Theatre For All

MICHAEL EMANS, the Artistic Director of Rapture Theatre, tells the Arts Journal about the company as they prepare to embark on their first Highlands and Islands tour
 

RAPTURE THEATRE was founded in 2000, and we took the name of the company from a play called ‘The Secret Rapture’, which focuses on moments of enlightenment, and heightened states of awareness. Our main remit is to bring new work to Scotland, and let the Scottish public see it through extensive tours.

These are usually works that have had a life or won awards elsewhere, be it England or Ireland or America or whatever. They include plays like ‘Twisted’, ‘Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune’, ‘Proof’ and ‘Misery’, and our current touring production, Joe Penhall’s ‘Blue/Orange’.

We aim to reach big established theatre venues like the MacRobert in Stirling or Dundee Rep Theatre, but also small scale venues and community venues. With this tour we are visiting 28 venues, which is one of the biggest touring schedules of any Scottish company this year.

This will be our biggest tour so far – the last two were around 20 and 22 or 23 respectively, so this one is that bit more extensive.

It also includes a Highland leg for the first time, and we are very excited about that. We hope we can tour the Highlands more regularly in the wake of this. I am a committed believer in theatre for all, and I’m passionate about taking theatre around Scotland, from the Borders to the Highlands and both coasts, and getting out to venues where there isn’t necessarily a regular access to theatre.

We find there is always a great response in that kind of venues – people can’t always make it into the cities to see these things, and it is wonderful to give them access to it.

‘Blue/Orange’ was premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2002, and the critics were unanimous in their praise – it’s fantastic entertainment for Scottish audiences, and we look forward to welcoming many members of local communities to our production.

“I believe this production will cement Rapture’s reputation as a quality Scottish touring company.”

It is a really well-written play, and we are delighted to be touring the Scottish premiere production of it. We have a very high-profile cast of acclaimed actors on board in Jimmy Chisholm, Greg Powrie and Christopher John Hall. It is a three-hander, and I think that is one of the benefits of the play – it makes it very intense and concentrated, but it’s very funny as well.

Christopher John Hall has worked at the National Theatre and at the Globe in London. Greg Powrie has worked just about every theatre in Scotland, and of course Jimmy is a bit of a Scottish theatre legend. I think they were all attracted by the quality of the script, which is very high, and they loved the idea of the play and what it signified.

The play is really a battle of wills between two doctors looking after a patient who believes himself to be the son of infamous dictator Idi Amin. Jimmy plays a senior doctor who has been around in the profession for quite a while, and believes that he knows the ropes. He takes a younger doctor (Greg) under his wing, and they clash over the patient. That clash then becomes more personal, and you realise that the doctors have their own agendas.

It is a play where you change your perceptions of what is happening every ten minutes or so, and in that way it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

We have kept the staging fairly simple. This is the first time we have used a proper set, and it is looking a treat. It has to adapt to a lot of different venues, and with that in mind we have two versions of it, a bigger one and a smaller one.

I believe this production will cement Rapture’s reputation as a quality Scottish touring company. When you consider that we are one of the smallest of Scottish companies, and have only recently been awarded project funding for this project – in other words, we are not one of the better-funded companies – I think that makes our achievement even greater.

Our next production in the autumn will be a play called ‘Damages’ by Steve Thompson, and we plan to bring that to the Highlands and Islands as well.

‘Blue/Orange’ can be seen at the following Highlands and Islands venues:

(Michael Emans spoke to Kenny Mathieson)

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005

• Rapture Theatre website