Lighting the Indoor Theatre: A Conversation with Nic Brownlee

**Philip Rowe** (0:10)
Welcome to the History Of European Theatre podcast, and thanks for joining me on this journey through millennia of theatrical history. Episode 227, Lighting the Indoor Theatre, A Conversation with Nic Brownlee.
Last time, the exciting adventures of Pericles kept us entertained in which, I would suggest is a somewhat maligned play. We don't know for sure where Pericles was first performed, but we are in the period of Shakespeare's productivity where he was writing for the Indoor Blackfriars Theatre as much as for the Outdoor Globe. One of the questions that immediately arises when we consider the indoor theatres is how they were lit, although there are also many other questions about how performing indoors was informed by the experience of the touring companies and how it changed the nature of playing itself. Very early in my journey through Shakespeare for the podcast, I met Nic Brownlee, who was then in the throes of completing his study into indoor theatre lighting. So the idea for this episode has been on my mind for a long time, and I'm pleased that now Nic has finished his study, I can bring you this discussion at an appropriate moment in the podcast timeline.
Nic Brownlee recently graduated with a PhD from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, completing a thesis focused on the effects of candlelight at Shakespeare's Blackfriars Playhouse. Nic currently runs the A Place to Write Retreat Centre in North Wales with his wife Wendy, where they offer annual Shakespeare retreats exploring different genres of Shakespeare's plays. In a varied prior career, he completed an English degree at the University of Hull, trained at the Mountview Theatre School in London, and worked as an actor, theatre director and stage lighting designer for many years, including managing his own educational Shakespeare company. He has taught acting, stage lighting and English literature in a variety of educational settings, from secondary schools to higher education establishments, and he is currently working on a series of academic articles and a book detailing his research into Shakespeare's late plays. I first met Nic when I attended a three-day retreat at A Place to Write, where we read and watched and discussed three Shakespearean comedies, among other things, so I can personally recommend the work that he and Wendy are doing there. I talked to Nic over a Zoom call from A Place to Write, where he was somewhere between guests' breakfasts and planning his next play sessions, and I opened our conversation asking him about how A Place to Write came to be.

**Nic Brownlee** (2:48)
OK, so during Covid, my wife and I both had jobs that we got very frustrated with the way Covid was affecting our work, and we were looking for something different to do, and we both had separately, independently ideas of running a retreat centre, in my case, particularly interested in literary topics and themes and writing. And we found this fantastic place in North Wales. The building and the images of the building are what attracted us in the first place. And we moved here in 2022 and began converting essentially what was operating as a very run down bed and breakfast into a full retreat centre.
And part of the retreat programme took off very quickly, which was writing retreats, which we run, and hence the name A Place to Write.
But I was also really keen to run Shakespeare retreats or holidays. And it's quite challenging working out how to market that, because the essence of it is it's not about highly academic stuff. You know, academics go to conferences for that, and that's fine. This is for people who just love Shakespeare and want an opportunity to come together with other enthusiasts for a few days, read some plays, watch a streamed performance, discuss the plays, have some interviews. I organise interviews with a couple of practitioners who are working with Shakespeare in their daily lives, professional lives, and a couple of workshops perhaps thrown in as well. And it's all very light touch, but the readings are great in the morning. Each morning we do a different play. And the mix of people who come so far is really interesting. Quite a few retired teachers who want to stay in contact with Shakespeare after they're no longer teaching it every year repeatedly. A few amateur actors and directors who enjoyed acting Shakespeare, directing Shakespeare, and they want to stay in touch with it. And we even have one gentleman who simply came because he'd never done anything on Shakespeare since school. Well, he wants to find out what it was like. And he had a really good time. He was much more relaxed, just enjoyed the whole experience without getting too engaged too much with the philosophies and stuff. But as I say, even whatever your expectations or level, if you just want to come and enjoy time with Shakespeare, that's what we hope to offer, what we do offer. And they've gradually been gaining traction. And the most interesting thing on this for us is that we actually get quite a few people flying over from the States now.