This summer, Rough Magic invites young audiences into the enchanting world of Shakespeare through the mischievous Weird Sisters from Macbeth. This supernatural adventure, filled with humour and intrigue, is currently captivating audiences at Shakespeare's Globe. We had the pleasure of speaking with Kerry Frampton, Artistic Director of Splendid Productions, to learn more about this exciting production!
Rough Magic artwork.
First off can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey with working on Rough Magic?
My name is Kerry Frampton and I’m Artistic Director of Splendid Productions. After our Olivier award-nominated Midsummer Mechanicals finished in the summer of 2023, my co-writer Ben Hales and I were asked to write a new family show for this year.
We pitched the idea of Rough Magic as a show based on the supernatural world of Shakespeare featuring the witches from Macbeth. Since then we have been writing and exploring the play with our excellent director Lucy, the Globe team and some talented creatives. With a piece of new writing, it shifts and changes in rehearsals as each day you are testing, playing and clarifying the world of the play together. Once we get the show in front of an audience we begin the learning process again.
For those who don't know a lot about this show, can you tell us a little bit more..
Rough Magic finds us in the home of The Guardians of Destiny, an organisation of magical creatures (fairies, ghosts, monsters and witches) who specialise in guiding and managing human behaviour.
The hero of our piece is a young witch called Nona, who accidentally caused the awful ‘Macbeth Incident’ on her first day as an official Guardian witch.
Will Nona be able to prove herself as a successful witch? Will she get kicked out of the Guardians? And surely she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice? Would she?
Do you have to understand any background knowledge of the Shakespearean characters incorporated into this story in order to access its narrative?
Absolutely not. Rough Magic is a brand new family show that is designed to include everyone regardless of whether you are familiar with Shakespeare’s plays or characters. The play features the three witches from Macbeth, but you don't need to know anything about the play before coming along.
What are your favourite elements in this show?
I love the audience interaction sections within the show. The audience is at the heart of what we do, so the moments in Rough Magic where we require the audience’s help are my favourite. Each show is unique which is one of my favourite things about this type of theatre.
Rough Magic is aimed at families, what will those younger audiences enjoy about this show?
It’s a visual delight! The costumes, the set and the actual Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will be a spectacle before any action takes place. We are encouraging our audiences to turn up dressed as their favourite magical characters (fairies, ghosts, monsters or witches) so we are looking forward to who comes along. There’s lots of audience participation, singing and dancing.
What have been the challenges of working on this show so far?
There are lots of physical set pieces which are exciting to put together, but always take a bit of time to learn and feel comfortable with. Other than that the show has been so much fun to work on.
Why is it important to you that young audiences get the opportunity to experience theatre?
The opportunity for a young audience to share a friendly theatre experience with their family is so important to us. We want people to feel welcome in the space, feel included in the story and share in the magical journey. Rough Magic is a show for all the family so there is something there for everyone. It is visually beautiful, very foolish with a big heart.
Finally, why should families book their tickets to see Rough Magic this summer?
Rough Magic is a spookily silly, supernatural summer treat for all the family! A show full of magic, music and mayhem in a world of fairies, ghosts, friendly monsters and of course Witches. A magical adventure awaits!
Rough Magic is at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until 24 August 2024.
