LAURA PASETTI, the Artistic Director of Charioteer Theatre, talks about the company’s North by North East touring show, I’m A Shakespearean Character! – Get Me Out of Here!

NORTHINGS: Laura, your show isn’t entirely new, is it?

LAURA PASETTI: No, a version of the show has already been done in Italy, mainly for school audiences, but with some evening shows as well. That version included an Italian actor speaking in Italian, and the show was targeted at students between the age of 12-16 in Italy. More than 3,000 students saw the show during our tour, which lasted for four weeks.

Laura Pasetti (centre, with script) makes a point in rehearsal

NORTHINGS: Is the show we will see on the NxNE tour identical?

LAURA PASETTI: The show in Italy had a different target and a different purpose than the show we will tour now. It was more on the educational level about the language, while the new production for North by North East has a totally different driving force, which is more about the passion, and getting the audience more passionate about Shakespeare, and giving a bit of Shakespeare in the contemporary context of a reality television show.

NORTHINGS: So how will it work on stage?

LAURA PASETTI: The idea is actually to be able to bridge two different worlds that are maybe a contradiction, or even a paradox – the theatrical world of Shakespeare and the reality show. I have to say that I don’t like reality shows, and that is probably the reason why I have chosen this, because I wanted to challenge or tease the audience about that.

NORTHINGS: How do you plan to set the stage?

LAURA PASETTI: The set is very minimalist. There is a boat, made by an artist called Tim Flood, who lives in Forres. It is a little wooden boat, but it has no bottom – it is a theatrical boat, so it represents both the artifice of theatre and is also the means by which they can leave the island. At the end of the show the winner will go into the boat, bring it up, and walk around the audience, so in one way it is like a little toy, and in another it is a magical boat that can transport them.

We also have a chair, a splendid red velvet chair, where the contestants will sit. The costumes are very nice – we had a beautiful costume made in Milan for Lady Macbeth, and the costumes should make it very clear who the characters are.

We are not using a backdrop of any kind either – the idea is that the reality show is happening right where you are, in your village hall, and the people who come will be involved in it in their own familiar setting, with no wall between them and the stage.

Get Me Out of Here in Italy

NORTHINGS: Can you tell us about the characters – they have a familiar look.

LAURA PASETTI: There are four characters from Shakespeare – Lady Macbeth (played by Danielle Farrow), Puck (Lynn Dalgetty), Hamlet (Cameron Mowat) and Prospero (Stefano Guizzi) – and they are thrown into a reality show. In a way Prospero becomes the author of the story, in that he is keeping these characters on an island because he believes that no one in the modern world can really appreciate Shakespeare and his language.

So he is keeping these characters on the island, amusing them with certain amenities like karaoke or drinking mojitos, and of course all this superficiality and shallowness is not appreciated by the other three characters, and they try to escape.

NORTHINGS: But only into a reality show?

LAURA PASETTI: They cannot really escape, but Prospero makes a deal with them – he tells them he will bring them into a theatre with an audience, and if they like and appreciate what they are doing, he will set them free.

They believe that and accept the deal, but actually it is not a real deal, it is a little bit of a cheat, because he is bringing them back into a theatre, but it is not the Globe because they are in Scotland in a very small theatre, perhaps a village hall somewhere, and they are in a modern context where entertainment is important, and he convinces them that it has to be in the format of a reality show that modern audiences will understand.

So in fact they have to compete with each other, because only one of the contestants will be able to leave. So they have to talk about their story and try to tell the audience why their story is important, and why it should be put back on stage.

Charioteer's Shakespeare Vs Shakespeare (2010)

NORTHINGS: It is billed as an interactive show – presumably that involves the audience?

LAURA PASETTI: Yes. Prospero will turn into a presenter, and will ask each of the other characters questions, and they will also answer questions from the audience or the other contestants, and they will perform a scene of their choice from their own play. There is a jury, and the jury will be chosen from the audience each night – ten people will be chosen, and they will vote at the end.

NORTHINGS: So the actors won’t know in advance what they might be asked on any given show?

LAURA PASETTI: That’s right. There is a lot of improvisation involved, because we will encourage the audience to come along with questions, but the questions will not be known in advance. I will give a little presentation at the start just to explain to everyone what we are doing and what we expect from them, and of course we will know only at the end which one of the three will win, and it can be different each time.

NORTHINGS: Did any pattern of choices emerge in Italy?

LAURA PASETTI: Actually, I am very curious to see who the Scottish audience will go for. In Italy, Puck was the choice the majority of the time, although I have to say that Lady Macbeth got a lot of votes. Basically people were saying I like her very much because she is so bad, which is a little bit worrying, I think! I was a little bit shocked about that.

I’m A Shakespearian Character! – Get Me Out of Here! is on tour from 28 May – 16 June.

Milan-born Laura Pasetti is the Artistic Director of Charioteer Theatre, based in Forres.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2011

Links

• North by North East
• Charioteer Theatre