“When I read Midsummer it blew my mind,” she remembers. “We very much program by ensemble. We all read the plays and then we fight about which ones we’re going to program. This was one of those ones where there wasn’t much fighting…everyone loved it.” Midsummer, though, was something of a twist on what Caldwell and her colleagues would normally tackle. “David (Grieg) has sort of gradually developed this style of working more and more with music. It seems that over the years he’s started to play around more with music so I guess it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise when I read Midsummer. He’s got a very unique style, even without the music. It’s incredibly insightful and a sort of delicate playwright, the way you suddenly find yourself in these moments which are very real and very beautiful but you just somehow stumbled into them. I didn’t need any convincing to want to do the role, but I did need a bit of convincing to learn to play guitar for it! But as soon as I read it though there was no way anything was going to frighten me off from it, I just fell in love with the play.
“It’s not something that comes along every day and certainly not at Red Stitch either. But it’s fun, that’s something you can’t get away from in this play. It’s really fun, and it’s really unexpected. Although there’s music, it’s not a musical, it’s completely not a musical. If I would have read that before I read a play I would have been somewhat frightened. There’s a lot of other connotations that come with the musical, and it’s certainly not my territory. The best way to describe it is a play with songs. While that might seem like semantics, it’s actually very, very different.”
Set in Edinburgh, the heart and soul of Midsummer is intricately connected to Scotland’s capital, requiring the cast to immerse themselves in the feel of one of Europe’s most venerable cities. “I personally haven’t been to Edinburgh,” explains Caldwell. “I’ve spent a lot of time there on Google Earth and talking to people and looking at photographs. There was a lot of research for me in getting to know the feel of the place. David was talking about his writing in relation to place, and how specific it can be. The feeling of a play is triggered by real experiences in real places and this play is very much about Edinburgh, although there are lots of universalities there as well though of course. Part of the joy as an actor is being able to uncover and discover and explore places you haven’t previously.
“There’s been a lot of very hard work on our accents. We’ve been very lucky to have a wonderful accent coach. Our director, John Kachoyan, has just come back from a stint working in the United Kingdom and has a deep personal connection with Edinburgh. He spent loads of time there travelling and working so his experience with the city has been handy.”
Kachoyan, a Director in Residence at Bell Shakespeare, had never worked with Red Stitch Theatre before. “He came and had a meeting with us when he returned to Australia and said to us, ‘Your season, I just love your whole season. They’re the plays I want to do!’” remembers Caldwell. “He was really keen to work with us and he brought us a few plays to consider. With most directors we haven’t worked with before we try and see their work but if not you have to go on feel. We thought it was a good match and he has been just excellent. What he’s done, which can be frightening as an actor but is also really wonderful, is left a lot of stuff really open. You’re kind of exploring a lot throughout the entire process rather than getting in there in the first week and just going, ‘This is what you’re going to do here, and this is what you’re going to do there’ which some directors do.”
Caldwell’s co-star Ben Prendergast has appeared regularly on Australian television screens on shows such as Offspring, Rush and Winners & Losers. “When he auditioned we just thought how fantastic he was, we didn’t really focus on the differences between TV and theatre,” says Caldwell. “It’s not too dramatically different in terms of how we relate. I’ve just felt like I’m working with a creative, open and talented actor. He’s been fantastic. He’s worked really well with John, and fit into the really collaborative spirit of the production. He’s been willing to give things a go and come up with ideas and great suggestions for me to work with. He’s got lots of experience in the musical side of things too, much more than I do.
“Midsummer is definitely a highlight for me. David is my favourite playwright. I love my work. I’m lucky to do something that I love, and it’s been a great team. It hasn’t been without its challenges, but good writing does that to you – you want to do it justice.”
BY JOSH FERGEUS
