Jon Pashley is an independent theatre director based in the UK and Assistant Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s version of Venus and Adonis which is currently showing at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght as part of this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival.

We caught with Jon to discuss his show and all things Shakespeare…

What can audiences expect from Venus and Adonis?

It’s kind of a game of two halves: you get a really funny attempt at seduction that’s like an inverted Carry On film, at the beginning, where Venus falls in love with this paradigm of male beauty but he’s not really interested in her, -he’d rather be out hunting!

Then it develops into something richer and deeper like all good myths do… You can expect some fantastic puppets, some beautiful poetry and some great music.

And what was the inspiration behind using puppets for the show?

Well Gregory Doran who directed the play, has always loved this poem and had been thinking for years about a way to adapt it for the stage. He was in Japan with another production and he saw a traditional performance of music, puppetry and spoken narration, where none of the elements take precedence they all work in a cohesive harmony.

As it’s a myth and we are talking about archetypes rather than one specific person we can all inhabit the puppet, it makes it accessible in that you can identify yourself as the character in that situation.

How much veracity is there in rumours that Shakespeare was Gay?

Well, I mean, saying that he was gay at all is kind of anachronistic, that title, that self-definition wasn’t there at the time. I think we can say without doubt that he had experience of being head over heels in love with a man because he writes so eloquently about it. However, he had kids and everything we know implies he had a loving relationship with his wife, so perhaps he was bisexual.

My personal feeling is that we have such few facts about his biography and yet such a wealth of his writing that I kind of don’t mind if he was gay or straight or anything in between. What he has left us with is a wonderful canon of literature.

Is there an inherent campness to many of his characters?

We have a habit of thinking that the past was less queer then it was, I think because we have gone through so many repressive societies, history has been whitewashed

I don’t think the gayness in his writing is a particular campness. I think it’s more substantial than that, Antonio in The Merchant of Venus is almost without any doubt a gay character, he is besotted with this guy who does not love him back and that’s written with a huge amount of understanding and empathy.

We have a habit of thinking that the past was less queer then it was, I think because we have gone through so many repressive societies, history has been whitewashed.  It’s dishonest to continue this fable that all of Shakespeare’s characters were just best friends and it’s perpetuating a myth that we no longer need to keep passing on.  

What do you think Shakespeare would be writing about if he were alive today?

Injustice probably, one of the speeches that’s been in my mind recently is his speech from an unfinished play, part of The Book of Sir Thomas More, where he asks about the problem of immigrants coming in and taking jobs and taking food and the character is asking people to imagine themselves in a foreign land and to be greeted with such hostility and lack of generosity.

Yeah, I think he’d be writing about injustice and making us laugh at our own hypocrisy as well.

If you could dine with any of Shakespeare’s protagonists who would they be?

Dine! Amazing question! Cleopatra, intelligent, glamorous and outrageous like having dinner with Grace Jones. I’d also get Maria from Twelfth Night because she’s got a good sense of humour and a really filthy mouth. Who else would make that foursome? I think Antonio from The Merchant of Venice, he’s a sensitive guy and needs cheering up.

Are you going to see any other theatre while you are in Dublin?

What’s in my mind most at the moment is going to see Rapids by Talking Shop Ensemble. I think I read about it in the most recent edition of GCN, there was an interview with the director…

It’s about experiences that compound what it means to live positive in this country, about people living with HIV and being open about it. I’m really looking forward to seeing it while I’m over.

‘Venus and Adonis’ will run in the Civic Theatre Tallaght as part of The Dublin Theatre Festival from Tues October 3 – Sat 7. Tickets are priced at €10 – €25 and can be booked on the theatre’s website www.civictheatre.ie