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The
National Theatre is making a decisive break with the past - literally
so.
As
Nicholas Hytner seizes the reigns of the artistic directorship from
Trevor Nunn, the first show to premiere under his auspices in the
Lyttelton couldn't be more removed from the kind of old Broadway
musicals that the previous regime specialised in.
"It's
exactly the kind of work the National should be doing: bold,
scabrous, funny and beautiful..."
Nicholas Hytner's reaction on
first seeing 'Jerry Springer the Opera' |
It's
not only new and British-written - by two 30-something, erstwhile
stand-up comedy performers - but it's also a contemporary opera,
improbably but gloriously satirising the cult American trash television
phenomenon of the Jerry Springer show (now in its 12th series),
in which members of the public confess their darkest secrets.
As
Richard Thomas, whose original idea it was to turn this into a modern
opera says of the source material, "It's got tragedy. It's
got violence. There are people screaming at each other and you can't
understand what they're saying - it's perfect for opera".
purgatory
environment
It
was just two years ago that Thomas began the show's development
at South London's BAC, with a showcase of an incomplete first act
performed solo at the piano.
It
expanded through successive versions as Stewart Lee came on board
to offer story ideas and eventually to direct it, too:
"He
had a first act which was like an episode of the show, and had some
ideas for a second half as a kind of purgatory environment in which
people who had been on the show were coming back and telling Jerry
about things that happened to them in their life afterwards.
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Jerry
Springer the Opera...you too will believe a man in a nappy
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"We
tried to extrapolate that into a story with a plot. I only
ended up directing it because we did it on no money at Battersea
and it was cheaper to use me."
"Comedy
is the best apprenticeship for anything," continues Thomas.
"You get a sense of pace and timing. And because we're both
from a comedy background, we're used to trying things out in front
of audiences.
distilled
and compressed
"Rather
than wasting two years and then doing a workshop, we were in front
of an audience from the very beginning."
That
audience, early on, included Nicholas Hytner, who exclaimed: "It's
exactly the kind of work the National should be doing: bold, scabrous,
funny and beautiful."
He
has put the National's money and resources where his mouth is, and
invited them to continue to develop the work there.
In
the process, Jery Springer the Opera has been refined, distilled
and compressed. And the end result defies easy categorisation.
"The
opera crowd regard it as a musical, and the musical crowd think
it's an opera," says Thomas, "but I'm very happy
to be in a grey area, a no man's land!"
Jerry
Springer the Opera previews at the National's Lyttelton Theatre
and opens on 29 April. It will run in rep for 48 performances only
to 5 July. Box office: 020 7452 3000
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more
theatre
video
report: nicholas hytner talks to 大象传媒 london's amanda hussain about
taking over the reigns at the national
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