“Just Open Your Mind And Go With It”

There’s a moment in every interview where the guest says something so honest it stops you in your tracks.

Mine came about eight minutes in, when Richard Shute paused, took stock of everything he’d just told me about the play he’s directing, and said: “By the way, I’m really not selling this terribly well.”
Reader, he absolutely was.

Richard has been at MADS Theatre in Macclesfield for — and he had to work this out on air — “getting on for 40 years.” Four decades of productions in that lovely little place on Lord Street. So when I asked if he feels showbiz, I got the most gloriously Cheshire answer imaginable: sometimes yes, mostly no, but occasionally the old showbiz does kick in.

Theatre Is Thriving — And It Isn’t Easy

Before we got to the play, I wanted to widen it out, because I think the health of the arts round here matters.

Richard reckons audiences have recovered well since COVID, which took a real dive and took a while to come back. Amateur theatre in particular has a bedrock of support: people love performing, and always will.

Even the ones who swear blind they never will. He told me MADS have talked one or two of those into going on over the years — “even if it’s just a hand, or being dragged across in a sack.”

But it’s getting harder. Production values across the board have gone up, so MADS are spending more on lighting, projection, the lot, just to keep the work fresh. Amateur musicals he thinks are tougher still, because you simply cannot get near a modern West End show on that budget. His word for it was “a tough old game,” and he said it with a smile.

The Bit That Keeps Him Awake: Getting New People Through The Door

I asked the question I always want to ask theatre people — how do we get more people into the arts, beyond the regulars?

“I don’t know that anybody has solved that anywhere yet,” he said. Which is the most refreshing answer I’ve had all year.

What MADS do is let the theatre out to other groups — pantomimes come in every January — and that brings a completely different crowd through the doors, usually to watch their own kids. And still, after nearly 80 years on that site, people walk in and say, “Do you know, I never knew there was a theatre here.”

That’s why we do this, by the way. That’s the whole job.

So: The Real Thing

Their next production is Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and I put it to Richard that it isn’t an easy one to stage. He didn’t argue.

“It’s Stoppard, so you expect no less.” There’s a play within a play. Actually plays, plural. There are red herrings and blind alleys. Noël Coward gets a nod, Shakespeare gets a nod, and Stoppard throws in some deliberate misdirections purely, in Richard’s words, to annoy people.

But underneath all of that?

“At the centre, it’s a love story.”

It’s about Henry, a playwright — who Richard suspects is Stoppard himself in all but name — and Annie, the actress he falls for.

The original 1982 production at the Strand had Roger Rees as Henry and Felicity Kendal as Annie, and Richard’s raised eyebrow about how autobiographical that casting was tells you everything.

Every character in the play, he says, is searching for their own real thing. And they mostly find it. Henry’s first wife ends up with someone else. So does Annie’s. Happy endings all round, more or less, via some very rocky terrain.

His advice for anyone nervous about the word “Stoppard?  Just open your mind and just go with it. It may start out a bit confusing” — he grinned at that — “but it should become fairly clear. If you just think of it as at heart a love story, you’re not really gonna go too far wrong.”

One honest caveat from the director: this is not a belly-laugh comedy. Funny lines, funny quips, funny asides, but it’s a serious drama too.

Run-Up Week, And Why The Bar Matters

We spoke during run-up week, second night. Sound, lights, props, wardrobe, quick changes — all of it landing at once, on top of the acting and the lines. Long nights for everybody.

Richard’s been in shows still going at midnight when things weren’t clicking. This one finished by half ten, which he’ll take.

His practical advice, and I love him for leading with this: find the theatre first, it’s on Lord Street. Parking is not easy, so get there early. And they have a fabulous bar.

The Details

The Real Thing opens Monday 7 September at 7.45pm and runs for six evening performances until Saturday 12 September. No matinee.

Tickets and details at madstheatre.org

And for anyone who prefers their theatre a bit less cerebral — Richard tipped me off that MADS follow it in December with Scandaltown, which he describes as hilariously funny, “if a little risqué.”

Risqué, we love. See you on Lord Street!