Shakespeare as a calling card

I went on a school trip to see Propeller's Twelfth Night when I was doing my A levels, and it absolutely blew me away. I wasn't sure at that point how much I liked Shakespeare, and that show was a real turning point. Their take on Twelfth Night went some way to helping me decide that I wanted to be an actor. Since I was 18, I was aware of the company and I really wanted to work for them. Three of the people I saw in that production all those years ago, I'm touring with now. People tend to come back – it's like a big family.

I'm not sure what made Propellor decide to go to Istanbul when they did, but they're always looking to go to as many countries as they possibly can. Shakespeare is such a massive calling-card, internationally, and I hadn't really realised that until we were abroad and I could see the responses. Turkey is such an exciting place, so fun, and the responses were fantastic. I think it was kind of irrestistible for the company.

"Shakespeare is such a massive calling-card, internationally, and I hadn't really realised that until we were abroad"

It can be quite daunting at first to take Shakespeare to another country – you worry that what you're saying isn't going to come across, because you're relying on a translation of surtitles above your head. When you step out at the start of a play you're aware that people might be reading more than watching what's happening on the stage, at least at first. Very quickly, though, it settles down, and everywhere we went people were very much on it. They very much engaged with the show, and at the end, the responses from the audience really tell you what they thought – at the end of this show they were on their feet, cheering and clapping.

"It can be quite daunting at first to take Shakespeare to another country. You worry that what you're saying isn't going to come across"

It's an incredibly rewarding experience. People in Istanbul just seemed to know it, to know the stories and understand everything. Some of our Turkish guides said that to be hearing Shakespeare in its original language (because they do it both translated and in English at school) is amazing. Because of the richness of the language and the sounds, I think that the meaning and the sounds are so connected, in Shakespeare, that you can follow the rhythm and the verse, the emotion from the sounds. We're not thinking about that so much when we're actually performing, but for the listener and the watcher it comes across that way. And they're full of action, too, so you can always see what's happening as well. The intention should be clear, what each character is trying to do. And of course the stories are very famous. We're very lucky that Shakespeare is so internationally famous.

Credits

Dominic Gerrard was part of the company that took Propeller's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Comedy of Errors to Istanbul. Follow @PropellerTheatr for more from Propeller, and follow @UKTheatreDance for all of the latest news, opportunities and blogs from the British Council Theatre and Dance team.