Berthold brings back the Bard
He helped bring gay love story Holding The Man to the stage and was credited with revolutionising Sydney’s Griffin Theatre as its artistic director, but it’s Shakespeare that’s given David Berthold his fair share of attention while at the helm of Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre Company.
No one’s more surprised than he is.
Beginning his tenure with a gritty interpretation of Hamlet in 2010 and following up with a sumptuous looking Julius Caesar in 2011, Berthold said he never imagined he’d be programming yet another Shakespearean classic in 2012.
“I wanted a big non-Australian play to direct when I started with the company because previously [La Boite] had an all-Australian repertoire, so I thought let’s go out there and do Hamlet as a conscious declaration of difference, I suppose,” Berthold said.
“But I had absolutely no intention of programming another Shakespeare and when I put together my second season I struggled with the decision because I didn’t want to set up a pattern.
“But I really enjoyed it, as did the actors and audiences.”
As You Like It is his next outing as director this month, with a cast of 18 taking to the stage of La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre, which no doubt lends itself to a play especially written for the newly-built Globe Theatre at the turn of the 17th century.
The cross-dressing extravaganza probably doesn’t need much help in terms of camping it up, but Berthold will use his first time directing a Shakespearean comedy for the company to play it up even more.
“As You Like It plays with gender more than any other Shakespeare play in a way,” he explained.
“There’s a lot of argument in it about male and female behaviour and about male and female eroticism, and one thing that gender layering does is bring a fair bit of homoeroticism.
“I wanted to extend that a little so I have a female actor playing the role of a male duke and a male actor playing a shepherdess. So everything’s up for grabs.”
Last time the Star Observer spoke to Berthold, he was jetting off to direct the West End production of Holding The Man with original cast members Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes, as well as the newly cast Jane Turner (Kath & Kim).
“It was a fabulous two months, I must say,” he said.
“The book isn’t known in London so it was coming off a very different base than it was in Sydney, but it was a great comfort to have Guy and Matt there.
“They’d been doing the roles for about 18 months and brought great maturity to them in London, and got great reviews personally.”
As You Like It is at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre from February 18 – March 24.
INFO: www.laboite.com.au
