Drama is returning to Glasgow’s Tron Theatre later this month.
The last, exclusively Tron Theatre Company production to grace the main auditorium stage was the 2019 pantomime, Cinderfella, and they have announced their re-opening production, The Tempest will run from 29 October–13 November – and will also be one with an all-female cast.
Artistic director, Andy Arnold will devise and direct a brand-new version of one of Shakespeare’s last plays, in collaboration with movement director, Kerieva McCormick, who is artistic director of Kam-Ri Dance Theatre.
Working with a cast of eleven Scottish-based female/female identifying actors, none of whom have been cast in a Tron production before, The Tempest will be staged during the COP26 summit in a way that embraces a more environmentally friendly approach to producing work (minimalist staging with set, prop and costume recycled from stock) and capitalises on the extraordinary atmosphere of the Tron’s stripped-back main auditorium.
Historically, this piece was scheduled to be staged in early 2021 as part of an Actors Only season, alongside a piece with an all-male cast (now scheduled for the Spring-Summer 2022 season).
This approach to casting, concentrating resources to allow for much larger casts than would ordinarily be possible, was Andy’s response to an open audition process carried out earlier this year, where he saw over 400 predominantly female actors.
Acknowledging that there are simply not enough professional opportunities for Scotland-based performers, he resolved to find a way to counteract this.
At once dreamlike, surreal, magical, romantic and cruel, The Tempest is essentially a play about the exploitation of male power and greed and the colonisation of other lands and their indigenous inhabitants. Introducing an exclusively female voice to the stage subverts this interpretation, bringing a new energy and nuance to the language.
Andy said: ‘I have wanted for some time to explore this play with an all-female cast. Seven years ago, I staged the production with a student cast from the RCS and eight of the eleven students happened to be women.
‘A female interpretation of such characters as Prospero, Caliban, Alonso and Antonio brought a freshness and vigour to the piece. I repeated this process of gender-blind casting with another production of this play in Beijing, with Chinese actors, a few years later. For me, the logical next step was to make this predominantly male play with an all-female cast and am excited to see what new interpretations will transpire in the rehearsal room as a result.’
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