International theatre and TV director back on Tasmanian stage, with A Midsummer Night’s Dream
He’s worked on international stages, directed some of Australia’s most-loved TV shows, and even collaborated with the likes of Tennessee Williams. But as of this weekend, he’s back where it all started – on Tasmanian theatrical soil.
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IT’S BEEN 50 years since stage and television legend Roger Hodgman has directed a play in his home town of Hobart.
But as of this weekend, following a dazzling international career, Hodgman is back where it all started – with a Shakespeare performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Botanical Gardens.
The Helpmann award-winning director has worked on more than 100 plays across Australia, London and Canada, has directed some of the country’s best-known television dramas including The Secret Life of Us, Blue Heelers and Wentworth, and even collaborated with luminary American playwright Tennessee Williams.Hodgman purchased a Tasmanian home in recent years with actor wife Pamela Rabe, and has been astonished by how much the state has changed.
“This is the first thing I’ve done down here in donkey’s years,” he said.
“We love what’s happened to Hobart – it’s become a much more interesting city than when I left.
“It has stunning locations – that’s why so much interesting television is being made down here now.”
The Hutchins and University of Tasmania alumni, who started back in the Old Nick Company and the Theatre Royal, was thrilled to be directing Shakespeare upon his return to Tasmanian theatre.
“I like the comedies, he just understands people so well and they’re so funny and fresh. I love hearing the audience rocking with laughter at something that was written 400 years ago,” he said.
“There’s something really special, I think, about seeing something really old and understanding it, and you see the world hasn’t really changed.”
But while A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written in the late 1500s, Hodgman said Hobart audiences could expect a fresh take on the beloved comedy – with characters wearing modern clothing, and even be treated to a cameo from tradies in high-vis vests.
Only the fairies in the play remain in their Elizabethan clothing – but there will even be a twist on their traditional dress.
“They’ve been in this forest for 400 years, so they’re a bit tattered,” Hodgman said.
Actor Jaime Mollineaux, who plays the role of young lover Helena, has also returned home to Hobart, after studying interstate at the Queensland College of Music.
“I really feel like theatre’s booming in Hobart at the moment,” she said.
“It’s great to see professional and semi-professional theatre in my home state, that wasn’t a thing when I was younger.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be held at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens until January 21.
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