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Prescotia |
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Website for former pupils of the Prescot
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| Shakespeare
on the Mersey: A Globe for the
North? |
The
'Royle Family' actress Sue
Johnston grew up in Prescot. Now
she's backing plans for a
Globe-style theatre in her old
home town
Prescot is unrecognisable from
when I was growing up there. It's
a run-down town, but still has
the most beautiful Jacobean
church, built around the time
Shakespeare was writing his first
plays. Over the years, the town
has been laid to waste, badly
conceived and built around - a
sad little place that has lost
its soul. But it could find it
again.
When David Thacker, former
artistic director of the Young
Vic who is spearheading plans to
create a Globe Theatre in the
North, rang me to tell me about
the Shakespeare North project
near Liverpool, it took me a
while to realise he was talking
about basing it in the place
where I had grown up and gone to
school - Prescot, in the borough
of Knowsley.
Looking at his model of the town,
with the old church and proposed
Cockpit Theatre, was
extraordinary. It felt like
stepping back into my past. To
think that the first
purpose-built indoor theatre in
Britain (and the only Elizabethan
theatre outside London) had been
sitting on our doorsteps - or,
perhaps I should say, under our
doorsteps - without us ever
knowing about it. Of course, I
wanted to get involved.
That there was an Elizabethan
theatre in Prescot, The
Playhouse, built along the same
lines of the Globe Theatre, but
with a roof, there is no doubt.
It was built in the 1590s by a
close associate of the Earls of
Derby (or the Stanleys) of
Knowsley Hall. They were major
patrons of various groups of
strolling players, including
Derby's Men and Strange's Men.
When Shakespeare escaped from the
plagues and fire in the hell-hole
that was London to stay at
Knowsley Hall towards the end of
the 16th century, it seems highly
unlikely that he would have
stayed at the hall with a group
of actors without seeing his
plays performed in the theatre.
I was not quite born in Prescot
but went to infant, junior and
grammar school there. I was in
the first year that attended the
new girls' grammar school, half
of which was built on the Earl of
Derby's land. The current Earl of
Derby is now Shakespeare North's
patron. And Prescot Grammar
School for Girls was where I
first learnt about Shakespeare. I
had a wonderful teacher who made
me want to become an actor. It's
the old story, but appearing in a
school play first made me realise
that I wanted to act. I adored
Shakespeare, as my father had
always adored him. He could quote
from all the plays - he had an
extraordinary love of Shakespeare
for a plumber.
Now, Prescot desperately needs
regeneration, which is partly
what the Shakespeare North
project is about. The replica
theatre would slot inside a
complex of cinemas, restaurants,
walkways, shops, education
centres and a library.
It would bring life to this
place. We're also hoping that it
would bring tourism to the area
and regenerate it in the same way
that the Globe Theatre has done
to the South Bank. If it does as
well as the Globe, it could bring
this town and the whole borough
back to life.
We hope to emulate the Globe's
education projects, too. When we
were at school we had to travel
to Manchester, Liverpool or
Stratford-upon-Avon to see a
production. There was nothing in
Prescot. There is still nothing.
I'd really like to see the kids
in the area take an interest in
the arts. I've always believed
that art and drama can open up
children's minds in a different
way.
For this project, our hearts are
in what we are going to do with
the children of today, who seem
to be either rather hopeless or
violent. Building a theatre in
Prescot is one way of dealing
with them.
David Thacker is already working
in schools. These are not easy
schools - doing Shakespeare with
kids in Kirkby and Huyton is not
the kind of job you would wish on
anyone. But the children love it.
I saw two kids rehearsing Julius
Caesar. First, they improvised
about being soldiers in Iraq,
then Davidintroduced the play and
by the end they were reading the
Shakespeare text for the first
time, understanding it and loving
it.
Some Stratford-based
Shakespeareans have said that
there is only a tenuous link
between the Bard and Prescot, and
we are using Shakespeare's name
as backing for the bid. But most
of the people that I know who
work at the theatre at
Stratford-upon-Avon are very
keen. We're all thinking of ways
in which we can put Shakespeare's
lifeblood out through veins
across the country. There's no
denying that Shakespeare is one
of our biggest tourist
attractions. Plans are afoot to
crisscross the whole country with
these theatres so that it isn't
all Stratford- and London-based,
so that there can be another
centre where Shakespeare can
belong. Shakespeare North is part
of a much grander scheme - not
just a little theatre on its own.
Of course, there are always going
to be people who think:
"What good will this
do?" These things are always
a battle. I remember all the
years that Sam Wanamaker spent
trying to revive the Globe.
People said that it would never
work and that it was a waste of
money. It took him half of his
career to get people engaged in
that project, and now it's the
most wonderful place. It is
always packed and the atmosphere
around it is lovely. If you don't
like the show, you can just sit
there and think, "this is
what it used to be like", or
you can watch the groundlings -
it's all part of the show. That's
what I would love for Prescot. |
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