Creating the world for Chichester's Coram Boy

SussexWorld

Simon Higlett has designed more than 400 shows for the theatre including around 60 for Chichester Festival Theatre.

Transcript

00:00 Okay.

00:03 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.

00:07 Lovely to speak to Simon Higlett. Such a familiar name at Chichester Festival Theatre, where you have designed

00:11 possibly something around 60 plays over the years, a remarkable number.

00:16 You are the designer for Coram Boy, which is play number two on the main house stage this summer,

00:22 and you're saying it's been a particular challenge, this one, hasn't it?

00:26 It has, it's such an epic piece with many, many, many scenes and many locations.

00:33 And Anna and I, the director, went to visit as many of the locations as were kind of still existing,

00:42 and indeed built them in the model, and in fact have kind of removed them because it's

00:47 too sweeping, too fast moving. Each scene is about two, three pages long, and it leaps around

00:55 all over the place. I mean, it will make a very good film.

00:57 So you almost can't be too specific, you've got to go to a suggestion.

01:00 No, yeah, if it's a very good film, we both decide it.

01:04 Or a very good radio play, which is the other one. But it does move very quickly, so it becomes...

01:10 And overall, you are needing to capture, as you were saying, a sad, melancholic melodrama.

01:19 That's right, yes, and interestingly, because I've done a fair amount of this, but you don't often do

01:24 plays set in 1740s, it's quite early, and you don't really get a chance... Amadeus was one I did,

01:30 but I know that was 1790s, but you don't get often a chance to do quite so far back, and it's all

01:36 based around Hogarth. And when you look at all those prints and things, there's a lot of brown.

01:41 And I said, we really don't want to do it brown, because it's the obvious colour to go for.

01:46 So this is actually black, black and grey. And the black helps a lot. There's a lot of candles

01:52 on stage, so it's quite, hopefully quite hazy and smoky, and there's little mirrors behind the

01:57 candles. So it's that kind of evening. And the wider context for this, you're saying the Festival

02:03 Theatre, it doesn't matter how many times you work there, is a difficult space to work in, isn't it?

02:08 It is. It's a tricky space. Yeah, because it's, as I was saying, it's like a big room, and audience

02:14 on three sides. So you're always aware of looking at another member of the audience, in a way, or

02:20 seeing beyond what's going on on stage to the audience watching the other side, which is great.

02:29 But you always kind of have to be aware of that. And you're not doing proscenium picture, where

02:34 you have control over exactly what they're seeing, because there are bits you can't control,

02:41 especially in the VOMS, when you meet someone going to the loo as your actors are coming.

02:46 This happens quite a lot of times. But anyway, and you're actually crossing that divide from the

02:51 VOMS up onto the stage, you're actually crossing the audience space, which is great, and relatively

03:00 unique. You don't get that in many theatres, because, you know, there's always a big divide.

03:04 And as I say, you're always aware. And you're also, the other thing that I always,

03:12 brings me up short, you're always aware of the technology above. You can never get rid of the

03:16 fact that you see all the lights, you see everything up there. And if you're flying

03:20 anything in, which you can just about do, you can see it. You can never really hide it,

03:26 which I quite like as well. So after all this work, when you actually watch it, are you able

03:31 to enjoy it in any sense as a member of the public? Oh, yeah, yeah. You're just thinking,

03:35 oh, this was that, and so on and so on. Yes, no, I know, very much. No, I do. I do. I do enjoy it.

03:41 The biggest challenge is solving the problems of the play, which is what I love doing.

03:48 And making it work for an audience today, and the actors who are in it. And then it's a bit,

03:56 it's a little bit like giving birth, you kind of hand it over to technicians and productions and

04:03 workshops and things. And on the first night, I'm done. That's me. If it works.

04:08 So you can enjoy it from then on in?

04:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I rarely go back and see stuff. Because if I do, I just get slightly annoyed,

04:17 because I didn't wish we should have. Oh, that was, why didn't we do that? And so I rarely go

04:23 back and see things. But this is going to the Lowry, so I think I will see it again.

04:28 It sounds such a fantastic prospect. Truly epic. It sounds wonderful. Simon,

04:33 lovely to speak to you. Thank you.

04:34 Thanks, Phil.

04:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended