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Goolden boy of theatre
Metro 25.09.07
Winning smile: Rupert Goold (centre) knows how to bring out the best in those he works with, including actor Patrick Stewart
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The phrase 'next big thing' has been bandied about so much that it's as good as lost its meaning. But if you were looking for one theatre director for whom the phrase does justice, you would head straight for Rupert Goold.
Goold's recent hits are many, varied and exciting. His spectacular production of Paradise Lost sold out at Northampton Theatre, where Goold used to be artistic director. His version of Faustus - half set in London's contemporary art world - was spliced with a parallel story about artists Jake and Dinos Chapman. Last year's hi-tech RSC production of The Tempest, starring Patrick Stewart, which relocated the play to a frozen Arctic wasteland, had critics drooling and audiences queuing round the block.
His Macbeth, also starring Stewart, which transfers to London this week, is by all accounts extraordinary - a bloody slice of 21st-century Gothic horror loaded with chilly political references and cinematic flair. And he has another show opening soon, in his capacity as artistic director of Headlong (formerly Oxford Stage Company): an adaptation of Simon Schama's book Rough Crossings, about African-Americans' struggle for freedom during and after the US War of Independence. He's 35.
'To be honest, I don't think I can talk about such a thing as "my work'',' says Goold, almost shyly. 'That's not how I see it. It's certainly true, though, that I like to throw in a few pyrotechnics. And my references tend to be cinema, particularly certain filmmakers: Kubrick, Peter Greenaway. I don't just mean the visuals; I'm interested in the grammar of film on stage but I'd be lying if I said it was overly thought through. Most people in our generation see more movies than they do plays and it's just a natural consequence of that.'
Goold is the opposite in person to what you might assume from his work, which tends to be highly conceptual, full of flamboyant stylistic statements and strongly informed by its use of technology. He's extremely wary of sounding pretentious; he's also very self-deprecating, constantly laughing at his predisposition to show off. 'I've always been drawn to Simon Schama because he likes the flights of fancy in history; a lot of the way he approaches history I aspire to in my directing,' he says.
There's no doubt that what interests Goold is big ideas. He launched his inaugural season at Headlong with a bold statement of intent: a programme of five plays under the banner Reinventing The Epic, of which Rough Crossings is the final production.
Each of them deals in big stories encompassing faith, class and race. 'In the 1990s, playwriting was all about putting forward voices that were distinctive and authentic in some way,' says Goold. 'Plays addressing what was happening socially with bigger narratives weren't so noticeable. So it felt important to introduce some of that back into theatre. Of course, the Monsterists [a group of playwrights who campaign to put on large plays] and Dominic Cooke at the Royal Court have been saying similar things for ages, so it's hardly just me, but there does seem to be a zeitgeist hunger for epic work.'
It is typical of Goold's desire to connect with big stories that his productions often have one foot in a modern setting: Macbeth, for instance, reverberates with echoes of 20th-century dictatorships, notably Stalinist Russia. 'My approach to Shakespeare is usually to work out what parts of the play I find boring and how I can make them more exciting,' he says. 'With Macbeth, it struck me that it's rare to see a production that's actually frightening. Cinema was very important in this production, actually: it's part The Shining, part The Lives Of Others.' What is it like working with Stewart?
'Oh, wonderful! He's quite old to play Macbeth so what you get is this study in mortality: it's the last roll of the dice for him. I haven't seen Macbeth done like that before.'
Goold has plenty on the horizon: a touring production of King Lear inspired by outer space; a production of Gulliver's Travels that won't be ready until 2009; and a new Richard Bean play.
'I always wanted to be a director, I was just never sure if I could do it,' he says. It seems that he can.
Rough Crossings, previews from tonight, opens Fri, until Oct 13, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, King Street W6, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, Wed mats 1.30pm, Sat mats 2.30pm, £9 to £27. Tel: 0870 050 0511. www.lyric.co.uk Tube: Hammersmith
Macbeth, previewing now, opens tomorrow to Dec 1, Gielgud Theatre, 33 Shaftesbury Avenue W1, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, Wed and Sat mats 2.30pm, £20 to £49.50 Tel: 0870 950 0915. Tube: Piccadilly Circus
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