Steve Pratt recently sat down with Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane, who hope to emulate the success of their Shakespeare adaptation The Comedy of Errors (more or less) with a - more or less - similar comedy, Love's Labour's Lost (more or less) at Shakespeare Playhouse North (now on, until March 22) and Stephen Joseph Theatre (March 27-April 19). And they might not stop there...
Steve: How were you both brought together for The Comedy of Errors (more or less) in 2023?
Nick: I was asked by Paul [Robinson, the show’s director, who commissioned it as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre] if I’d be interested in teaming up with a writer to do a modern version of Shakespeare. He had this idea about making Shakespeare accessible, making it relevant and funny, and playing around with titles people know without necessarily knowing the play. Independently of each other, we came up with Liz; I wanted to work with Liz because I’ve known her all her life. And I got my wish!
Elizabeth: I’d done some writing development work at Scarborough before, so Paul was aware of my work.,So when they were looking for someone to team up with Nick, he called me.
Steve: Now Love’s Labour’s Lost – any qualms about rewriting Shakespeare?
Nick: For me, initially yes – but knowing that Liz knows lots more than I do about Shakespeare, I felt I was in safe hands and it was a good partnership. We both share a similar sense of humour - but we were both making it up as we went along.
Elizabeth: I had reservations, of course – it’s a big thing to do! But at the same time we both had this thought that we wanted to do something different, accessible and fresh. I don’t think of it as rewriting Shakespeare; we're twisting it, putting a Northern spin on it.
Steve: What’s your process for writing – together or separately?
Elizabeth: This time it’s been much more together than on Comedy of Errors – we’ve learned from that. We write some things separately and we send emails and share, and we’ve got about a thousand voice memos on WhatsApp. Then we meet up multiple times and we’ll spend a day going through everything we’ve written, tweaking and changing each other’s stuff.
Nick: And enjoying some very nice meals…
Elizabeth: And eating lots of biscuits!
Steve: What qualities do each of you bring to the writing?
Nick: The fun thing for me is... well, the read-through is a perfect example. I sat through the read-through and laughed heartily at all the stuff Liz put in, and sort of smiled at my own bits and thought yes, that kind of works. But I think we both find each other’s stuff funny.
Elizabeth: Nick brings a font of knowledge of random facts! He can pinpoint something exactly: ‘In August 1989, people weren’t doing that’...
Nick: I do have a silly memory for things, it’s true. And Liz is cracking on all things Shakespeare – and when you have a silent third partner, that’s really, really useful.
Steve: Love’s Labour’s Lost (More or Less) is set in 1990s Ibiza – why?
Elizabeth: We knew we wanted to do Love’s Labour’s Lost, and we also had this idea for a stag and hen thing which, if anyone has read the original, kind of fits - there’s this kind of boys v girls thing. That, and the club scene, and the 90s; it just felt like a good fit for the story.
Nick: It helps that we're in an era before mobile phones. It’s fascinating how quickly they have become so intrinsically linked with our everyday lives. Only 25 years ago they existed, of course, but they weren’t the all-encompassing tools they are now. I guess if we’d set it a bit later, it would have been erroneous text messages instead of the misdirected letters, but there’s no romance in texts, is there?
Steve: How difficult was it making the song choices? Any particular favourites?
Elizabeth: I loved making the song choices! The 90s are my childhood, it takes me back to school discos and primary school and brings me great joy. My favourite is probably The Spice Girls – it just makes me smile.
Nick: The opening number is Girls and Boys by Blur – if The Spice Girls were the 90s for Liz, then Blur was kind of my thing – I was in my 20s.
Steve: Where were you in the 1990s?
Elizabeth: I was in Hull – being born and growing up!
Nick: Predominantly Doncaster, but I toured a lot – with Hull Truck for Liz’s dad!
Steve: Have you ever acted in Shakespeare?
Nick: No, I never have. I’ve done verse – I was in Tony Harrison’s Passion and Doomsday, but never Shakespeare.
Elizabeth: I was in a school production, a 20-minute version of Romeo and Juliet – and in that production, I met my now husband!
Nick: I can even quote you your one line in that – it was ‘no’.
Elizabeth: It was. I think I’m better on Shakespeare when I’m not acting in it.
Steve: Will Shakespeare be spinning in his grave at the prospect of Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) or giving it a five-star review (more or less) in The Stage?
Nick: I would hope that if he is spinning, it’s to a 120 bpm dance track. He was a modernist in his day, he was satirical, he referenced things that were very of the time, and I think if he was writing now, he’d want to reflect the time and the politics – I think he’d be all right with it.
Elizabeth: We want to make a show that people come to see and have a great time, and I think that Shakespeare wouldn’t be against that – I think that’s what he wanted to do, too.
Steve: Which Shakespeare play would you like to rewrite (more or less) next?
Nick: One for Liz – I don’t know enough of them!
Elizabeth: I think I’d quite like to do A Winter’s Tale, because I really like the Shakespeare plays that are a little less done, that people don’t know as much about. I think that’s quite interesting – Love’s Labour’s Lost is one people don’t know as well, and you can bring it to more people – that’s quite exciting. But my favourite is As You Like It, so…