Bard in the Botanics is back as Shakespeare takes on Covid

The artistic director reveals he went through all the 36 Shakespeare plays in order to work out which screamed relevance. Barr and associate director Jennifer Dick had to select the plays that reflected a sense of contained emotions, strangulated feelings and sweaty, anxious unfulfilment.

How could Shakespeare Meet Corona – and keep an audience happy?

Barr and The Bard found their plays. And their decision was touched with genius. They determined on producing two Shakespearean classics that somehow lent themselves to a sense of isolation, being trapped in tiny worlds.

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Twelfth Night, when you scratch the surface, contains a storyline so apposite to the Covid hell we’ve all had to live through. “One of the reasons why we chose it is that it features a lot of yearning for someone who can’t love you back, or declare their true feelings,” Barr says.

He is not kidding. Shakespeare’s love comedy triangle features Viola who loves Orsino, while Orsino loves Olivia – yet Olivia loves Cesario, who is a woman dressed as a man. And everyone is wonderfully miserable.

“There is a lot happening in the space between the characters,” Barr grins. “And the whole play has this sense of life coming back after a period of grieving, of loss. It’s set in a country in which lives have been stuck.”

He adds: “Shakespeare didn’t write a play about Covid. But this play offers a sense of what would have happened if he had. But at the same time, we didn’t want to make it too on the nose.”

Barr’s choice of A Winter’s Tale also fits the bill in terms of offering audiences deep frustration and a sense of isolation, the story of two king's friends, Leontes and Polixenes who become caught up in a mad romantic confusion, a tale of insane jealousy and lost children. “I’ve loved it for years,” says Barr, “and I’ve been looking for a way to bring it back. It presents the notion that tough times can happen, but that time is a great healer. There is the possibility of hope, of good things to come.”

Gordon Barr

Gordon Barr’s voice is understandably excited at the prospect of delivering two new productions this year in Twelfth Night and A Winter’s Tale.

Yet, given the slings and arrows of outrageous pandemic fortune in the past 18 months, it would be understandable if it’s also tinged with fear? “I have no fear in my actors. I have no fear in my team. But, yes, it’s all a bit overwhelming, really. We had nothing for so long, then we just inched through the first part of the year worrying, are we going to get into the right level for things to go ahead?

“Then, suddenly you are in rehearsals and privileged to be one of the first theatre companies to make a comeback. And it’s great. And we are working to make sure we get it right, to bring theatre back safely and giving the industry a bit of confidence.”

He adds: “But of course it’s all about entertainment. We want audiences to go home happy.”

There is also the realisation that the world which he left behind two summers again is not the same. “It’s like starting from scratch. The box office system, the art designs, the publicity programmes, how we can perform on stage... the dressing rooms.”

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The cast will be two metres apart, which is a challenge. The choreography has to be so precise. And it means the theatre director is fighting every natural instinct, to have his actors display passion, or anger, or even “dance like a loon.”

He says: “But the cast have been brilliant at helping us find solutions.”

What are they? What can possibly replace a kiss? Well, how about the kiss that doesn’t quite happen...

He laughs: “We use lots of interruptions just as characters are about to do something. It really works well with these pieces.”

Gordon Barr feels confident audiences will connect with the plays in a new way. “We’ve all lived through Covid, and we don’t need to do it again. But what we do need is to connect somehow with the experience we’ve had, with the sense of loss the sense of separation we’ve gone through.”

Thankfully, recent political events will also add a little added frisson to Shakespeare’s plots, his tales of duplicity, backstabbing, secret lovers and spite. Thank god for politicians, eh? Aren’t they the gift that keeps on giving? “Absolutely,” he says, smiling.

Barr has faced all sorts of challenges in the past. He has managed to produce a 20-year theatre success story without public subsidy. His shoulders are clearly as broad as Henry IV’s sword. “I never want to talk about the weather, but every year you don’t really know. The heavy rain means the show can’t go on, but it’s the unsettled weather that really throws us. Audiences don’t want to look out of their windows and worry if they should buy tickets when it’s a grey day.”

He offers a wry smile. “It keeps you on your toes.”

There has also been the challenge of new productions. Barr’s Hamlet, for example, was played by a female. He’s had to compress the unwieldy Antony and Cleopatra. We’ve seen Much Ado About Nothing relocated to a Victorian travelling circus. We’ve seen productions set in Glasgow bars, populated by gangsters.

“We’ve felt the audiences have been really supportive,” he says in heartfelt voice. “It’s still Shakespeare, but Benedict and Beatrice may appear as a gay male couple. But that’s part of what people expect, and like, about Bard in the Botanics.”

There is little doubt that outdoor theatre has its own special place in hearts and minds. Audiences last year put their money where their mouth was to back the theatre company when it couldn’t go on.

What’s clear is that Bard perfectly complements conventional theatre, appealing to all demographics. Gordon Barr clearly loves the idea of this very different shared experience, of tackling the elements and repositioned characters, of bonding with each other on stage and connecting to an audience.

Yet, this year, the passion is all the more evident in his voice. He is aware he’s speaking not only of the revival of the Bard season – but of theatre itself.

“But what we really wanted to do was capture this sense of hope, of life coming back,” he says, in ebullient tone. “And we really hope we’ve done that. I really feel it’s going to be a very emotional week.”

Is he aware that Bard in the Botanics is a symbol of hope of what’s to come for the rest of the year? “I hope that is the case,” he says, smiling.

Bard In the Botanics features Nicole Cooper, Stephanie McGregor, Adam Donaldson, Alan Steele, Jennifer Dick and James Siggens. July 7 – August 28.

Tickets can only be booked online. Physical tickets will not be issued. The audience will be sectioned into household groups, of between two and of four people. Each group will be marked off in a special area. Bring your own seating, chairs and blankets.