{"id":1142,"date":"2023-02-27T11:37:30","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T11:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2023-04-20T16:56:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:56:49","slug":"the-importance-of-being-earnest-interview-with-director-philip-browell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/27\/the-importance-of-being-earnest-interview-with-director-philip-browell\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Being Earnest \u2013 Interview with Director Philip Browell"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we are now well underway with rehearsals, we took some time to catch up with our Director, Philip
\nBrowell, to get his thoughts on the production and how he is enjoying his Director responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Philip, what motivated PRS to choose this particular play as their next production?<\/em><\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s easy! The fabulous nature of Oscar Wilde\u2019s writing, the fizzing dialogue, and the laugh out loud
\ncomedy to be had from the beautifully constructed characters.
\nWhat\u2019s your \u2018vision\u2019 for this production? How do you keep it fresh for the audience of 2023?
\nWell, the play is set in 1895 and I plan to keep it within that period from a costume point of view and
\nremain faithful to the script. It\u2019s essentially a farce with all the ludicrous elements and much of the play
\nrevolves around some specific period props and it didn\u2019t feel right to change that. The difference will
\nbe the minimalist nature of the set and the creation of much of the \u2018scenery\u2019 by visual effects, much in
\nthe same way as an impressionist painting \u2013 so that we focus on the interaction between the
\ncharacters. I see the script as a \u2018dance\u2019 between the key characters \u2013 they are drawn together, then
\npushed apart and, hopefully, you will see this in the on-stage movement driven by the fast-paced
\ndialogue.<\/p>\n

How are rehearsals going?<\/strong><\/em>
\nRehearsals are a joy. We have a brilliant team of actors and back stage. I can honestly put my hand
\non my heart and say that I am laughing more now than when we had our initial read through. There is
\nalways something new either in a look or in the way the dialogue presents itself that you simply
\ncannot help but laugh out loud and keep laughing. Let\u2019s face it with financial crises, war in Ukraine
\nand disease we could all do with a belly laugh!<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

What does the Director actually do? What\u2019s the most challenging part?<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe purpose of the Director is to guide and assist the actors and backstage in bringing the play to life.
\nThat can be by deciding how the play is to be performed i.e., it\u2019s style and drawing as much from the
\nactors with whom you work as you can. None are professional actors but that does not belittle the
\namazing talents present here. I have been tremendously impressed by their dedication and appetite
\nfor hard work to produce the best \u2018Earnest\u2019 that we can. Throughout, as a Director, I find it best to
\nconsult and discuss, but at the end of the day only the Director can decide. With this production the
\nmost challenging thing is having sometimes to choose between the plethora of brilliant ideas that
\ncome forward from the Team in rehearsal!<\/p>\n

If you had to name your dream production to direct (other than this one obviously) what would<\/em><\/strong>
\nit be?<\/em><\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s easy! \u2018Blithe Spirit\u2019 by Noel Coward.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for PRS?<\/em><\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s all go! Almost as soon as we finish \u2018Earnest\u2019 we will be preparing for the debut concert of our
\nfledgling choir in Ponteland Memorial Hall \u2013 hopefully in early June. Around the same time, we will be
\nauditioning for our seasonal musical which will be a pantomime this year in November. We are always
\nlooking for new members and production crew for front of house and backstage \u2013 so do get in touch
\nwith us either via the website or our FB or Instagram pages if you\u2019d like to be involved in any of that!<\/p>\n

Performances of \u2018The Importance of Being Earnest\u2019 are at 7pm on Friday 21st April and
\nSaturday 22nd April and matinee performances at 2:15pm on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23 rd
\nApril. Prices \u00a312 per adult and \u00a36 per child.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we are now well underway with rehearsals, we took some time to catch up with our Director, Philip
\nBrowell, to get his thoughts on the production and how he is enjoying his Director responsibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pontelandrep.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}