Output details

Coriolan/us : A production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (incorporating texts from Bertolt Brecht’s Coriolan) commissioned by National Theatre Wales (NTW) in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for the World Shakespeare Festival/London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Site-specific promenade theatre performance:co-conception (50%), design (100%) and co-direction (50%) by the researcher. This production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (incorporating texts from Brecht’s Coriolan) was commissioned by National Theatre Wales (NTW) in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for the World Shakespeare Festival/London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Staged in Hanger 858, RAF St. Athan, South Wales. Performances: 8-18 August, 2012 (8 x 350 spectators).

• How might techniques of alternative theatre practice create and manifest new approaches in staging Shakespeare?

• How might contemporary media and technology be employed to enhance an understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare for audiences?

• How can long-term scholarly research, and practice-based conceptual and dramaturgical practices in site-specific performance, inform and extend the production practices of theatre-making for both professional and public benefit?

This production, situated in a hangar 90 metres by 50 metres, involved the convergence of approaches of site-specific work, live art, and devised performance, with those of scripted drama and conventions of stage practice, in a multi-media performance including advanced video and audio technologies. The spoken text was transmitted directly from radio-miked performers to each spectator through individual wireless headsets, and performances counterpointed by twinned black and white video projections mixed from moving and CCTV cameras. The researcher was solely responsible for:

a) locating and preparing a physical architecture for the work (including spatial structure, elements and aesthetic)

b) preparing an aural architecture for the work, combining ambient and recorded sound with a controlled vocal mix, delivered directly to each spectator individually via wireless headphones

c) devising the structures and behaviours of lighting, and of live broadcast media, in performance

d) directing the camera crews, media mixers, and technical and stage crew in performance

And was jointly responsible for:

a) creating and developing the staging concept, and realising the concept in successful production.