La Boite Theatre Attracts Younger Audience.

Since David Berthold became Artistic Director of Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre in 2009 he’s discovered the elixir of youth. Jay McKee sought him out to find the recipe.

Jay McKee:Shortly after assuming your mantle as the next Artistic Director of La Boite you held a meeting to outline your vision for 2010. What was the main thrust?

David Berthold: I spoke about my excitement about working in a theatre space as unique as La Boite’s. I think it’s a space that allows a wonderful relationship between actor and audience – something direct and electric. It’s also a space that invites theatre that draws on music, movement and various forms of visual design – more than just the spoken word. Work here requires a high level of theatrical energy.

Of course the biggest change was to open up the repertoire to more than just Australian plays. For ten years, La Boite had programmed all-Australian work, but I felt that the times demanded a broader palette.

JM: For 2010 you won a prestigious Matilda Award for “repositioning of La Boite, and for your direction of Hamlet and I Love You, Bro”. What changes do you think you achieved in 2010?

DB: I think the repertoire shift allowed us to stretch our muscles – and by ‘us’ I mean artists and audiences and all involved. Actors have enjoyed stretching themselves in great roles in all kinds of work and audiences have enjoyed the variety and the unpredictability.

I’ve also been very pleased at being able to open our doors to independent theatre makers. Our La Boite Indie program has created a whole new platform for this work in the city. There aren’t that many small theatres in town that can house this work, and we thought that giving over our space when we weren’t using it, and in a supported way, was far better than just hiring it out or taking corporate bookings. And it’s been just fantastic to have theatre in our theatre all year round.

JM: Your dream of an Indie season in a restyled 90-seat theatre seems to have paid off? How do you select the plays for the Indie season?

DB: We call for proposals and then put together a five-person panel to make the choices. I thought it was important that it wasn’t just La Boite staff making the choices – I guess that’s part of the “independence”.

JM: As a business, how do those plays benefit La Boite, and what do Indie companies get out of it?

DB: It stretches our tastes, challenges our own programming in our own seasons, and puts us into direct contact with artists working in this way. That’s all good and stops us from being complacent. The Indie companies get a range of support: financial, technical, marketing and so on. There’s no rent on the theatre. All we take is a small percentage of box office - and we cap that, too, so that when a show really takes off the return to the independent companies is maximised.

JM: Your “secondary schools ambassadors” program intrigues me. How does that work?

DB: It’s a way for young people to have a year-long relationship with the company. We have 100 Year 11 and Year 12 students from 50 different schools from right across Brisbane and beyond. They attend all of our shows for free, whenever they like, meet the creative teams, attend workshops, and generally get involved. In return they are ambassadors for the company. Some talk at their schools, or promote the theatre in other ways. They also have access to super-discounted tickets for family and friends – so they often bring people to the theatre who have never been before. It’s a way for them to share something that they’re really passionate about. We also have a similar program for tertiary students.

JM: Some of your plays deal with controversial themes. Do your schools promotions suggest year groups for which individual productions might be inappropriate?

DB: Yes. We have a close relationship with teachers and they are usually pretty well informed.

SW: La Boite certainly attracts the under 30s. Do you program with that demographic in mind?

DB: Last year something like 40% of our audiences were under 30. I think this has a lot to do with Brisbane itself. It’s a very young city – just look at the ABS statistics on migration here – it’s all in the 15-34 bracket. So in some ways our audiences are simply reflecting what’s happening in the city as a whole. That’s a good thing.

DB: In putting a season’s programme together, how do you plan it? For example, do you deliberately include works that ‘push the boundaries’ or that you see as ‘risky’?

DB: Any artistic organisation needs to take creative risk. It’s one of the things that keeps them alive and keeps audiences alert and interested. And of course sometimes this creative risk pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. But there’s always an attempt at balance. Audiences are not always interested in the same things that artists are interested in, and any artistic director ignores this at their peril. So it’s all about balance, and about keeping up an open conversation.

JC: In the past two years how have audiences received those works?

DB: Really very well. Theatre audiences are great risk takers. They loved Stockholm and I Love You, Bro (a one man play about the dangers of internet surfing) for example, both risky works in different ways.

JM: Are you planning any surprises in the 2012?

DB: We have a Shakespeare. The space is great for plays of that type – it allows for the event. And to see Helen Howard, one of our best actors, as Rosalind is As You Like it will be a treat. We’ve invited Scotland’s Traverse Theatre into our program – it’s a terrific theatre and their Midsummer is one of the most charming pieces I’ve seen in a long time. We’re teaming up with Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney for a production of a brand new Australian play – Rick Viede’s A Hoax. That’ll rehearse and premiere here before moving on to the Stables. We’ve invited one of this year’s La Boite Indie shows into our Mainstage – Dead Puppet Society’s The Harbinger. I loved it, and it will be reworked significantly for this new outing. And then we’ll be teaming up with Brisbane Festival for Philip Ridley’s new play Tender Napalm. Now THAT’S a firecracker of a play!

Images: The top two images are of David Berthold in rehearsal. Photographer: Al Caiero. Lower image - As You Like It. Photograper: Justine Walpole.

Originally published in the November / December 2011 print edition of Stage Whispers.

www.laboite.com.au

As You Like It – Win Tickets

See end of this article for details.

Following critically acclaimed productions of Julius Caesar and Hamlet, La Boite Artistic Director David Berthold serves up a cast of 18 in one of La Boite’s biggest productions yet, Shakespeare’s most joyous comedy As You Like It from February 18.

“There’s something about Hamlet, Julius Caesar and As You Like It, especially written for the newly built Globe Theatre at the turn of the 17th century, which makes them feel right for La Boite’s Roundhouse... The way they acknowledge the space and the audience; the way they revel in the ‘roundness’ of the experience,” David said of his decision to program three Shakespeares in as many years.

“As You Like It sings with a genuine, alive and at times very mischievous theatricality. It’s a glorious mixture,” he said.

“It’s got a bit of everything while managing to survey love and desire in all their colours. A wrestling match? Why not? Songs? Sure. Disguises? Done. You get the feeling that, for this play, Shakespeare wrote what his audience liked. ‘Here’s a play just as you like it’, he seems to be saying.”

This brand new production, adapted by Berthold, will be set here and now and performed by some of Queensland’s most prominent and up-and-coming actors.

Helen Howard and Thomas Larkin lead the 18-strong cast as lovers Rosalind and Orlando.

“I needed a brilliant Rosalind. She is the indisputable centre of the play and Helen is indisputably brilliant. The role requires an actor of maturity, and Helen has that in the best possible mix of intelligence, experience and sexiness,” David said.

“She needs to be matched, and Thomas was my one and only choice. He was great in Hamlet, but he blew us away as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.

“They complement each other fantastically – there’ll be sparks.”

Joining Helen and Thomas are Helen Cassidy, Kathryn Marquet, Bryan Probets, Hayden Spencer, Trevor Stuart, Kate Wilson, Luke Cadden and Dominic Nimo.

Eight students actors from QUT and Southbank Institute of Technology complete the cast.

“It’s a wonderful cast,” David said. “And to have these 10 actors joined by eight more from the city’s drama schools is a real treat, especially for this play. The play has such variety and I know this cast will be able to deliver it with relish and joy.”

“It’s probably the most satisfying ending Shakespeare ever wrote - there’s barely a dark cloud on the horizon and he ties it all up so brilliantly, with tongue in cheek, a Greek god, four weddings, a family reunion, and a song and dance,” he said.

“I think we all want to believe in happy endings. We all want to believe in miracles and in great love. Our aim is to create an event that throws these things joyously into the air and allows them to land balanced in heart and mind.”

As You Like It plays at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre from 18 February – 24 March 2012.

Win Tickets

Win a pair of tickets to the preview performance of As You Like It on Saturday February 18, 2012 at 7:30pm (Two Pairs Available).

The Challenge

La Boite’s As You Like It will be set ‘here and now.’ Explain briefly (max 10 words) what it is about Shakespeare that still speaks to you ‘here and now.’

Our favourite answers win (preference for one pair of tickets these tickets will go to a subscriber to our print magazine, please mention if you are a subscriber in your answer).

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Enter 'As You Like It' in the subject field, with your answer as a message.

Competition closes at 12 noon, Saturday, February 11, 2012.