre in 2003 - The Merry Wives of Windsor and
Coriolanus. .
Tour begins
4 - 8 Feb Northallerton Hambleton Leisure Centre Stonecross 01609 777070
11 - 15 Feb Warrington Birchwood Leisure Complex 01925 442345
18 March - 22 March Ollerton Dukeries Leisure Centre 0115 419419 or 01623
862469
25 - 29 March Dorchester Dorchester Arts Centre at the Thomas Hardye Leisure
Centre 01305 266926
1 - 5 April Glasgow Barrhead Sports Centre 0141 5774970
8 - 12 April Sunderland Seaburn Centre 0191 5141235
22 - 26 April Portsmouth The Mountbatten Centre 023 9269 0011
29 April - 3 May Sandwell Haden Hill Leisure Centre 01384 812812
6 - 10 May Burgess Hill The Triangle 01444 876060
13 - 17 May Spalding Castle Sports Complex 01775 725031
20 - 24 May Kendal Leisure Centre 01539 729702
27 May - 31 May Truro Hall for Cornwall 01872 262466
London at Old Vic 3 June - 24 August 2003 Booking from 28 April
onwards on RSC Ticket Hotline number: 0870 609 1110
Tour ends
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