Much ado about something
IT'S the Battle of the Bard in the Botanical Gardens this summer as two Shakespeare outdoor theatre companies fight it out for an audience.
Newcomers the British Shakespeare Company (BSC) have muscled in on territory occupied for the last 10 years by Heartbreak Productions and are putting on two plays in three days in August, the week before Heartbreak returns with an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.
For celebrity watchers, there could be the chance to to rub shoulders with Gandhi star Sir Ben Kingsley, whose wife Daniela Lavender, is a member of the cast.
"Sir Ben is our patron and he's been to see us everywhere we've played," says BSC founder Robert J Williamson.
The company is staging A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing from August 17-19 on a stage below the Victorian greenhouses.
"Sheffield is a big city and a lot of different theatre companies go there," says Robert, who is sure there is room for both.
He's also talking about moving the company to Sheffield and establishing a Sheffield Shakespeare Festival along the lines of the one he runs in Leeds.
Robert says a three-day play season is just for starters.
All this was news to Heartbreak, which deals with a different city council department to the one which is liaising the British Shakespeare Company.
Heartbreak regards Sheffield as one of its biggest venues but has had to make cutbacks this year. It recently played As You Like It in the Gardens with a cast of just five.
Heartbreak's Nicci Selby says: "There seem to be enough people in Sheffield to support Shakespeare. We played to 1,250 people with As You LIke It."
Unlike Heartbreak, the BSC is receiving a council subsidy. It is undertaking to give away free tickets to the same value to schoolchildren.
It remains to be seen if there is enough demand for two open air play seasons in Sheffield. Heartbreak returns from July 23 until August 1 to play The Wind in the Willows, on its traditional spot on a stretch of lawn near the Thompson Road entrance.
The BSC has several well-known names in the cast: Steven Blakeley, who played PC Geoff Younger in Heartbeat, and Gabriel Thomson of My Family.
The new Lady Kingsley, a Brazilian-born former waitress and model, plays Titania in Dream and Hippolyta in Much Ado. She became Sir Ben's fourth wife in 2007.
While Heartbreak is innovative in its performances - it turned As You Like It into a musical - the BSC is traditional.
"We are an original practice company, that is we perform in Elizabethan dress but we don't use boys to play women! We present Shakespeare in a way accessible to everybody," says Robert.
Whatever happens, Heartbreak are not planning to be a pushover.
"We are always delighted with the response we have had from Sheffield over the last 10 years," adds Nicci.
Tickets cost 18 (with concessions) for Dream on August 17 and 18 and Ado on August 19 on 0114 249 6000.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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