Salford Macbeth
Poetry and boxing take centre stage in modern-day Macbeth
A Lowry Community and Education Project in association with National Youth Theatre
Salford Macbeth
Adapted by John Hoggarth
Directed by Jonathan McGrath
Designed by Richard Ramchurn
The Lowry, Wed 24 September – Sat 4 October 2008
Press Night: Wed 24 September, 7.45pm
• Interviews are available with the cast and creative team
Rehearsals begin this week for The Lowry’s community production of Salford Macbeth and the cast are all in fighting form, ready for action! With six weeks to go before the curtain goes up on Wed 24 September, the unusual rehearsal schedule will include boxing training at Moss Side Fire Station, performance poetry practice with a socialist transvestite and geographical history lessons from a Salford Blue Badge guide!
Salford’s Nigel Travis has volunteered to help his fellow cast mates by leading fight workshops in the community boxing gym that he opened earlier this year at Moss Side Fire Station. Nigel, Great Britain’s Silver medalist in the World Fire Fighter and Police Games 2003, will step out of the boxing ring to tread the boards at The Lowry, playing King Duncan in the contemporary adaptation of Macbeth. A fire fighter for the past 10 years, Nigel is adding a new notch to his middleweight belt by taking to the stage with other local aspiring actors who were cast in this year’s community production.
Nigel said “Since retiring from amateur and professional boxing I wanted a new challenge and it doesn’t get any more challenging than Shakespeare! I have acted on television before but acting on stage will be very new to me and I’m really looking forward to performing at The Lowry. The rehearsals are going to be intense and require dedication so it won’t be unlike training for a boxing competition. I’m the governor at my gym so that’ll get me in practice for playing the King of Scotland!”
The script for Salford Macbeth has been adapted by John Hoggarth, ex-Artistic Director of The Lowry’s partner company, the National Youth Theatre, who have collaborated on this project. Transported to Salford in 1993, Shakespeare’s classic tale of witchcraft and murder has been enhanced by poetry from “the bard of Salford”, John Cooper Clarke. The actors will have help getting their mouths around the verse from Gerry Potter, the man behind socialist transvestite poet, Chloe’s Poems. Gerry’s workshops in how to communicate tricky text will complement the rehearsals, along with other voice and movement workshops from Niamh Dowling, Head of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University, and a talk from a Blue Badge Guide about the geographical history of Salford.
The cast were selected from hundreds of hopefuls who required no previous acting experience to audition. From fireman to student and working mum to librarian, the actors have come from all walks of life to work with a professional creative team on this production. Director Jonathan McGrath is founder of Ikebana Performance, who were nominated for Best New Play in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards in 2004.
Jane Dasilva, Performing Arts Education Manager at The Lowry, said “We are delighted to be able to offer the opportunity for local people to work with industry professionals to create this exciting and unique production. Some of the cast are completely new to performing while others have appeared in TV dramas such as Shameless, but this is a great chance for them all to learn from the experts and perform in a fabulous new play!”
Posted on Tuesday, 12 August 2008 under Press Community & Education Press