Viv Hardwick talks to actor Richard Clothier about touring an all-male version of The Winter's Tale.

RICHARD Clothier is fondly remembered at Newcastle's Theatre Royal in 2003 for an all-male version of A Midsummer Night's Dream playing Titania with testosterone. "I was told I looked like the kind of woman who could put a serious left on Audley Harrison," he laughs.

Clothier returns to Tyneside next week in the same company, a Propeller 'all guys together' version of The Winter's Tale again directed by Edward Hall, but as one of the most evil men ever created by William Shakespeare.

His jealousy-consumed Leontes is seen kicking his heavily-pregnant wife (played by Simon Scardifield) in the stomach before destroying his family, his kingdom and himself. Clothier agrees with the view that this is one of the Bard's "problem" plays, written in later life, with some stark messages to portray.

"It's one of the last three he did and almost strips away a cogent or logical narrative. The subject matter in the first half is pretty relentless while the second half is almost like two different plays with scenes of joy and hope," explains Clothier who admits he's having a struggle to find any redeeming qualities for Leontes. "I've looked at this and I find his jealousy borders more on clinical illness and physical sickness that goes along with it. This is a pathological disorder because if his behaviour is willful he is absolutely without excuse or redemption."

Interestingly, the Propeller actors feel that seeing men dressed as women suffering violence seems to heighten the physical incapability of a female in these circumstances. "God, I hope I'm remembered for more than kicking a pregnant woman on stage in Newcastle," he jokes. The interesting part about Propeller returning to the days when all parts on stage were played by men is the realisation that Shakespeare would have written his works knowing that "female" words would be spoken by men.

Clothier says: "The ethos of men playing women in our case means that it's not always the prettiest boys who get picked to play the female roles. There's never an attempt to disguise the fact that we're all men. This is a key thing for Ed (Hall) who likes to make the audience work and if you can go along with that then everything else is fairly easy going."

He adds: "It's stopped becoming an issue for us after eight years. It was a shock at first when I was asked to play Titania, but I was only really aware of my role when Tyne Tees TV came down to do some filming at Newcastle and I become slightly self-conscious about hundreds of thousands of people seeing this large man entering their room in drag at tea time." So now he's played both sides of the skirt which does he prefer?

"Personally I feel more comfortable in trousers I must confess. There's only a handful of women who've played Titania in the West End and I'm damn sure no other man has," he laughs.

* The Winter's Tale is booked for extensive overseas tours. The Watermill Theatre production plays Newcastle's Theatre Royal from Tuesday until Saturday. Box Office 0870 905 5060.

Published: 19/05/2005