11 minute read
WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN
The theatre’s back, guys –hurrah! So Melissa Blease is back on theatre watch. Here she chats to veteran thespian (don’t say that fast) Malcolm Sinclair who is co-starring in Copenhagen, which runs from 9–26 June at Theatre Royal Bath
What is it that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.” Thus spake Niels Henrik David Bohr, the 20th-century Danish physicist, philosopher and promoter of scientific research whose pioneering, Nobel Prize-winning ‘atomic model’ forms the basis for our understanding of how the world is structured.
“Darling, when I’m back at the Theatre Royal Bath this time around, you really must buy me a drink!” Thus spake Malcolm Sinclair, the British actor (and former actors’ trade union Equity president of eight years standing), familiar to all of us for his work in all-kinds-of-everything-classics from various episodes of Midsomer Murders, A Touch of Frost, Casualty, The Bill and Foyle’s War to Uncle Vanya, The History Boys, Hamlet, My Fair Lady and a highly acclaimed production of David Haig’s Pressure (starring Sinclair in the role of General Dwight Eisenhower, which came to Theatre Royal Bath in 2018, at it happens), taking in films such as Casino Royale and V for Vendetta along the way.
The connection between the two quotes? This June, Malcolm will be appearing at Theatre Royal Bath in Michael Frayn’s 1998 play Copenhagen, co-starring as Bohr himself alongside Haydn Gwynne as Bohr’s wife Margrethe and Philip Arditti as the German scientist Werner Heisenberg. And from just speaking to Malcolm longdistance down a telephone line, I know one fact for sure: there could be no actor with a more perfect voice (harmonious and sincere; mellow yet authoritative) to communicate Bohr’s experience and ideas to a theatre audience... nor make you an offer you can’t refuse regarding buying him a drink.
“Copenhagen focuses on a real-life meeting between Bohr, his wife and Heisenberg that took place in 1941, after Denmark had been occupied by the Germans,” says Malcolm, once we’ve established details of our forthcoming rendezvous. “At the time, there was a possibility of developing an atomic bomb, and the main thrust of the potent conversation that took place during that meeting focuses on the morals and ethics of such a development.”
Thanks to Michael Frayn, what happened in Copenhagen was not destined to stay in Copenhagen – and the dynamic that underpinned that meeting was explosive on many levels.
“Bohr and Heisenberg were already very, very close friends and long-term colleagues; it could be said that Heisenberg was Bohr’s protégé,” says Malcolm. “They were all physicists, but they called themselves theoretical physicists and they were all trying to work out, in theoretical terms, what an atom actually is, what atoms do, how they’re constructed, how they react to each other, and what the implications of development of the atom on the scale they were discussing could be – once a bomb is developed, the threat to people’s lives, of course, becomes terrifying.”
But Bohr and Heisenberg were both about as far from being ‘warmongers’ as it’s possible to get.
“Bohr was, in a way, the father of all the theoretical physicists; he led the thinking, he was a very, very good man,” says Malcolm. “And so, beyond the huge debate at the forefront of the Copenhagen theme, there’s another crucial layer about how and what these scientists actually did during the war – particularly Heisenberg, who stayed in Germany and worked under the Nazis and yet wasn’t a Nazi at all. How did he conduct himself... and was there really a possibility of Germany getting an atomic bomb? And of course, many awful contrasts and predicaments were thrown up at that time. Up until that point, in the world of science at least, everyone,
PREVIOUS PAGE, left to right: Malcolm Sinclair, Haydn Gwynne and Philip Arditti, who are starring in Copenhagen ABOVE: Malcolm Sinclair playing General Eisenhower in Pressure at Theatre Royal Bath in 2018. Photograph by Robert Day
whatever their nationality, worked together – German, Danish, American, British, French, Italian, all of them. Then the moment the war happened, no one worked together anymore. Or did they? In short, Copenhagen is a fascinating, multi-contextual play; the moment I got the chance to do it, I leapt at it and said oh, yes please!”
But this isn’t the first time that Bath audiences have been poised to leap at the chance to see Copenhagen – and, when it was originally scheduled on the Theatre Royal Bath programme last autumn, Malcolm wasn’t in the equation at all. “A wonderful actor called Michael Gould was cast in the November 2020 production, but he was forced to withdraw due to a case of Covid in his family and theatre was closed down again anyway,” Malcolm explains. “Then we thought we might get a crack at opening in January, and then we didn’t – we all know how the story went across the world, we’ve all been living through such very strange times. In preparation for this time around, though, we’re all very optimistic –and we’ve all had plenty of zoom calls, just to make sure we still remember our lines!”
Ah, Covid and lockdown: Malcolm, how was it for you? “If I’m absolutely honest, it hasn’t all been too bad,” he says. “My other half could work from home, and I did three books, and I was lucky enough to receive some government support as I’m self-employed –on a work-related level, I had little reason to complain at all. But it’s all been very depressing in general, and dreadful for so many people. I lost my dear mother during lockdown – bless her heart, she was 95 and lived in a nursing home, so it was difficult to be with her; it’s a sad story that will resonate with all too many people. Even now, every plan we make is still provisional because we still have no idea how it’s all going to turn out. But so far, so good? And Bath is looking wonderful again!”
Bath looking wonderful again is another subject that Malcolm can talk (harmonious, sincere, etc – remember?) with authority on.
“I had – and still have – several very good friends in Bath, and in Bristol too. I was a student at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and my very first job out of college was at the Bristol Old Vic itself. I was there with the late Chris Harris, known by so many as the West Country’s best-loved pantomime dame, and a worldwide authority on the subject of one of theatre’s oldest traditions.
“My friend Mark Buffery and I, who I was also at drama school with, used to do pantos at the Theatre Royal Bath with Chris – fun days indeed. But the very first time I visited Theatre Royal Bath –the first time of several, as it turned out – was with Sir John Mills, decades ago; oh, I have so many marvellous memories of that marvellous theatre.”
And theatre is, ultimately, at the heart of Sinclair world. “I love it –love it, very strongly indeed,” he says. “The whole idea of the theatre and the performing arts in general is to bring people together, a bit like another form of church, really. Shops, gyms, hairdressers, pubs, cafés – they’re all up and running again, but theatres are going to be the last thing to reopen. I'm really pucker about going to, and working in, the theatre again; I just hope that people will turn up!”
Oh Malcolm, I guarantee they will. And I guarantee I’ll pick up the tab for that drink, too – when asked by someone with a voice like his, it’d be impossible not to.
A monstrous experience
Do you fancy a scary thrill? Well, dust off your boots and make your way down to the House of Frankenstein in June where you’ll find Mary Shelley’s story and that of her creation, Frankenstein brought to life. It’s a multi-sensory experience created by two film and theatre practitioners, Chris Harris and Jonathan Willis, Emma Clegg discovers
When Chris mentioned the idea of a multi-sensory Frankenstein venue, it was a total no-brainer. Knowing Chris and his creative abilities, I was supremely confident that it was going to be something that would appeal to people and that would be different. And spectacular.”
Jonathan Willis and Chris Harris are together founding partners of House of Frankenstein, opening in Bath in June. The house –just three doors up from the Jane Austen Museum in Gay Street –is set over four atmospheric floors featuring ominous music and unsettling soundscapes, aromas, lighting and special effects, electric shocks, projections, props, unusual artefacts, body parts and vintage items.
Jonathan Willis is a film producer and Chris Harris is a writer and producer and they have worked together in the theatre and subsequently in film, including Chris’s stage play The Pixie Led (Time Out No 1), the acclaimed sci-fi movie The Machine (winner Raindance 2013) and Killers Anonymous (2019, Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba). “We’ve worked together for about 100 years,” says Jonathan. In fact it was 1987, which explains their strong connection.
“I make movies, Chris has written productions, so you’ve got the written word, you’ve got theatre, where everything is theatrically dressed as a theme, as an audioscape and aromascape, and they’re all relevant for a visitor attraction,” explains Jonathan. There are also all their freelance contacts –scenic artists, prop makers, graphic designers –many of whom have taken part in the project.
The experience –for it is not a museum –focuses on what inspired Mary Shelley to create the story of Frankenstein, which was her interest in science and galvanism and the reanimation of the dead using electricity. “As well as the story of Mary Shelley, we’re following the story of Frankenstein itself because the stories run quite closely together,” says Chris. “Her life was extraordinary – so much trauma and tragedy. By the time she was 24 she had published Frankenstein, she was a widow and three of her young children had died. Her mother died when she was just a few days old, she suffered depression, her husband was a philanderer and she lived in a chaotic, strange world where they were on the run most of the time. There was nothing glamorous about this –it was a hard, traumatic life. She was a visionary who came up with an idea that’s stood the test of time and it’s important to tell her story.”
So what should visitors expect? Each room has a slightly different ambience, accentuated by the aroma and soundscapes. The first floor embraces Mary’s early life and her interest in the supernatural, and features a Tesla machine-effect spurting out five-million volts of electricity. Then there is a scary supernatural section, another about the novel and how it was created, then a laboratory.
The ‘Mourning Room’ is a creepy space showing those that Mary lost in a short period of time. Also, there is a popular culture area which is more kitsch, following the green-skinned monster that has been immortalised in film and print. “In the laboratory we are going to represent Victor Frankenstein’s studio with a replica of the monster as Mary envisaged it, not as Universal Pictures did –she didn’t mention green skin and a flat top head,” says Jonathan.
“What we’ve tried to do with the company MillenniumFX, a Bafta Award-winning animatronic company, is to create what we see using the words from the novel, how Mary herself saw the monster. Nobody has done that ever; there have always been compromises,” he continues.
“Victor Frankenstein didn’t create a monster; it was supposed to be the perfect human being. But it didn’t look great, because you could see the sinews within the tight yellow skin.”
The project has been an immersive one for Chris and Jonathan, “It’s been all consuming,” says Chris. “I sleep it. I wake up in the middle of the night and I’ve either created a problem or I’ve solved one. It’s 7,000 sq ft and we’re trying to tell a story with a lot of components.”
“We’ve not done anything structurally to the fabric of the building –it’s all smoke and mirrors – but what we’ve done cosmetically has given the building a lovely atmosphere. We’re trying to make it a visceral experience, where it’s atmospheric and there are smells,” Chris continues. “Little things trip your senses, and there is a sense of foreboding. There will be little jumps but not jump-out-of-your-skin frights, although the basement goes more into this territory.”
“We hope it is inspiring, a proper visceral experience that is totally unique and a world first,” concludes Jonathan.
Try it out for yourself in June.
Tickets will need to be prebooked and a limited number of people will be admitted each hour. The experience is recommended for ages 12+; the opening date will be announced soon on the website; houseoffrankenstein.com
