Decisions, decisions...

Deciding ‘which play’ doesn’t come easy. It’s right up there with buying a house, starting a new job. This might sounds strange but from my point of view you’re committing to something pretty big – after all it’s a case of spending most of your time with the play, month after month. A bit like being in love, there’s this THING that fills – in some guise or other – most of your waking thoughts, and some of your dreams...Initially we thought hard about producing a new play by one of the many talented writers that we work with. But somehow this didn’t feel right. Whilst it is terribly important for playwrights to see their work in front of an audience it can go badly wrong if the circumstances aren’t right. Our theatre is not very sympathetic to new plays – the stage is 16 metres wide for a start – and it takes 14 seconds to get from the wings to the sweet spot.So it’s a challenge for writers to come up with words just to get people off and on! Shakespeare, of course, was brilliant at overcoming this problem; if you look at any number of Renaissance plays you’ll see scene after scene written to cover exits and entrances in those huge Renaissance theatres…So I wanted to find a big play that would sit well in our space and appeal to lots of different people. I also wanted a play that would give a whole range of artists the chance to learn new things. It’s a bit different when a writer is in the rehearsal room with you, you are facilitating their vision and this means that the circumstances for actors, musicians and designers are less free-ranging.It felt logical after RESPONSES to choose a Renaissance play. These are big plays – they cover universal themes and have been produced all over the world for centuries. They are rarely done on a large-scale down here – and hardly ever in a purpose built space.Our job at Hall for Cornwall is to encourage audiences to fall in love with the magical experience of live performance. It’s also our job to do things that others can’t do – after all we are the only purpose built large scale theatre in the space of nearly 100 miles!I’m interested in helping people to develop a passion for text-based work in particular, whether new plays or old. Through our new writing programme we help some exceptionally talented writers gain confidence and build skills. I wanted to use this production as a way of giving our audience new confidence in big, classical plays – and come to love Marlowe, his world and his words.