A strong part of my ethos when I started working at the Tron was to provide a platform and support for young and emergent artists – much in the same way as I had done at the Arches. So, a lot of the programme we are now developing is in the context of that commitment - particularly under our new banner of Tron Creatives.
It’s something I believe in very strongly – a theatre building can be enriched immeasurably by the energy and risk that emergent artists will deliver. The demise of the Arches – a tragedy which should never have happened – means that there is a whole community of artists – many doing amazing work - who now finding themselves homeless.
We are trying to accommodate and support as many as we can but we have a relatively small building and a packed programme. I’d love to find additional space because we could fill it all the year with new people producing new work and Glasgow needs it.
I know that you have a special enthusiasm for theatre that deals with existential matters - is this something reflected in your programming?
I like to think that we present an eclectic programme that suites a wide range of tastes. You’ll only be reaching a small part of the Glasgow theatre audience if you don’t.
However, I personally prefer the surreal and off kilter to the mundane and naturalistic, and the Tron programme does veer towards the existential and absurd whenever possible. It’s the type of work that suites the medium of live theatre more than anything else in my view.
Last year included the revival of Ulysses for our trip to China followed by Happy Days at Mayfesto and this year we have a rich programme of such work leading towards a season of the absurd in the autumn.
What made you decide on Cock for the New Year?
Ever since Cock opened at the Royal Court in London six years ago I have been trying to acquire the rights. They simply haven’t been available for any theatre company in the UK since that premiere.
I’m delighted that Mike Bartlett has now given Tron Theatre the go ahead – I finally wore him down. It’s a brilliant play about relationships, sexual identity and confusion and has an eye-catching title – which always helps. The dialogue is so sharp and witty and the narrative is very clever.
The best plays are ones where you leave the theatre wondering what might happen next. Cock is that play. Why the New Year? It feels right. It’s a spring play….for now any way.
Was your approach to Bartlett's script typical of your usual approach - or did it present any new challenges?
I’ve never approached a play that doesn’t present new challenges – that’s the beauty and privilege of directing theatre. With Cock Mike Bartlett stipulates that there should be no set, no furniture or props and no miming. It should all focus on the words.
That’s brilliant and I look forward to rehearsing on that basis. Given the fact that the play contains action – cooking, eating, having sex, and so on, it will indeed present challenges – but ones which we’ll enjoy resolving in the rehearsal room.
It’s quite similar to Beckett in some ways – except that the characters in Cock won’t be buried up to their necks in mud or have their heads protruding out of Greek urns. The principle is the same though.
As far as the casting goes - how did you get the team together?
Casting a play like this is key. You have to get it right. I’d like to say there is a particular method I employ but that would be lying. Some parts you have one actor in mind as your first choice, others you may think of three or four actors who would be right for it, and other parts where you have a very open mind and want to audition and meet new people.
I audition more and more these days as I want to know who’s out there. The most important thing is being mindful of the chemistry between them all. I think we’ve got a great cast for Cock!
Does 'dramaturgy' as a concept or word mean much to you in your work?
To be honest, it only developed for me in a meaningful sense about ten years ago. That’s when an Irish dramaturg, Pamela McQueen, came to work with me at the Arches and started to make really useful contributions to the rehearsal room – a full analysis of the play, it’s context and historical background, the relationships between characters, and much more.
Pamela would bring plays to me I might otherwise not have come across and when she joined me in my early years at the Tron , she played a pivotal role in working on new scripts with young writers.
Dramaturgy on a new script is vital in my view and all theatre making companies should have the resources to employ a dramaturg – whether they are presenting new work or classic plays.
Is theatre still a good place for the discussion of public ideas?
Of course – where better? Theatre is all about ideas and good theatre will always provoke discussion at the end of a performance
Is the script still at the heart of your work as a director and artistic director of the Tron?
I have always said in any mission statement for the Tron that the core of our work is the spoken word. Text is the essential currency of theatre – whether a naturalistic play, a minimalist visual and movement piece or a multimedia experience.
There are many brilliant theatre companies who devise work from a blank canvass and that’s a totally legitimate approach. For me, I have to start with the script – whether a new play, a Chekhov, a poem, or a Heiner Muller two hour visual epic with only one page of dialogue…..it’s still the script.
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