Michael Cox speaks with the director of Sub Rosa, part of the Made in Scotland 2010 season.
Michael: I had the privilege of seeing Sub Rosa when it was on at the Citizens, but for those who aren’t familiar with it, could you take a moment to explain the basics of the play and the title?
David: It was made as a backstage tour of the Citizens Theatre, which is a 140 year old music hall. And so logically that led us to making a Gothic, Victorian promenade piece that allowed you to experience all of these remarkable places in the building. And they’re hidden spaces, which is what led to the theme of the piece and the title. Sub Rosa is a legal term for secrecy, and it comes from a Greek myth that Aphrodite gave a rose to her son in order to have sexual indiscretions to be kept secret. The rose became a symbol of secrecy. In medieval times, if you hung a rose outside a door, it meant that the meeting was confidential.
And so that sense of secrecy has led to why we have chosen the location—an active Masonic lodge. It’s another incredible building, and it’s exciting to be in there. It’s an 18th century wood panelled lodge, and we’re the first people who’ve ever been given the whole building to use. It opens every year as a Fringe venue, but only in two rooms, but we’ll have the whole building late at night. And we’ve convinced the Masons to let us take the public into their museum room where they keep all of their Masonic artefacts, including the oldest Masonic minutes in the world from July 1599.
Michael: Were there any changes to the script for this production?
David: I always want to fiddle with plays but there comes a point in a production where you can’t change a line because it becomes too difficult for the actors to relearn it. You can cut large sections or add in large sections, but if you want to carefully rewrite sentences, because I’m very particular about sentence structure, then it’s not fair to do that to actors.
Michael: Are there any new characters?
David: No. No new characters. But the character who burns to death under the stage has changed names. She’s now called Bertha Gorst, which, like all the other names, is a breed of rose. All of the characters are named after a breed of rose.
Michael: In Glasgow, you had use of the Citizens’ ushers to be your guides. Who are the guides for this production?
David: Some are from the venue and others are people I’ve auditioned. The role of the tour guide is slightly more difficult this time because they have a longer introductory speech. They not only give a history of the building but of the area you’re in and other buildings, including the Festival Theatre and the Theatre Royale, which has now been demolished. So I need people with a bit more performance experience.
Michael: Are any of the original cast returning?
David: Only one, Angela Darcy. It’s exciting working with new people, including people I wanted to work with last time but didn’t get the chance. And it’s another great set of actors I have this time. I’ve been really lucky both times to have a really great company of actors twice in a row.
Michael: So, there’s plenty new to see for those who’ve already experienced it.
David: Absolutely. And that remarkable lighting design has had to be completely reworked, and the same thing with the sound design. They’ve all been reworked for the space. It’s very different on a practical level doing it at the Fringe because you don’t get to take over a whole building and you don’t get to have two weeks setting it up. We’ll never be able to do such an elaborate technical design again because it takes too much time and it’s too expensive. The only reason we were able to do so much at the Citz is that it’s usually closed in January. But there are other things that you can do that are creative that don’t take as long to set up.
Michael: Would you consider this production to be radically different from the original?
David: Half and half. It’s been reworked to fit in the location, but in other ways it doesn’t need to be changed all that much because Edinburgh is very much a theatrical town, and the play is about theatrical history. We begin with the tour guides giving a talk about the history of the theatres in Edinburgh, and all these themes in the piece about theatricality, death and abused chorus girls are already there. In fact, the building itself was a school for artists before it became a Masonic lodge. So all of those things have been worked into the piece. And obviously, presenting a piece about secrecy inside a Masonic lodge speaks for itself.
Sub Rosa performs at the Hill Street Theatre, with tours beginning in 20-minute intervals between 10pm and 12.40am. For specific times and prices, contact the venue.
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