Classics offered with GCSE audiences in mind

They are offering Macbeth on Tuesday, March 12; Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde on Wednesday, March 13; and Romeo & Juliet on Thursday, March 14. Dickens Theatre Company artistic director Ryan Philpott is offering cut-down versions which offer the essentials in a full theatrical experience.

“I have been an actor for years. I'm a bit long in the tooth for it these days but I am an actor and a writer and I've written bits and bobs and got a few pieces on TV but for me getting stuff onto the stage was always a bit of an issue. But I did something down in Kent where Charles Dickens lived most of his life. I was asked to come up with a little something about Charles Dickens and I came up with something about the places that inspired him. And then one Christmas they said to me would I like to do A Christmas Carol. And in very quick time I wrote a version and it sold very, very well. And then the schools started asking when it was going to happen again because it was on the curriculum, and that sparked the idea in me for theatrical adaptations of the GCSE big hitters. I could see that there was a market for it certainly for the schools but also for the general public.These days everyone is on their devices and everything is so instant and people are wanting things more quickly.”

And so the approach evolved. Now they are bringing three pieces to Southsea’s Kings Theatre. Macbeth is usually two and a bit hours. This is a version that runs for 85 minutes: “The idea is that your 15-year-old GCSE student gets everything that they need but still get the full Macbeth experience.”

One big change is with the Porter, a small part of the original text and a character who delivers a speech which was probably funny at the time but really isn't now: “But he is an interesting character amongst all the death and betrayal and vaulting ambition. He's got a set of jangly keys and he is a bit of a giggle. We have made him a constant character and I have given him some modern verse that I have written.”

But Ryan insists that theatre-goers will still get a completely authentic Macbeth experience: “I've never had any teachers who have said anything other than ‘Thank you very much.’ We've made sure that every single quote the kids are going to need and every single turn and every single emotion is in there. We've also got to think about economy. We have seven actors in the company and sometimes you have to amalgamate two parts and I do think that's the kind of thing Shakespeare would have done. And we've also got to think of people's economy when it comes to time, that people don't have so much time.”

Romeo & Juliet is similarly reduced from maybe around two and a half hours to one hour 40: “I've been to see stuff that has been cut and it has not been enhanced by being cut but this absolutely is. The point is that Shakespeare – and I think this is wrong – is becoming something that people are bewildered by and scared by and put off by. What we are doing is unlocking it and making sure by the end of it people have got a great understanding yet have enjoyed it.”