Grochala, Sarah (2020) The Theatre of Rupert Goold: Radical Approaches to Adaptation and New Writing. Methuen Drama . Methuen Drama, London. ISBN 9781350090736

Abstract

This book provides an account of the work of the director Rupert Goold from the beginnings of his career to the present day. It both documents Goold’s productions and gives an insight into the creative processes that went into creating them. Primarily based on extensive interviews conducted with Goold and a range of his collaborators, it aims to provide an inside view and in doing so challenge a range of perceptions about Goold’s work, which are misaligned with both the impulses behind the work and people’s actual experience of working with him. It argues that while Goold has reputation for being a tricksy and flashy director, his approach to staging classic plays is informed by a deep reading of the text and aims to make these plays more accessible to a modern audience. It challenges the idea that Goold is an auteur, arguing that rather than enforcing his singular vision on a production, he works collaboratively with his cast and his creatives to create his productions, While Goold is often classified as a more ‘European’ director, it examines that ways in which his theatrical influences are actually largely drawn from work of British and North American theatre directors and argues that he is as influenced by the language of film as he is by theatre. In addition to this, it will explore the idea that much of Goold’s work is infused with ideas around both the nature of faith and a sense of the sacred. Goold’s approach to the creative process will ultimately be positioned as a dialectical process. The first section is an account of Goold’s work to date both as a director and as an artistic director. Rather than providing a comprehensive analysis of Goold’s work, this book documents both Goold’s body of work to date and the major shifts in his approach to creating it over the years.