SOPHIE HUNTER AND ANDREW STAPLES INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Programme Host: Suzy Klein
BBC Radio 3 âIn Tuneâ, 31 July 2015
Suzy Klein: Now on In Tune, itâs over to Northern Ireland and Happy Days International Beckett Festival Enniskillen where the annual international celebrations of the Irish novelist and playwright return for a fourth year. One of the many great things on offer at the festival is a new production of Brittenâs Phaedra, from director Sophie Hunter and music director Andrew Staples. And they join me on the line now. Good evening to both of you.
Andrew Staples: Good evening!
SK: Andrew, this is Brittenâs solo cantata, a very late work, a really powerful work. Whatâs the Beckett connection? Why is it in this festival?
AS: Well the, um, the text that Brittenâs Phaedra is based on the Racine monologue and Beckett apparently very inspired by that to write his monologue. So thatâs enough of a link I think to give it place in this festival.
SH: Yes, itâs Robert Lowellâs translation of Racineâs play Phaedra and then he and Britten met and then he compressed his translation of this five acts into this fifteen minutes.
SK: And itâs a cantata for solo voice for a small orchestra written in 1975 for Janet Baker. You have the wonderful Ruby Philogene. Sophie, I understand youâre making various demands, thatâs sheâs going to be hoiked up into the air at some point, is this right? Just⊠just to set the scene first because the way youâre doing this looks absolutely stunning.
SH: Yeah, weâre setting, weâre speaking right now from the grounds of Necarne Castle, specifically the equestrian arena thatâs in its grounds. And, thatâs where the piece is going to unfold. The hoiking up into the air, yeah we have to hoik her up a fair bit to get her into the thing that sheâs going to be singing from. Iâm not gonna give it all away but itâs, itâs over fifteen foot tall and a cherry picker is involved.
SK: How did Ruby react when she got the call about that?
SH: Sheâs pretty foolhardy!
AS: She is pretty steady. She chose the cherry⊠an automated, sort of massive industrial cherry picker over a humble ladder.
AS: And I think itâs, in fact, you know, it feels like youâre in contact with the ground. But she has been an absolute star to put up with the demands that weâve asked of her.
SK: And not only the physical demands, but the emotional and musical ones. I mean Sophie, the story, well itâs a pretty, I mean itâs a harrowing tale. Itâs shrouded by death, this sort of incestous infatuation that Pheadra has with her step-son. And she takes her own life at the end of the piece. Itâs one of those things that is so short, so compressed but pack such a powerful punch, doesnât it?
SH: Yes, it certainly does. And working on it, I mean, itâs fifteen minutes but itâs sceptered because the origin is a five act play but, you feel every single beat of every single scene in it. So, if you unpack it, actually, the intensity is just as much as that five act in the detail. So yeah, itâs been a lot of work but every time you would return to it, you find another thing thatâs transcendently inspiring.
SK: And you got the players of the Ulster Orchestra down at the castle too, I mean is it going to be chilly for them and will there be complaint of fingers getting cold?
AS: Ah, no, no, no! Theyâre made of ⊠we put them very close to the action. So theyâre actually being warmed at the minute by the stage lighting weâve been using for Ruby as well. So theyâre enjoying, basking in the glow and featuring so prominently in the piece.
SK: Fantastic! Look, it sounds absolutely brilliant. I know thereâs all sorts of wonderful things going on at the festival with early morning boat journeys out to islands and poetry, and TS Eliotâs Quartets. But your show get played twice I think, 7:15 tonight and 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, is that right?
SK: Fantastic! Good luck with it and wish Ruby good luck with her cherry picker and with the singing.
SK: Fantastic! Thanks to both of you for joining us, it was really good to talk to you. Thank you. And Phaedra by Benjamin Britten is at the Happy Days International Festival.
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