Simon Reade is the producer for Filter Theatre Company in the UK and is also the Associate Producer for Theatre Royal Bath Productions. Some of his notable work include PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Theatre Royal Bath, 2009); Salman Rushdie's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN (2003), Ted Hughes's TALES FROM OVID (both with Tim Supple, 1999), among others. Some of Simon's adaptations such as Michael Morpurgo's PRIVATE PEACEFUL (2008), THE MOZART QUESTION (2008) and TORO! TORO! (2010) are running houseful shows in the UK, Sweden and North America. Mumbai Theatre Guide speaks to him regarding Filter Theatre's maiden visit to India with Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT.(Interview conducted by Nishtha Juneja)
Nishtha Juneja (NJ): How have you envisaged the 16th century Shakespearean tale for the 21st century?
Simon Reade (SR): We approached it as Shakespeare would have approached it 400 years ago, as a new play. It just relies on the actors, words and the language to paint the picture. We don't have any set; Shakespeare would have done it the same way; we have a couple of musicians and we are doing it in modern dress. Shakespeare would have done it in modern dress. But we use all his language because we think it is very understandable, from the opening line, ''If music be the food of love, play on. It is very modern English. It is not difficult and does not need to be translated. That's how we have done it.
NJ: Filter Theatre has been instrumental in using sound and new drama techniques in each of their productions. Tell us about this version of the TWELFTH NIGHT?
SR: Filter Theatre always works with sound and light in tandem with the text. That is a very special and different thing as compared to other theatre companies. We look like a rock band on stage rather than a bunch of actors. The play has so much lyric poetry to make beautiful songs. The characters keep talking about music, singing and sound. And we thought it would be a good way into the play. It means that people will never get bored. Young people think that this is not an attractive play my teacher told me to see, but they become engaged with the story and with the characters in our production.
NJ: You are the producer for the show. What have been your challenges?
SR: The challenge to come to India was that we were stepping into the unknown. We did outdoor theatre, indoor theatre, and spontaneous theatre in front of 7000 children. The biggest challenge was constantly adapting and being on the move. There is also the challenge to stay happy and calm. That is easy to do when we step on the stage. Everybody suddenly remembers why they are here. They are here to make all these people enjoy themselves and ask themselves questions about the themes of the play.
NJ: What has been the response from your audience here?
SR: We are more than satisfied. We have got an unexpected response. It feels nice to get a standing ovation. Some audience members would come backstage and take selfies with the cast members. But interestingly, the audience responded to the text in ways that we have never heard before. There is a whole section where a character talks about heaven and hell. Now in England heaven and hell does not mean that much anymore. We are not a very religious country, I suppose. Whereas here, we saw the audience connecting with the themes. The audience says things out loud, they acknowledge lines, and cheer, and agree with characters when they say something that they believe in. That has been very interesting for us. We really enjoyed playing to students as they have been more open as opposed to traditional/older people. We have had a lovely time playing to school children as they enjoyed our physical comedy and music.
NJ: Anything you would say to your audience?
SR: Although the play was written 400 years ago, it is about how theatre should be. It is about falling in love and being reminded about how it felt to fall in love. To me, this experience helped to discover the joys of imagination and for letting your hair down - forgetting who you are for 90 minutes and simply enjoying the production.
NJ: Any upcoming projects?
SR: After the trip to India, we will be touring America for 9 weeks and the UK for 6 weeks. We are also reviving A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, and that will be ready next year.
*Nishtha Juneja likes to act and write about theatre. Nishtha Juneja is passionate about dance and food and has completed a post-graduate diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute for Communication (XIC).
