Melbourne’s premier Shakespeare company is back
Melbourne’s favourite Shakespeare company is once again taking to the great outdoors.
Melbourne Shakespeare Company is currently in rehearsals for their upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, check out what Matilda Award-winning actor Jackson McGovern had to say about the upcoming production below.
Can you give us some insights into the rehearsal process and how the Company is developing the piece?
Rehearsals have been a blast. The whole team is as fun to play with as they are brilliant at what they do. From day one, it has been such a collaborative rehearsal room, which is a credit to Nicola [Bowman] (director) and the rest of the creative team. I don’t know many artists who wouldn’t say that’s their favourite way to work. Midsummer can be such a strange process in many ways because with all of the crossing subplots you tend to spend most of your time in your own little mini cast. And even then, my mini cast consists of the other “mechanicals” who can all play musical instruments…really well. My partner and I are still trying to nail Heart and Soul on the piano, and I was kicked out of my primary school recorder band even with my mother as the teacher in charge of it, so I pretty much spend most of rehearsal feeling remarkably inferior and trying to remember my words. That said, we are at that really exciting phase now where we are putting all those intertwining stories together, so that’s really satisfying on so many levels.
Melbourne Shakespeare Company are famous for their incorporation of contemporary music into classic plays to develop an almost ‘JukeBox Musical’ style performance. What songs should we look forward to hearing in this piece, and do you have a favourite?
Well my inferiority complex should partly answer that question! The music is awesome. Natalie has made the most beautiful arrangements of some absolute bangers and my “mechanical” mates (I’ll try to claim I’m involved with their talents as much as possible) play and sing the heck out of them. And a bit like the Shakespeare itself, there’s such a buzz that comes from hearing music and harmonies like that in the open air. I don’t wanna give too much away in terms of song selections…but suffice to say Missy Higgins, Oasis and Celine all get a guernsey…among many others. I think I’m most excited about Celine, but that may be mostly because I get to si – no, I’d better not say that.
Melbourne Shakespeare Company are known for championing BIPOC and queer performers in Shakespeare. Can you talk to us a little bit about how this affirmative casting has been used in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and how it makes the production exciting and different?
Diversity in casting is so important for a million reasons, and I’m so proud to be working with a company that recognises and celebrates that. Seeing three of the four lovers in our production played by female-identifying actors is really interesting and refreshing, and it adds a fascinating layer to obviously the dynamic between the four of them, but also to the relationship between Hermia and her father. I mean, that entire subplot is basically about old men having more right to say who should and shouldn’t be in love…than the people who are actually in love, and that sounds way too familiar. Going forward, I’m really excited to see how we as theatre makers continue to add to these classic texts and actually increase their social relevance with casting choices like this.
Bottom is one of the most iconic comedy characters of all time! How have you approached the role and what makes your Bottom unique?
I think it’s almost impossible for any actor not to make their Bottom unique. (Yes, I do realise that that is a sentence that just came out of my mouth.) There’s just so many directions the character can be taken in. I was in two different interpretations of the play in Brisbane a couple of years ago and loved watching two actors I have enormous respect for in Francis McMahon and Samuel Valentine give completely different versions of the character, and both were brilliant. Personally, what I guess I’ve found the most enjoyment in exploring has been the insecurities underneath all of Bottom’s bravado and his I-must-be-the-smartest-and-most-impressive-person-in-the-room-at-all-times energy. There’s a really good human in there just craving some sort of validation, which we all do on some level, and I hope audiences can leave this production relating to Bottom a little bit there. Even if they probably still wouldn’t want to put on a show with him.
This isn’t your first time being involved in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, tell us what you love about the play that keeps you coming back?
I think the same things that keep audiences coming to it. Midsummer is a bloody funny play, and there’s something in it for everyone with the love rectangle, the ridiculousness of the mechanicals and the magic. Who doesn’t love magic!? From an actor’s perspective, it’s also nice to come back to it now in a different role having played Demetrius a couple of times. Benoit Vari (our Demetrius) told me the other day that he’d played Bottom before as well, so I guess we’ve just swapped. He’s doing it much better than I ever did, which is very hard for my inner Bottom to take. I might do one of the shows as Bottom playing Demetrius; that’d be very on-brand for Bottom. (That’s a joke, please don’t come expecting that.)
As an experienced Shakespearean actor what advice would you give to any aspiring actors out there looking to get into classical theatre?
Giving advice always irks me a little bit with Shakespeare, because I think it’s such an individual thing the way we can best engage with it as actors. But I think along that train of thought, really making the text your own. By all means, listen to your directors and coaches and don’t just say, “I’m doing it like this no matter what.” But there is so much in these plays that we still don’t actually have a consensus on in terms of meaning, and I think that’s one of the most exciting things about them. Find the version that makes sense to YOU before worrying about other people’s previous versions.
Finally, why should our readers come and see this production?
It’s bloody Midsummer in a park, that’s why! I think Midsummer is Shakespeare’s ultimate ‘this is for everybody‘ show. The story is so beautiful, funny and uplifting, and I think we could all use a bit of that right now. It’s just a really good time whether you’re a Shakespeare-lover, a Shakespeare-lover of the future or if this is your favourite play and you can recite the whole thing right down to the last semicolon.
Season Dates
26 Feb – 13 March 2022
Performance Times
7pm & 3pm (Weekends only)
Duration
90 minutes, no interval
Venue
Central Park, Malvern
Tickets are now available at melbourneshakespeare.com
