A Midsummer Night's Dream
Scotland On Sunday.com 21st October 2001

Jackie McGlone

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was published 400 years ago. Yet it’s full of sex and drugs - think of the central love triangle and Puck’s playful way with mind-altering substances. But is it finally about to get the missing postmodern element - a wild injection of rock’n’roll? After all, does Oberon not invite his queen "to rock the ground whereon these sleepers be"?

Former Deacon Blue musician Ricky Ross (above), who is writing the music for the new Glasgow Citizens Theatre production, is playing his cards close to his chest. All he will say is that the music he’s composed for Giles Havergal’s version has "quite a twist". But rock’n’roll it ain’t, although he concedes there’s a tradition for turning Shakespeare’s plays into rock musicals - Forbidden Planet (The Tempest) and Catch My Soul (Othello).

One of the surprising things about Havergal’s contemporary take on the play, says Ross, is the fact that the songs are never sung by anyone you expect to warble them. "For instance, he has the fairy song being sung by the rude mechanicals. He’s cut the play very well and structured it rather differently, so it moves apace."

The Citizens’ production has been conceived so that the whole play is a dream, which Ross says he found helpful in creating not only the music but also the accompanying soundscape. "There’s a dark side to this play, although it’s very comic and magical. It has fantastic malevolence, even in the love story. But I do think it’s important to convey Shakespeare’s compassion, his understanding of the human spirit, so I hope the music complements that."

A former English teacher, Ross is passionate about drama. Until he became a family man - he and his wife, musician and actress Lorraine McIntosh, have two young children - he was a regular at the Citizens, never missing a production. "Theatre’s one of the joys of life. If only they’d start the shows at 9pm - post-bathtime and bedtime - we might get to see more," he sighs. He also wrote the music for Kenny Ireland’s sun-drenched very Italian Much Ado About Nothing at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum. "I really love writing for theatre, especially Shakespeare, because, though it may seem an obvious thing to say, you are working with a very, very good writer indeed."

This is a busy time for Ross. He’s just finished mixing the soundtrack for a new TV drama starring Sarah Lancashire. Called Meeting Jesus, it’s directed by the Scot, Morag Fullerton. His new album, This is the Life, comes out next year, and Deacon Blue is about to go on the road.

While the rest of us might think that rock stars are pretty cool customers, Ross shyly admits that he’s "scared" of actors. "I’m working with someone - Giles Havergal - for whom I have so much admiration and with terrific actors, so I’m just dead chuffed, although I was really petrified on my first day."

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, October 26-November 17