Liverpool Playhouse director Gemma Bodinetz talks about reviving production of Tartuffe

Sep 1 2011 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

As the Everyman is rebuilt and the Playhouse prepares to mark its centenary, Michael Green talks to artistic director Gemma Bodinetz about her involvement in a significant period for Liverpool’s cultural heritage

Possibly the only thing that Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse artistic director Gemma Bodinetz doesn’t have to worry about at the moment is boredom.

Every minute of every day is positively action-packed as she presides over one of the most exciting periods in the illustrious history of the two iconic Liverpool venues.

Among the many projects occupying her time at the moment are:

Presiding over the rebuilding of the celebrated Everyman Theatre in Hope Street.

Reviving her immensely successful and highly acclaimed 2008 production of Molière’s Tartuffe at the Playhouse in Williamson Square.

Preparing to welcome the cast and crew for a major new production of Brecht’s Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Putting the finishing touches to plans to reopen the Playhouse Studio as a birthday present to the venue in its centenary year.

We begin by discussing the massive Everyman project. Straight after our interview Gemma was due to have a meeting with the architects and it soon became clear how much attention she is paying to the smallest detail.

“Yes, everything down to what colour the cups should be in the ladies!” she said. “My husband said to me ‘It takes you five years to decide what colour our kitchen should be, how can you deal with an entire theatre?’.

“It is a very collaborative process and I’m constantly talking to staff, including the cleaners, about the practicalities. It’s been fascinating talking to the access groups about sight and hearing issues, how the tiles in the toilet need to be a significantly different colour from the basins for people with poor vision.”

Getting bogged down in the minutiae, however, has not led to Gemma losing sight of how important the Everyman project is to the cultural life of Liverpool.

“It is an honour and a burden that is with me all the time,” she said. “It’s a massive responsibility and there are times when I really do feel that weight. But I do believe the mind expands with challenges and we do have a wonderful team working on this project.”

After her meeting with the architects, Gemma was due back in rehearsals for Roger McGough’s adaptation of Tartuffe, which returns to the Playhouse on September 8 following its triumphant run during the Capital of Culture year in Liverpool in 2008.

The director admits she has had few chances in her career to return to past glories although the revival idea did not come from her.

She said: “We worked with English Touring Theatre on Roger McGough’s version of Molière’s The Hypochondriac, which they said was one of the most popular shows they had ever toured. They were keen to do another McGough and suggested reviving Tartuffe.”

Gemma has managed to reunite about 70% of her original cast plus three new actors, including a new Tartuffe – Colin Tierney, who was last at the Playhouse in 2007 in Our Country’s Good and was recently seen playing John Lennon’s father in the film Nowhere Boy.

She said: “It was great to be able to reassemble so many from the previous cast but I think we have the balance right. Having three new actors does change things, especially with a new Tartuffe. If we had tried to replicate the earlier production it would have become a jaded echo of what we had done before.”

As if this wasn’t enough, she is also playing a major role in the restoration of the much-loved Playhouse Studio, which will stage Lizzie Nunnery’s new play The Swallowing Dark in October.

“We have been using the Everyman as a crucible for new writing as it has smaller audiences and can be turned into a more intimate theatre,” she said.

“Not all new writing can play to almost 700 people in a Victorian proscenium arch like the Playhouse.

“The Playhouse had a studio for years which is still talked about with passion so it seemed like a lovely birthday present in the theatre’s centenary year.

“Hopefully local companies will be able to develop new work although it won’t be a continuous programme as the studio is currently our only rehearsal space.”