THEATRE-MAKERS
Scottish theatre is not
just in rude health, but demanding more and
more of its audiences. Kirstin Innes meets the
new generation of theatre- makers who are shaking things up on the home front
Who: Hannah Donaldson, 93, who graduated this year from RSAMD
What: Will be playing the lead role in the Tron's production of Ant/gone. directed by David Levine, and can also be seen in the upcoming series of Rebus.
14 THE LIST 6—20 Sep 2007
Sunny. pretty and immediately Iikeable Hannah Donaldson is one ol' those people you
just warm to. She‘s also about as tar as yotl can
get from the traditional idea ol' Antigone. Sophocles~ rebellious. war-weary heroine. but that‘s exactly what Veteran Israeli director David Icyine saw in her.
‘|)a\'id likes to employ people. not actorsf she says. 'My lirst meeting with him wasn‘t an audition; he sat me down and asked me all these probing. really quite personal questions. He wanted to see how I'd react instinctiycly. and apparently he could tell who was and wasn‘t right for the roles. just from their reactions. I think that's why I‘m looking toward to working with him so much. I hayen‘t worked with anyone like that at all. I‘ye ney'er me! anyone like thatl‘
Donaldson talks about xlnligmu' with a wide.
excited grin. It‘s almost completely unheard ol’
for a large professional theatre to cast an actor
straight out of drama school in the central role ol’
its major production ol‘ the year Donaldson graduated in June but it typil‘ies I.e\'ine’s approach to the text.
‘David knew exactly what he wanted to cast three very young-hioking. inexperienced actors in the lead roles lAntigone. her sister Ismene and
Clockwise from top left: Ferguson in Black Watch; Donaldson in The Tempest; and a scene from Anderson‘s Snuff
‘C "
liance Ilaemonl. Ile‘s taking a huge risk but he told me that what he wanted was that rawness. the energy you get l'rorn young actors who are dying to make their mark. But there was a condition to me getting the role he got to cut all my hair oil. I)ayid wants me to cut it myselI. jtlsl gt) til it with the scissors. Ills sttpposetl to he a deliant gesture a young woman chucking away her I'emininily.‘
Donaldson. who looks much younger than her 23 years. has previoust always been cast as the ingenuc. IIer very well received Miranda in RSAMI)‘s recent Shakespeare in the (‘ity production til '/'/i(' 'Ii'ni/u'sl lirst brought her to critical notice. but she‘s now enjoying an unprcccdcnted Icyel ol work tor a recent graduate.
She plays pesky girl reporter .Iean Monroe in the upcoming series ol Rw/ms. and alter Antigone she‘s moy'ing tip to l)undec Rep tor a year. haying won its annual graduate place.
'I)undee Rep means so much to me. too] she says. "l‘hat was the first time I went to the theatre. on a school trip to the panto at Dundee Rep when I was six. The lirst thing I'm going to be inyoly'ed with there is the pantomime. too, which just lccls really nice.'
But lor now. her thoughts are with Antigone and she can‘t stop that grin. ‘It's such a l'antastic role. She‘s strong willed; she stands up against ey'erything. I was stunned. when I heard I went. "You want me to play that?" It‘s unbelievable. It'sjtist brilliant.‘
Antigone is at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, from Wed 10—Sat 27 Oct. Rebus: The First Stone is set to air on SW in October.