Timothy Sheader: Open season

He's not everyone's choice for artistic director at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, but Crouch End's Timothy Sheader promises Jenny White that he will do the venue justice

Hidden down a tree-lined path in Regent’s Park, Timothy Sheader’s office is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Marylebone Road. Sitting in his new HQ, the Crouch Ender seems very at home with the position of new artistic director of the Open Air Theatre. Following in the footsteps of Ian Talbot OBE, the actor and director who had been at the helm of the theatre for 20 years, you wouldn’t blame Timothy for feeling a little nervous. “I am nervous,” he admits, “but I am nervous about every piece of work I do. It is arrogant to stand up and say that I can create a play that everyone will like and I don’t take the responsibility lightly.”

Having always worked freelance, Timothy directed Twelfth Night at the theatre in the 2005 season, so had some idea of what it was like to work at the only permanent professional outdoor theatre. “I fell in love with the uniqueness of the theatre,” he explains why his new role appealed. “Watching the play at night, and seeing all the seats full and hearing the laughter from outside the park, was just wonderful. To see Shakespeare how it was written to be shown is really intoxicating.”

Timothy’s debut season will see a return of Twelfth Night, plus Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as a new production of Lerner and Loewe’s classic musical Gigi, which hasn’t been seen on a London stage for over 20 years. Considering his background is mainly in musicals, Timothy doesn’t seem fazed by the claims he is the wrong man for the job. “Shakespeare and musical theatre are two passions of mine,” he counters. “I admit I am daunted by the size of the plays and the actor’s ability to service the language, because actors are not trained in Shakespeare any more. However, my job is to take the audience on a fabulous journey of this amazing language and show them something that they haven’t seen before.”

The Open Air Theatre is considered, by some, as the most conservative theatre in London and Timothy agrees with this, but not before explaining that this is because none of the 1,240 seats are subsidized and that 84 per cent of the revenue is box office generated, so they have to put on shows that will appeal to the masses. Nevertheless, Timothy has plans to challenge the conservative label of the theatre and draw in a new audience. “I have been conservative in what I have chosen to put on this year,” he says, “but I hope that the way we will be producing these plays will be different. I want to retain the audience here, but challenge and provoke them, and also draw into the theatre a more discerning crowd that may not have come before.” Expect something exciting to emerge from a quiet office round the back of Regent’s Park.

Find out more about the upcoming season by visiting www.openairtheatre.org or call 0844 826 4242.

EXTRA, EXTRA… Talking music with the AD

Fitting music into the Open Air Theatre:
“Musicals are meant for the opposite of a theatre like this. They are designed for things to be revealed, for props to come on and go off. I felt that Gigi is a musical that would work on this stage; it is a wonderful story that is charming and witty. All the great plays like Oklahoma and Carousel have all been done by the National Theatre and we don’t really attract that type of audience, although I would like to shift that. Would Gigi work in the West End? Possibly not, but for six weeks here it will and I think that it is great we have different pockets that we can appeal to the market.”

Reading reviews:
“I feel I have a responsibility to read reviews - even if I haven’t seen your work, I have read about it because I need to know what is out there. As an art form, musicals are not in a good place at the moment because they have been devalued by work that is fluffy and pastiches of film, and the market is saturated with these kinds of performances. Hairspray is wonderful as it has reinvented musical comedy, but there is a distinct lack of serious musical theatre.”

His own musical, Imagine This:
“It is fabulously exciting, but it is hard to get it onto the big stage as there is so much competition and because my story is about the Holocaust – it is hard to pitch that next to Hairspray. Also in the current economy it is hard to persuade people to part with £60, but hopefully there are also people out there who, like me, feel that theatre is the most amazing art form that reaches so many people and it is worth the expense.”