Q & A with Filter Co-Artistic Director Ollie Dimsdale
As we prepare to welcome back the anarchic Filter Theatre Company with another radical interpretation of a Shakespearean classic, we thought it was the perfect time to delve into the 'heat-oppressed' brain of Ollie Dimsdale. Ollie, Filter's Co-Artistic Director, talks about their unique approach to Shakespeare with their production of Macbeth.
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| Filter impressed Citizens Theatre's audiences in 2014 with their unique take on Twelfth Night |
Filter's work always has a very distinctive identity (I have very fond memories of your Twelfth Night, for one). How would you describe the company's style and ethos? What things motivate you, in terms of e.g. what you love about theatre and what thoughts and emotions you like to awaken in your audiences?
Filter’s ethos is very much to do with collaboration. We
often work with regular Filter collaborators with whom we have developed an
artistic shorthand that we hope bears fruit for each show we stage. The only
thing we ever know for sure with every Filter project is that we approach it
with a text, and a strong musical angle - compositionally and in terms of sound
design. Inspiration for most creative decisions comes from the collaborators in
rehearsal room, rather than what we try to artistically engineer before the
rehearsal process. In our classic text shows we like to allow ourselves the
freedom to explore, play and innovate in an attempt to honour a playwright’s
original intentions, as well as making shows that are scrupulously twenty-first
century in their own right. How our shows are received by audiences isn’t
something that we can control so we simply try to create the kind of work that
we would like to watch ourselves.
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| Filter's Macbeth in rehearsals |
Without giving too much away, what will you be
bringing to Macbeth? The play is incredibly powerful in its own right... can
any radical take (and I assume yours is a little radical...?) on it add
anything?
As you say, Macbeth is an incredibly
powerful play and not one that we can necessarily add anything to. The only
thing we’ve promised ourselves while rehearsing the production is to hold onto
the idea of making a Macbeth that is playful and funny, as
well as engaging with the dark, psychological thriller that Shakespeare has
left us with. With a stage aesthetic of sound design apparatus, we’re looking
at how character and audience can be drawn inexorably into the epicentre of the
‘heat-oppressed brain’. Assisted by some new and innovative sound
technology, courtesy of Filter artistic associate, composer Tom Haines, we’re
looking into ways of portraying just how profoundly psychologically disturbing
Shakespeare’s text can be.
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| Macbeth production shot c. Toby Farrow |
Directors sometimes take on a classic because they
believe there's a side of the play that's not been given enough attention, in
their view, or an aspect of it that they'd like to highlight. Is that the case
for you with Macbeth? Or is it just a cracking play that you all wanted to
stage?
We’ve tackled some of his best comedies - Twelfth
Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream - so the next
step was to look at one of his tragedies. Macbeth seemed like the best choice
for Filter. If there’s a particular area we are looking at it’s how we can
elucidate through sound just how darkly psychological Macbeth can be. The
multitudinous sonic references in the text are inspiring the show at the
moment.
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| Music plays a key role in Filter's production of Macbeth. C. Toby Farrow |
Have you seen Macbeth done well and/or badly... and if
so, why in each case?
I saw a production at the Edinburgh Festival a long time ago
that was played out by three actors (one man, two women) and I was struck by
how in the simplicity of their staging and delivery of Shakespeare’s language,
I was transported in my imagination to places that may have been muddied by a
fuller production. I’ve also seen well-funded, more traditional dress
productions that have been unable to break out of the stylistic or period
straight-jacket that they have made for themselves. We’re more interested in
how we approach the heart of Shakespeare’s plays rather than getting too side-tracked
by historical or textual details. It’s a delicate balancing act between
honouring a playwright’s original intentions and making something that
resonates deeply with you as a contemporary theatre-maker.
Filter's Macbeth
20 - 31 Jan
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