Wonderland, the first play directed by Adam Penford in his role as Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, was also written by Notts playwright Beth Steel. We caught up with them both on the opening night of the play…
Beth, this is Wonderland's second outing. How does it feel the second time round? Is it like giving birth again?
Beth: Yes, it’s a water birth! It’s calmer! The first time round the umbilical cord does not get severed until [the curtain] comes down, but this time it’s different. You know the play works. It’s also been three and a half years since the first production, so an actor could say a line and I’d be surprised because I’ve forgotten it, so that’s a nice distance to have.
Adam, why Wonderland?
Adam: For various reasons. Often people pick a Shakespeare that feels very topical and then they do their own artistic spin on it so I thought about reviving a classic. But I think the story of Wonderland being true to the region felt right. It’s got music, it’s got songs, and it allowed our props makers, our costume makers and our set builders to really show off their talent.
Beth, how has it been working with Adam?
Beth: I’ve loved working with him. His suggestions have made me think “Oh yeah! Why didn’t I think of that!” That’s been my most frequent comment “Oh yeah, why didn’t I do that the first time round?” He understands what it is. It’s been great.
How does it feel putting the play on in your hometown?
Beth: I feel that the people here are going to be really receptive to it because it’s such a rarity for an audience to be presented with a big massive epic play that’s about them. This is a contemporary play about their life. I don’t feel nervous about that I actually feel really excited and proud about it actually.
Adam: It does feel like we’re saying something about a period of Nottingham’s history which was really important. I would like a visceral response. We will have some people watching that come from those pit villages and were miners themselves or from mining families. But the writing certainly does very well at not patronising people and making sure that everybody starts from the same point. I hope my direction honours that because I know that’s on the page. I just hope it’s on the stage.
Adam, what responsibilities did you have in mind when directing a play with such a political and emotionally provocative backstory?
Adam: I feel a lot of responsibility. Especially with it also being the first show, because people have lived through it and it still resonates with them, and it features historical characters so there is a lot of responsibility there. I think it’s reassuring that Beth’s father was a miner, although I’m not saying you can only write plays about miners if you have got a family member who has lived through it…
Beth: But it helps! When you want to know what happens with a cavity, it helps!
Tell me about the significance of your acting backgrounds to your journeys in becoming a director and a writer…
Beth: Oh, that’s easy. Had I have not been in what is now The Television Workshop from the age of seven to sixteen, I would never ever have had the confidence to have grasped the life I’ve got. I come from a very small town, a pit town, and it opened my eyes and it gave me confidence. We just really wouldn’t be here without it. I really believe that, 100%.
Adam: I was at Nottingham Youth Theatre, which comes in incredibly useful when I am in a rehearsal room directing. I speak a common language with the actors. I feel very at ease with them, and often I can slightly diagnose what is going on or why something isn’t working because of it.
Do you feel that given the rise of technology the theatre is under threat of becoming obsolete or appealing to middle-class audiences more so than younger generations
Beth: I’m always semi-baffled by this because there are good seats in this theatre for £8.50 and if you go to the Odeon it’s going to cost you more than that. There’s nothing better than seeing it live in front of you. There’s good content on TV and it will take eight hours of your life; I can give you a lot better than that and it’s in two! You can get a full-on evening for £8.50, so I don’t think it’s an older affluent audience that theatre is catered for.
Adam: Given television, theatre makers have had to look at the way they make work. So what I think is amazing about Wonderland, and one of the reasons I chose it, is that it has 37 scenes over the course of two hours. They’re short scenes, they’re punchy, it moves very quickly and it’s not unlike watching an episode of The West Wing; you can consume it as a box set. Old fashion dramas are fading away because we have shorter attention spans, but I think that’s led to us creating interesting theatre. It’s an interesting challenge.
What question would you ask each other?
Beth: What was your Shakespeare revival that was on the table?
Adam: Ah! (Laughs)
Beth: I want to know what Shakespeare play I topped!
Adam: Well, the obvious one, because subsequently everyone’s programmed it
Adam and Beth: Julius Caesar. (Laugh)
Adam: So actually, we did well. We would have been yet another revival of Julius Caesar, so you know it’s a good job we didn’t go down that route but never really seriously would do that, I sort of knew that’s not really me. So, Beth, do you have a favourite character in Wonderland? And what is it you like about that character?
Beth: David Hart because he is so… he is a character that is so fantastic you couldn’t make him up because nobody would believe you… so I love him, and I love the Colonel.
Adam: What is it you like about Colonel?
Beth: I suppose I just recognise him so much and I feel he is the soul.
Adam: If your dad was in the play is he more in that character? Or is that me totally making that up?
Beth: Yes, definitely, he is the Colonel.
The play covers events from over thirty years ago. Why is it significant? Why should we watch it?
Beth: This is a period when working-class people and people outside of London mattered. You had a voice, and power and you counted and its interesting now that we’ve started to see that reignite with Brexit, and see what happens when you essentially ignore that voice for long enough. I think that there can be sense of powerlessness and “Oh why do anything?” and I think it’s interesting to go back to a time when you think “No, you had consequences”.
If you’re writing a play about the past, you’ve got to really be aware of what it speaks of in the present, and I felt passionately that the miners’ strike had so much about it that was so utterly relevant and somebody needed to blow the dust off it and make it come screaming into now. The miners’ strike was essentially the moment where the country changed. So it’s always interesting to look back at a moment where there was a fork in the road… and go “Oh, so there’s a choice here”.
Adam: The truth is, the minute I read the play, I loved it. It genuinely made me laugh out loud. The other thing is, although the events happened over 35 years ago, it’s a human predicament story so the crisis that the people are going through rings true now. But more than that, it is just an epic play and production, it’s a real chocolate box of a show I think. Well, we’ll see in five minutes’ time!
Wonderland is showing at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 24 February 2018. Tickets are £8.50 - £37.50. Get tickets here
Nottingham Playhouse website
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