RSC Interregnum I
When the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) approached me to document the development of an immersive piece of theatre, titled Interregnum, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The research through practice project, involved RSC artists, University of Birmingham academics and students.
Day one of the project involved artists and academics sharing their areas of specialist knowledge, linked to the period. Research and development are often overlooked as an integral part of projects, though vital to success. Hilary Mantel expresses its importance in The BBC Reith Lectures – Can These Bones Live? when she talks about how long it may take to inhabit a new era, ‘I thought, I don’t want my walls to be paper-thin, my knowledge to be stuck on. I need a solid house for characters to live in. In fact, I should not call them ‘characters,’ I should call them ‘people’ – they are real, even if they happen to be dead.’
The humour, enthusiasm, engagement and interaction throughout the process is clearly reflected in these photos.
