With the Royal Shakespeare Company season called off for 2011, the arrival of Propeller in Newcastle is timely. Viv Hardwick talks to director Edward Hall about his all-male cast.

IN the best traditions of an allmale activity which avoids all mentions of the off-side rule, Edward Hall’s Propeller company returns to Newcastle Theatre Royal balancing the Hammer Horror-style Richard III against the light-hearted The Comedy of Errors.

Hall, who has just taken on running Hampstead Theatre as artistic director, feels that Richard also lends himself to dark humour and says: “The play looks for the comic undercut all the time. A woman at Guildford stood up behind me a few weeks ago and said at the interval ‘I don’t know why, but I’m smiling’.”

Richard Clothier takes on his namesake for the Tuesday-Saturday run and Hall says: “This role is darkly ironic, he uses everybody else’s greed to get to the top and keeps selling that to the audience. At the start he comes out and talks to the audience and says ‘this is who I am, this is what I’m going to do and this is how I’m going to do it’. Then he goes and does it and the audience is complicit all the way along.

“Clothier also played Richard in Rose Rage when I did an adaptation of the three Henry VI plays. He’s now, six or seven years later, getting the chance to do the final chapter.”

So is he humpty-backed and the full monty in terms of portrayal?

“We’ve got a foot thing going on, we’ve got a magical arm thing going on and a hump thing going on. Firstly, he’s a character in a world when any deformity is considered something you associate with the devil and that people are very wary of.

Now, we live in a world where there is even more pressure for people to look perfect and adverts of movie stars are airbrushed and corrected so it looks lovely. It speaks to an audience today when a man comes out and says ‘I’m not perfect and I’m going to be not perfect… here we go’,” says Hall, who points out that the hump, leg and arm are mentioned in the text.

Another difficulty facing Propeller and Hall’s new venue is the age of austerity and I ask him if he continues to be concerned that funding may only come with strings attached to what is presented on stage.

“We always have to be careful that the tail doesn’t wag the dog and you don’t have to work out what you do based on what you think you’ll get funding for,” he observes.

So is it easier working with The touring partnership of theatres, which include Newcastle Theatre Royal, and has been supporting quality drama productions since 1994?

“The partnership has enabled our company to grow wonderfully and it’s been a major support. There are three elements to putting something like this together. One is the partnership, another is the Arts Council and the third is corporate sponsorship, which in this case is down to Coutts Bank.

“This is the first of several projects that we’re going to work on together and it’s a real pleasure to have secured wonderful theatres with great audiences.

“We’ve been national touring for 13 years and it’s at the centre of what we do, even though we’ve been abroad and into the West End. The latest tour is an exciting move forward for us.”

Hall points out that the arts have always seemed to be in recession, so he’s elated to discover that the market and ticket sales are still there.

“It’s just the method of delivery that’s being threatened,” Hall says.

I point out that his all-male efforts with Propeller come at a time when male esteem appears to be at an alltime low.

“If we were offered more money to put some women in the cast I would say that’s not what we do. I started Propeller with tuppence halfpenny and a good play and we’ve slowly grown from there. I never say never and I think it has to be led by an artistic vision and our vision is to explore the plays in the way they were originally written. It’s just one way of doing it.

“If we were to change that, it would change the vision. I’m not saying we would never do that because I’m sure one day we will, but, at the moment we’ll continue to investigate the plays like this,” he responds.

Propeller don’t use musical directors and choreographers and relies on its 14 actors to create its plots.

Some members have learned to play an instrument especially for Propeller’s work.

“If someone is good at the tango, then we’ll put in some tango. In touring terms, we’re leaner than any company you’ll know,” Hall jokes.

Asked if it’s a distraction to be in charge of a company and a theatre while trying to direct, he says: “The more you are aware of, the better you are to maximise your resources, the better the end product on stage. In this case we’ve got one comedy, one tragedy, you decide. They are a lovely antidote,” he says.

Finally Hall admits that he’s desperately hoping that the set change can be achieved in 90 minutes when both plays run on the same day.

“Watch this space.”

* The Comedy Of Errors runs Tues, Thurs, Fri 7.30pm and Saturday 2pm. Richard III is Weds, Sat 7.30pm and Thurs 2pm.

Tickets: £8.50-£27.50. Theatre Royal Box Office: 08448-112-121 theatreroyal.co.uk