Archives - April 2003

THE SCOTTISH PLAY
by Graham Holliday

Produced by Mary Frost

THE PLAY

Contemporary drama, set in various locations. Michael, a member of the local amateur dramatics group, has become fed up with the same old lightweight plays and decided that he wants to stage Macbeth. It is no easy task to convince the group in the first place, but once he has managed that, there are plenty of other obstacles to surmount. Squabbles over casting, issues with money, even the church hall threatening to ban the use of witches stand in Michael's way as the production gradually becomes an obsession. Casting Lynne, his wife, and his best friend Frank in the lead roles kindles an affair. Michael simply uses that as a motivation to improve their acting performances and when Lynne finally leaves him, after discovering he has sent all their savings on the production, his only concern is that she should not drop out of the cast. The play ends with curtain-up on the opening night of The Scottish Play and the twin questions of whether Michael's vision will be realised and what he will do with his life after it is over.

FROM THE GROUP

From the start of rehearsals this play was dogged by bad luck. Perhaps it served us right, as it featured Macbeth - which every one in the theatre knows has to be approached with caution. Many theatrical superstitions are attached to performances of this play, hence most actors will not refer to it by name but prefer to call it The Scottish Play.
Using minimal set and relying on clever placing of furniture to represent various different locations it was an interesting play to stage .The backstage crew of scene shifters had to be as well drilled as the actors. They worked admirably, but unfortunately the same could not be said of the actor cast in a leading role who had to play scenes from Macbeth. In his first role with the Cissbury Players he proved to be a disaster. Not only was he lacking in charisma, he was wooden and on top of that he was totally unable to remember his lines!
With just three weeks to go we were forced to think about cancelling the whole thing. However, salvation was at hand. Mike Liassides, taking a well-earned break and newly returned from an extended honeymoon agreed to step into the breach. Frantically learning the whole of a very big part in a week and with intensive rehearsal and co-operation from the rest of the cast the day was saved and we were able to go ahead as planned with Mike in the role. I really learned the hard way not to take a chance on casting people who had not proved themselves in major roles. The end result fortunately (thanks to Mike) was a success.
I enjoyed the performances very much as I liked the structure of this play, although it was not to everyone's taste.
Mary - Producer

It's rare that I miss being involved in a production - since starting out with help on graphics and props back in '91, I'd only skipped two: one due to my first marriage and another while working full-time in London. Then, in 2002, I remarried and we went off at the end of the year to tour Europe on honeymoon. I would have missed the November '02 play - except that was cancelled in favour of a recruitment drive - and this one, but...
No sooner had we returned to England and parked up the camper van, it seemed, than Mary was on the phone. And for someone as all-round nice to people as Mary to have reached the point of having to sack one of her leads with a week to go, things had to be fairly desperate. I got an idea how bad when, reading the play stone-cold and for the first time at rehearsal, Sam - playing as Lynne opposite me - was absolutely delighted to have someone who reacted to her and to whom she could react. And if you've never read in a part you don't know, believe me, there really isn't very much in the way of acting going on!

I never met the chap I replaced, but there were several other new faces in the cast and all of them pulled together to make it work. Yes, I had a lot to learn in a stupidly short time, but everybody else had to pitch in, too. Extra rehearsals and a new cast member, different moves and timing: it wasn't an easy week for anyone! Definitely a success to chalk up to teamwork.

Mike - Actor

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