Imagine the pressure to perform and perform well on stage, standing in the glow of those bright lights in front of hundreds of people. If you’re born to do it, then you probably feel more exhilarated than exhausted when thinking about it. But the pressure of working in the shadow of a well-known role and a well-loved actor or actress when a show is recast must be greater. The audience will be looking at you with a more than usually critical eye – not to mention your fellow actors. But changing the cast happens all the time.
In London’s West End, Cabaret is recharging its line up this month, with Kim Medcalf and Honor Blackman replacing Anna Maxwell Martin and Sheila Hancock. Earlier this year Alan Bennett’s The History Boys recast everyone to re-open the production on Southbank after a phenomenal 12-month season in 2004. In a recent interview, Mark Shenton said that: “Given the intimate, collective ensemble strength of the original company of The History Boys, it could have been slightly unnerving to watch the play inhabited by a new set of strangers, but the mark of a good play, of course, is its ability to adapt, change and even deepen with different performers.” It appears the new cast of The History Boys has stood up to the test and won. Scarlett Strallen is finally returning to the role of Mary Poppins in May, though she already knows her character. In July, Dianne Pilkington will replace Helen Dallimore as Glinda the Good in Wicked.
But what if you are the only member to be recast mid-season? Rachel Pickup from The 39 Steps, currently showing at the Criterion Theatre, did just that: the sole recast in the only female role (though she plays three characters) earlier this year. She took the place of someone rather more famous, from the red carpet, with the show having already been running for seven successful months.
Previously the part had been played by Catherine McCormack who’s rise to fame is an internationally celebrated story: she jumped to star status as Murron MacClannough, the woman who swept William Wallace off his feet, in the feature film Braveheart – hand-picked by Mel Gibson himself back in 1995. Catherine was hailed as exquisite, and according to Nick Duerden at The Independent, “all the ensuing talk was that Hollywood had its next golden British girl, an Elizabeth Hurley who could actually act”. Amongst TV appearances and other films including The Tailor of Panama, she then went on to co-star with Brad Pitt in Spy Game in 2001, before turning to the stage.
With the end of the contract up for Catherine McCormack in January just gone, Rachel Pickup won the audition. Here was a young woman with all the heart in the world, a budding actress with plenty of experience, but no red carpet claim to fame like McCormack. Rachel has worked in many regional English productions, as well as for English Touring Theatre in King Lear at the Old Vic, Royal Shakespeare Company and the RSC. She also won the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002 for her role in Time And The Conways. So landing the part in The 39 Steps was not a long shot for her, especially with the neat family connection: her father Ronald Pickup played Bayliss in the 1978 film version.
So what sort of difficulties did she face? Rachel Pickup spoke to Arts Hub about what it is like to join a play when it has been running for such a long time: “It’s a huge challenge. It’s like becoming a new in-law! You are stepping into something that is already established. It’s already a well oiled machine, and you don’t want to rock the boat with your own stamp. You don’t want to make something different, though it will inevitably be different because you’re a different person. You don’t want to upset the balance.” But there becomes an imbalance just by being there, says Rachel, and by having taken someone else’s place. She continues, “You need to be careful with how you approach the process. You are joining something that has worked for the last seven months.”
Rachel explains the difficulties of sole recasting in particular: “In rehearsals, there are some moments where there is no leeway to move practically and physically. It’s not something bad, just inevitable. The lighting and scenery is accurate and in place. The costume changes are all long established and set. So there is not much room to move physically.” With this comic stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow recreating all of the story’s thrills and spills, scene by scene, from the Hitchcock thriller, including the chase on the Flying Scotsman and death defying finale at a packed London Palladium, this would not have been an easy task. She adds that usually there’s about a month of rehearsals with all the actors together, before working with the technicians, lighting, sound and set. Rachel had hardly any rehearsal time: two weeks!
How did she discover the fullness of her character? “It’s my job,” she says, “to build the emotional and psychological side.” But while the show has been running? Surely it takes longer than two weeks, let alone comprehending the fullness of three characters in this time! Rachel admits some early performances were a bit “fresh”, but that she had the joy of seeing these actors working alongside her on stage. Even though, she explains, “In normal rehearsals, you discover a scene with the other actors. But [in this recasting situation], they’ve already discovered theirs. So it’s a continuous process of learning about the character.” It’s not an easy job, particularly with the added pressure of the understudy, Charlotte Allam – the same understudy as for McCormack – already knowing the three female characters inside out!
With Robert Portal and Jimmy Chisholm replacing Charles Edwards and Rupert Degas in The 39 Steps this week, what advice would Rachel give to her new colleagues? With traditional West End fervour, she replies, “Embrace these parts!” She then rushes off to have her first wig fitted for the nightly show.
It is the near all-new cast that will head to Broadway – a long way from the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, where it premiered in June 2006. London producer Edward Snape confirmed that The Olivier Award-winning comedy will have its US premiere at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company for a month from 14 September 2007, before moving to the Great White Way on Broadway, where it will be produced by Bob Boyett.
The 39 Steps plays at the Criterion Theatre until mid September 2007 (check out the witty web-video short).
