The Stage

Rising above the madness

Published Thursday 26 January 2012 at 12:54 by Al Senter

As director Christopher Luscombe’s version of The Madness of George III runs at London’s Apollo, he talks to Al Senter about why he felt it was time for a revival of the play

Director Christopher Luscombe is too modest a man to glory in anniversaries but even he might allow himself a small degree of satisfaction as he surveys the last decade. It is ten years since his staging of his own adaptation of Noel Coward’s story Star Quality, with Penelope Keith as the imperious star of the title, moved into the Apollo. A decade later, Luscombe’s acclaimed revival of Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III, with David Haig as the afflicted monarch, is housed at the same venue.

Luscombe is one of the select band of former actors who have successfully changed career and established themselves as directors. However a call a year ago from his old RSC colleague Phyllida Lloyd caused a mild reversion (more anon). And Luscombe’s cup overflows with even more good cheer with the news that he has been appointed artistic director of Theatre Royal Brighton Productions. ATG’s new initiative will see high- quality productions originate in East Sussex before joining the touring circuit prior to a possible West End season.

For those critics who persistently confuse the Luscombe brothers, please sit up at the back and pay attention. Christopher Luscombe is the younger sibling of Tim Luscombe, who first came to prominence as a director in the 1990s and who now combines directing duties with a writing career. As an actor, Luscombe Minor was an RSC stalwart for several seasons and also made appearances at the National, Chichester and in Art in the West End. Since switching to directing, Luscombe has been responsible for a succession of well-received Alan Bennett revivals and it could be argued that his production of Enjoy, with Alison Steadman and David Troughton, finally created a place in the Bennett canon for what had hitherto been a neglected play. As a gifted comic actor himself, it was no surprise to note that his superb productions of The Comedy of Errors and The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe caused much hilarity on Bankside. Equally his recent West End staging of Priestley’s masterpiece, When We Are Married, hit every comic note with dead-eyed accuracy.

Although there is humour aplenty in The Madness of George III, there are also searing moments of Lear-like intensity, powerfully played by David Haig. What had persuaded Luscombe that the play, first seen at the National 20 years ago, was ready for a revival?

“I’d directed four of Alan’s plays previously and it felt somehow natural to think about doing the other ones and I thought that it was time that The Madness of George III was done again. It also occurred to me that it would be a very good play to put on in cities such as Bath, where it opened last summer. I liked the idea of a play set in the 18th century being performed in an 18th century city. I had also been hoping for an opportunity to work with David Haig, an actor I’d always admired.”

Luscombe, a Cambridge English graduate, relished the process of research, especially when investigating the murky depths of Georgian politics, as featured in the play. But he is at pains to stress that The Madness of George III is not simply a piece of historical recreation.

“The play works so well because the audience gets right behind the king - it likes him and it shares his story. It shares his torment and such is their joy at his recovery that it becomes almost a celebration.”

His latter association with Bennett has led to a number of ancillary pleasures.

“I’ve always loved the plays - they have a bittersweet quality to them which I like. They are both hilarious and very moving - they can make an audience laugh, they can make it cry and that appeals to me. I also love the fact that I get to work on the plays with Alan. I feel able to go and see him and ask him questions. He’s always very open and he seems to enjoy revisiting his past plays. We always have a good, positive chat. When I’m directing one of his plays, I feel somehow that I’m directing it for him.”

Alongside his work in Bennett, Priestley and Shakespeare, his productions of The Rocky Horror Show and Spamalot have been latterly criss-crossing the land. Both shows are largely the creations of strong-willed characters in Richard O’Brien and Eric Idle respectively. Both must have required careful handling from Luscombe.

“I really don’t think of the musicals as any different from my other work,” he explains. “As far as Rocky is concerned, I hadn’t seen the film and I knew very little about rock music but in a way it was quite good that I could explore the piece as an outsider. With Spamalot, I’d grown up too late for the heyday of Python on television but I enjoyed researching into them. Working with both Richard and Eric has been a positive experience. I’m sure that they must see directors as interlopers but as a director you have to take charge, you have to be bold and I think that they appreciated that.”

Boldness was also required when Luscombe was handed an irresistible offer to return to his former career.

“Much to my surprise, I was rung by my acting agent with an offer from Phyllida Lloyd to play Margaret Thatcher’s voice coach in The Iron Lady. The idea of spending a morning with Meryl Streep made me very, very nervous. I hadn’t done much screen work but I knew that you’d be put in a costume and expected to deliver. Then Phyllida rang me to say that she wanted Meryl and me to create the scene. In effect, I’d be improvising with Meryl Streep. So I realised that I had to come up with something. I did a lot of research into my character who is based on the then head of voice at RADA.”

How was the actual experience? Was it the start of a beautiful friendship?

“We had a lot of fun,” replies Luscombe. “Meryl was very playful and I felt more relaxed as a result. It became quite intimate at times since voice can get quite up close and personal. At one point, I had my hands clasped around Meryl Streep’s diaphragm. Phyllida has a wonderful calm presence, which is just as well since here I was improvising with Meryl Streep, very conscious of the fact that I was being watched in the scene by no less than Jim Broadbent. Roger Allam and Nicholas Farrell. Will I do it again? I’m open to offers.”

Having resisted the idea of ever running a building, reluctant to become enmeshed in bureaucratic responsibilities, Luscombe agreed to the Theatre Royal Brighton job when it became clear that he would be left to concentrate on the creative side, in the company of his two associates, Maria Aitken and Philip Franks.

“I have a bit more personal input in this project - a bit more ownership of the building,” he says. “I really believe that you get some of the best audiences outside London. You play to such enthusiastic, packed houses that you feel that people deserve the kind of high production values which we shall be giving them. I get very upset when I see substandard shows going round the country.”

The opening season, which begins in May, remains under wraps at the time of writing. Luscombe’s remark that “I do think that we neglect our heritage of plays - there’s a wealth of great drama which the new generation needs to discover” could indicate the shape of things to come. Given his background, it would be no surprise if the accent under his regime were on comedy.

“I was in the Footlights and my first professional job was in pantomime and I’ve always been crazy about comedy and obsessed by our comic repertoire. Yet people still say to me that it’s time I was graduating to more serious work. I think of comedy and tragedy as equals and doing comedy is just as hard as doing a tragedy, if not harder. Yet it lacks status. When was the last time someone was named best actor for a performance in a farce? I feel at home in a comedy whereas a lot of directors are not. Perhaps it’s because so much depends on getting laughs. If you don’t, then you know immediately that you’ve failed.”

Luscombe is off soon to the snows of the Midwest to direct a production of Hay Fever in Minneapolis and once he’s thawed out, the Theatre Royal Brighton will be his top priority, although he’s careful to stress that ATG does not have an exclusive call on his services. With so much exposure for him over the coming months, surely the critics will work out at last who’s who among the Luscombe brothers.

• The Madness of George III is running at the Apollo Theatre, London, until March 31. Visit www.nimaxtheatres.com