So Michael Rosen is talking about it. Jude Law is talking about it. Even Julian Lloyd Webber, Greyson Perry and Danny Boyle are in on the act. What is it that they are all gossiping about? This is not your average mundane Hollywood gossip, but something that might affect the education of future generations and more importantly the future of art in this country, the EBacc or English Baccalaureate. So we thought we might dust of our soap box, step up and say a few words…

It has long been a criticism of the education system that children are spoon fed – that they are merely taught to regurgitate information for their exams and coursework. Students are not educated enough about the basics in order to effectively use language, numeracy and common sense later on in the workplace. There is never going to be an easy solution to this. I, (Katy from the Filskit ladies) know I am not alone when I say I am not confident with grammar. I rely on spell check and wish I could speak a foreign language.  So it is clear that something needs fixing. However, is this really the fault of the GCSE? Is it worth placing absolute emphasis on these basics at the sacrifice of arts and culture?

Well, I guess you can predict our response… NO! Having worked in and around schools since graduation, and, in fact, our time at school not being that long ago, the immense pressure on students and teachers to achieve high scores at exam time is apparent and it is making what is taught at schools a little skewed. As children are increasingly told that without brilliant grades they will not succeed, they will focus on getting that A or A*, rather than contemplating the fully rounded richness that an education can offer. Needless to say, in order for this education to be well rounded, it needs to be exploring all aspects of learning, including creative learning and the arts.

Personally I am not convinced that the English Baccalaureate will solve any problems. Teachers, not through lack of skill or want, but due to pressure, will continue to teach to the order of the content of an exam, regardless of whether it is called an EBacc or a GCSE. Furthermore, I do not think you can underestimate the damage to those currently taking GCSEs. I have already heard young people question the point of taking GCSEs on the grounds that they are worthless to a government and society that lambasts them. It appears that Gove has a pair of rose tinted glasses that he likes to pop on, and look at how his education has brought him to the successful place that he is now in, as he looks for future generations to replicate it. Well he mustn’t forget those other success stories of people with little or no education.

Now I come to the importance of arts in the EBacc. I understand some people’s cries to keep the arts out, as it cannot be quantified through examination, like science or mathematics. However, I believe there are important reasons why they should be included. Firstly, it is important in the recognition and status of art in Britain’s culture. By sidelining the arts you are stating that they are not integral to an education. People in arts and education have been battling for years for colleagues and parents alike to understand the importance of the arts as subjects in their own rights and not just as a means for exploring other topics.

Secondly, introduction to the arts at a young age can not only encourage innovation and exploration, but can lead many talented people into the arts industry who might otherwise follow alternative careers. The arts can be used to engage children, teenagers and adults in a way that encourages freedom of thought, expression of ideas and a deeper understanding of each other.

Finally, as it stands, artistic subjects are inclusive and participants are involved and encouraged, regardless of grades and exam results: you don’t need an A* in maths to be creative, you need an imagination – something which should be nurtured in people of all backgrounds, irrespective of whether they can afford to enjoy the arts as something extra-curricular. All these are qualities which are not merely desirable in a society, but are absolutely necessary.

“I hope there are people out there tonight watching this who didn’t know they wanted to be in theatre, and as a result of watching it now do,” said Michael Grandage whilst he was artistic director at the Donmar Warehouse, during their 2008-9 West End season. Grandage’s upcoming season of plays at the Noël Coward Theatre with the Michael Grandage Company adopts a similar structure to the Donmar season by offering 100,000 tickets priced at £10. I know from personal experience that this ticketing system works as Ivanov, the first play in the Donmar season, was the first play that I ever saw. As a result, here I am, interviewing the man that made me want to work in theatre.

Grandage couldn’t be more enthusiastic about giving young people and new audiences access to the theatre through this ticketing scheme, “I said we needed to make it an access for all season, which means people who can afford to pay top price don’t worry about it, they already have access, but their access subsidises the people that can’t afford to go to the theatre regularly. It’s just a very concerted effort to reach out to the next generation of theatre-goers.” Last week Grandage opened TheatreCraft, the annual event for young people looking for a non-performance career in theatre – proof that he’s not only looking to create new audiences, but also to introduce young people to the “jobs that are available in the theatre, because there are hundreds, possibly thousands, and nobody knows half of them – young people certainly don’t have access to the mass of jobs that go on behind the scenes.” As a part of MGC Futures, the company’s education policy, he says “we’re training associate directors, producers, lighting designers”. The Michael Grandage Company is much more than a West End season because every element is connected: “the actors, the plays they’re in, the company and the way they interconnect with access and education, it’s all part of a very big picture that’s been pre-planned. We worked out how we could join up all the dots.”

The names involved in the season will definitely be a part of creating those new audiences, with the power to draw in all sorts of crowds. “What would we be doing if we were doing a new play with some very good actors that people didn’t really know, would we be in the position we’re in now? Probably not. Nobody knows who we are so we need to encourage people to come see the work.” The plays themselves are “a very good mix: two classical plays, a new play, British twentieth century repertoire and an Irish twentieth century repertoire”, which were chosen as a result of conversations with the actors involved. “Jude Law and I were talking about what we wanted to do next after Hamlet and we knew we wanted a return to Shakespeare, so Henry V – because it’s a relatively young man’s play – he said, I want to be able to get that done next. David Walliams and Sheridan Smith came out of a conversation I was having separately with both of them. I was talking to David one day and he said I would love to play Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I thought I could bring those two together. Then The Cripple of Inishmaan happened because I saw Daniel Radcliffe in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway and had seen him in Equus and said I’d love to work with you, what kind of plays do you want to do? And he said his background is Irish so I’d love you to look at the Irish repertoire. The other play in the season, Peter and Alice, came about because John Logan, the writer and I, had just done Red together at the Donmar and he gave me his next play.”

The first play of the season is Privates on Parade, which Grandage says is “one of the first plays I ever directed. It was a very limited run, it was in a very small theatre so it’s a lot of unfinished business for me. It’s this amazing comedy set against a wonderful piece of social history. It’s an important document, nobody really knows anything about this extraordinary war that we weren’t even allowed to call a war in Malaya, between the Chinese Communists and the Commonwealth. So from a director’s point of view, that’s a wonderful thing to bring to an audience.” Privates on Parade, starring Simon Russell Beale, “is what I call a good night out,” to start off Grandage’s much anticipated season.

When I started going to the theatre, the majority of the plays I saw were directed by Grandage because after he got me hooked with Ivanov, I knew that I could expect high quality theatre from him. Therefore I’ve always wondered how he maintains that standard, and the answer is evident in his manner of talking: enthusiasm. “I’ve always picked something I really, really want to direct. That means I go into the rehearsal process passionate, and on the first day when I’m trying to bring a whole group of people together – not just actors, but technicians, production staff, everybody – I’ve got to somehow communicate to them why we’re all going to be passionate about this project. You can only do that if you believe it in yourself.” His other priority is to “keep yourself constantly pushed. The moment you can identify a comfort zone, you should push yourself out of it. That’s what helps me move forward as a director.” Grandage would push any aspiring young person in the arts to think the same. “Seek something that challenges you as an individual, get collaborators around you who are going to challenge you. And know why you want to be a director and make sure you’ve got a good answer.” However, Grandage also thinks it’s important t point out that “don’t think early on you’re making a decision for life – I changed my career at 36. Young people can have a go, decide it’s not for them and move on. It’s really straightforward: keep changing.”

There’s a pattern emerging from the professionals I’m interviewing. When I ask what advice they’d give someone like me, or what’s the secret of their success, everybody answers along the lines of “you’ve just got to make it happen”.  Grandage envisages a “London, national, and hopefully international theatre scene” which redefines the conception of London theatre as “expensive and just doing musicals. I think the mission statement for me is to take everything we’ve learnt in that subsidised sector about access, education, touring, programming and take that to as wide an audience as possible. All those things now need to be applied to a West End model.” The Michael Grandage Company’s West End Season has “thrown down a gauntlet by going ‘look, you can produce work in the West End with 100,000 £10 tickets, you can have an education policy, training schemes’. You’ve just got to make It happen. In making it happen it becomes your policy, and in becoming your policy it will help define others, and in helping define others, you can create the bigger holistic picture”. Well, watch out West End, there are going to be some changes made around here…

The Michael Grandage Company’s West End Season opens with Privates on Parade on 1 December, and closes with Henry V which runs until 15 February 2014.

Image 1: Privates on Parade in rehearsal by Marc Brenner

Image 2: Michael Grandage by Bronwen Sharpe

Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie is the story of a girl with a past. After reconciling with her old sailor father after 15 years, she falls in love with a man who is plucked from a wreck. Played out against the power that is “dat ole devil sea”, what a storm unfolds before you in the intimate space of the Donmar Warehouse.

The design, by Paul Wills, is changed from scene to scene by a small group of shanty-singing sailors. They create a dive of a bar before completely transforming the stage into a boat at sea as the floor tilts up on a huge angle, water cascades from the sky, swirling fog engulfs the theatre and bodies are pulled up. The sense of power and intensity in this beautiful scene alone is a lot to take in as the sound scape puts you dead centre of a ferocious storm, only to be settled upon the realisation that the last remaining body is that of Jude Law.

With a design that creates such an impact, I am pleased to say that the acting continues to grip you, with blinding performances by Law, Ruth Wilson and David Hayman. After seeing Wilson in A Streetcar Named Desire she makes a welcome return in the title role here. Her character presents herself as a strong confident woman, but, as much as she tries to hide her past, her breakdown is hard to watch – particularly when Mat Burke (Law) discovers his devotion to her is tarnished by her past. Credit to Law that, despite a wavering Irish accent, he deals with a character who shows all extremes of a personality in a small space of time. Hayman, as Chris, also goes through a journey of extremes; from being a drunk, a protector and a proud father, to being guilty of leaving his little girl to a life on water.

The trio drive a story that is perhaps a little thin, but keeps you watching as the relationships change rapidly from scene to scene. A good production that is heightened by being in such an intimate venue. Sadly, as I often find with The Donmar, tickets can be very hard to find because it is a smaller venue and an army of faithful investors snap up tickets in minutes. However I would urge all AYT readers to sign up for its Donmar Discovery Scheme for a chance of getting hold of tickets for this production.

Anna Christie is playing at the Donmar Warehouse until 8th October. More information can be found on the Donmar Warehouse website.

Jude Law as Hamlet

Hamlet: A Review

A Little Less of Star, and a Bit More of Subtlety

It would seem quite fitting for the first article to be published here to be on a play which despite being studied many a moons ago at A-Level, I have never seen. To be precise, I’ve only ever seen a handful of Shakespeare plays, and I’m rather happy at leaving it at that.

However, with Jude Law bursting onto the West End in the Donmar Warehouse take over of the Wyndham’s Theatre, I couldn’t resist in getting myself a ticket. Of course with such a ‘star’ taking the lead role of the deeply conflicted Hamlet tickets for this show are some of the hottest tickets in town. Queues around the corner and telephone lines struggling to cope with demand, tickets are going, going, going… gone.

One Student Night later, and a rather young, and challenging group of theatre goers and makers rose to the challenge with being part of the Donmar Warehouse’ Student Representatives, and thus… my tale begins. Much pleading and begging, I secured myself a ticket and awaited the night.

The reviews haven’t spoken highly of Law in his portrayal of Hamlet, but what do critics know? However, for once, I might possibly have to agree with some of the comments that were unleashed after the press night.

Jude Law does an excellent performance. It can’t be debated that he isn’t performing to the best of his abilities, his voice ringing from top to bottom of the auditorium, which is lucky for me as I’m sat in the Balcony in the last row. Law is possibly a little old for playing a university students age, even his receding hair line would possibly tell this too. However, Law launches himself into the role with much joyous acting. He has a knack at physicality, portraying the joker side of Hamlet, yet what Law lacks is the more subtle approaches to the character. He is quick to raise his voice with anger, which is fantastic in it’s given moments, yet he plays a more angry Hamlet than a maddening Hamlet.

It is in the supporting cast [because let's face it, the majority of the audience are here to see Jude Law, the 'film star'] that are the ones to boast about in this production. Ron Cook playing Polonius, manages to almost create a clown out of the character. The audience delighting in his moments of dumbfounding humour, bringing a light sense of relief to this tragedy. At times I did wonder if Cook was actually stealing the show from Law, and even now I’m unsure if this is the case.

Another notable mention must go to Penelope Wilton, playing Gertude. Perhaps Law could take some tips from watching Wilton’s ability to show her distress towards her son’s ever growing madness. Wilton captures moments fantastically  by using the subtleties of her acting, a mourning mother, an angry mother and lastly a dying mother.

Finally to Ophelia, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I’ve had a connection with this character for a year now, when I, myself played the role of Ophelia in a rather twisted version of Hamletmachine as part of my dissertation. So perhaps this would be why I’m naturally drawn to Mbatha-Raw with her sweet singing as she treads the thin line of insanity. I only wish that Shakespeare could have written more for the part of Ophelia, for the depths that Mbatha-Raw gives to the scenes, completely captures the heartbreaking story of a lost woman in a world of men.

Final Thoughts: Attracted to this production by the big name of Jude Law treading the boards of the stage to play the most well known character in the history of the theatre, I was excited. I left feeling inspired, not disappointed. Law is enjoyable to watch, he isn’t outstanding, but is an actor whose craft possibly still lies in film. It is however through the performances given by the other cast members that really drives this show. Sometimes it’s not the Star that is important but rather the subtle performers who are surrounding the lead that are worth our viewing.

Hamlet runs until the 22nd August at the Wyndhams Theatre, tickets can be brought in person from the Box Office at 10am.