On cloud nine at the Citz

A MATINEE performance of the Citizens' Christmas show Beauty and the

Beast has just finished and children are spilling out of the doors,

grinning fit to burst. It's a feel-good show which inspires an

excitement which is so tangible that the foyer practically vibrates with

the buzz.

I'm trying to interview Ian Wooldridge, the director, but I keep

bursting out laughing at the memory of various scenes. ''I just loved

that bit when . . .'' ''The sisters were such a scream . . .'' I shriek.

He's not only tolerant of this, he's joining in. We sit grinning in a

corner. Wooldridge has been at the preview performances all week but is

still susceptible to its magic.

''It's just totally fulfilling because the children really go for that

willing suspension of belief,'' he explains. ''I call it King Lear for

seven-year-olds. There are elements of tragedy and a sense of catharsis.

Beauty and the Beast have to win over evil, there has to be a feeling of

celebration at the end. That's what good theatre should be all about,

and you can't always achieve that with adult theatre, which can be

pretty bleak.''

Wooldridge has earned his kudos directing both adult and children's

theatre. Following six years as head of TAG he was artistic director for

nine years at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. During that time he clocked up

nine Christmas shows, before leaving last year to go freelance.

''At the Lyceum I could be doing 11 shows a year and had to reach

budgets, if you didn't it had a knock-on effect for the rest of the

year. It was like a non-stop rollercoaster and after nine years I wanted

to get off and get on with what I enjoy doing most, directing plays.

That's not to say that I won't run a company again but it was the right

time to leave.''

His profile in Scotland has been low since his departure, provoking a

lot of curiosity about what he has been up to. He's been working down

south on projects which have included a production of Lorca's Blood

Wedding at the Drill Hall in London.

''During the summer I taught acting classes at Baliol College in

Oxford, Pinter and Shakespeare to Americans. The great thing about that

was it gave me a chance to experiment. Because you don't have to present

a show you can investigate a text more thoroughly. Normal rehearsal time

of about three weeks just doesn't allow for that, indeed we only had two

weeks for this show but I suppose the result just proves that it can be

done.''

Significantly, he has also moved from Edinburgh, his home for 20

years, although he is still based in Scotland. ''I'm living in Glasgow

now, I've always loved the city,'' he tells me, but noticing a glint in

my eye forestalls any bitching about the capital by firmly announcing

that as a Welshman he has no firm allegiance to either city. Actually, I

can't imagine Wooldridge bitching about anything. So far, he's

definitely picking up the prize for most affable man in theatreland,

happy not hyper, pleasant but not effusive.

Beauty and the Beast has been his first chance to direct a

professional show in Scotland, although he recently directed productions

at the RSAMD, Corialanus and Richard III. It signals a return to an old

haunt for him. As artistic director of TAG he had directed two Christmas

shows at the Citizens', the Stuart Paterson-scripted Merlin the

Magnificent in 1982 and The Snow Queen in 1983. ''When Giles (Havergal)

first asked me to direct the Christmas show I said I would only do it if

we could break the mould,'' says Wooldridge.

The mould was duly cracked in two; both shows established a new

tradition at the Citizens', eschewing straightforward pantomime for

strong dramatic tales, an option which has since increasingly been

picked up by other theatres.

He shakes his head and laughs off the suggestion that he was a

trendsetter. ''I would never say that. I would say that the work which

Stuart Paterson did was very important in developing a new style. It

evolved through the years; for instance, when we first did Merlin it had

six musical numbers in it but we realised that the kids switched off

during the songs so we cut them out. It's a lesson that stuck with me.

There's only one song in this production.''

When Havergal invited him to direct this year's show Wooldridge began

looking for a compatible writer and came across Shaun Prendergast, who

has worked with Northumberland Theatre Company and Trestle Theatre

Company. Wooldridge was impressed with Prendergast's children's play

Little Victories, about an eight-year-old girl dying of cancer which won

a Time Out theatre award. ''It was a wonderfully moving story and had

lots of humour in it. I admired his courage for tackling such a subject

and he seemed an appropriate choice.''

Prendergast's interpretation of the classic tale of Beauty and the

Beast is a beautiful, inventive story, which clarifies the moral of good

versus evil by introducing a ''super-baddie'' in the shape of a witch

and by including strong pantomime elements, such as Beauty's

rotten-to-the-core sisters, played with great relish by Rosaleen Pelan

and Kathryn Howden. Wooldridge was as delighted with the result as the

audiences quite clearly are.

''It's fast-moving, there is something happening every two minutes,''

he says. ''It's interesting to see the civilising effect which Beauty

has on the Beast, there is a real sense of two characters developing

together. Children might not understand that but they do absorb it.''

While determined to create a family show that works on a level which

sustains adult interest he is critical of pantomimes which are

chock-a-block with double entendres. ''We have to ensure that nothing

goes over the heads of the kids,'' he insists. What is important is a

good dollop of vulgarity, lots of talk of tongues in ears and characters

racing off for a wee-wee. ''Roald Dahl has taught us all that. I did a

Cinderella at the Lyceum where the dog peed in a cake mix which the ugly

sisters then baked and ate and the children just loved that.''

After a well-earned Christmas break Wooldridge is heading back down

south, directing a play about Dorothy L Sawyer, the crime writer, in

Oxford. Various other projects have yet to be firmed up, and he's keen

to work in Scotland again, with an eye on the studio space at the Citz

''to do something experimental''.

Till then he'll be popping back into the Citizens' once a week to

check up on the production and simply savour it with the audience. ''I

really enjoy the scenes between Beauty and the Beast. I think they are

very well-written, quite poetic,'' he reflects, adding ''but I love the

panto scenes. When the girls stride out in their ridiculous new frocks

it is the eternal image of a Christmas show; the colour, the madness,

the sheer chutzpah of it, well, it really lifts you.''

As I leave the Citizens', floating out on cloud nine, I know just what

he means.

See review on facing page.