Rainbow Shakespeare returns to Worthing’s Highdown Gardens this summer with two contrasting comedies.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, and lovely
00:07to speak again to Ross Muir, even if it does make me think just how quickly the years flash
00:11by because we're just about to launch into Rainbow Shakespeare once again in Worthing,
00:16a summer highlight for 25 years now, a quarter of a century in Worthing since 1999. And this
00:22year, Ross, the two plays are Midsummer Night's Dream and A Winter's Tale. Why is that a good
00:28combination, do you think? It's a beautiful combination, actually, because strangely enough,
00:34both plays are about jealousy. It's more overt in The Winter's Tale, but in Midsummer Night's
00:42Dream, you've got the classic line that Titania says to Oberon, what jealous Oberon, because
00:48he wants the young Indian boy for his train, that Titania is currently looking after on
00:55behalf of, you know, a lady that passed away. And then you've got the four lovers as well,
01:02you know, who sort of become jealous of each other because of the potions that get put
01:06on their eyes and they start, you know, falling in love with the wrong person. But I think
01:13also that the plays, a nice contrast in terms of two different seasons. So you've got a
01:20Midsummer Night's Dream and then you've got The Winter's Tale.
01:25And when, in Midsummer Night's Dream, you were saying you've done as a company five
01:29or six times, but you haven't done A Winter's Tale since 2007, when by chance you were playing
01:35the same part you're going to be playing this time.
01:38I know. It's quite extraordinary to have been asked to revisit Leontes after 17 years.
01:45Does that happen often that you go back to a part?
01:50I'm trying to think if that's happened to me in the past. I'm sure it has, but I can't
01:55remember offhand. But I think the opportunity is to try and do it better than you did it
02:02before. And I think not to try and copy what you did before, because obviously, you know,
02:09you've got 17 years more life experience from when you last did it. So it's looking at it afresh.
02:17Yeah. So I imagine that could muddy the waters in some way, that you've got to fight not
02:21to just remember, haven't you? You've got to come, as you say, using the benefit of
02:25all the life experiences you had in the last nearly two decades.
02:29Yes. Yes. And I think it's always about, I think, the truth of the situation and being
02:39honest in terms of analysing the text and serving the play and, you know, and serving
02:45the character and not trying to impose stuff onto it that isn't really there. But obviously,
02:52being 17 years older, you know, I'm going to have a different kind of slant on it, if
02:59you like. And I think one of the things I want to do is try to find more nuances and
03:03variation in what it means to be jealous. You know, not just sort of be ranting in this,
03:10you know, rage of jealousy, but I think there's lots of subtle layers that can be explored,
03:17which I didn't find the last time. So I'm looking forward to that.
03:21It sounds ideal. And of course, we should stress that it's in a fabulous setting, isn't
03:25it? You know what could be better than where you're going to be performing?
03:29Yes, it's beautiful. And I think the last time we did it, funnily enough, at Highdown Gardens,
03:35we'd moved in further into the gardens. There was a period during the Highdown years where
03:41we had to move from the original lawn into a middle section of the garden. But now we're
03:48back on the original lawn again. So I'll actually be doing it on a different lawn, at least.
03:55Fantastic. Well, good luck with everything. It sounds a great combination.
03:59And hope it goes brilliantly. Good to speak to you.
04:02Thanks. Thank you, Phil.