“I was surprised and delighted by the humour and modernity of the novel.”
Luke Lampard in rehearsals for Northanger Abbey
What’s your name? Luke Lampard
What role(s) do you play in the Northanger Abbey? I’m one of two actors who don’t multirole, so I play Henry Tilney.
What’s your favourite scene or moment in the play? Probably when Catherine convinces herself (with the help of the chorus) that she’s in a haunted house and is in mortal danger. Not that I want to give it away, but all may not be as it seems.
What have you enjoyed most about making the show? The creativity involved. Cyphers don’t work in a “director says, actors do” style. Instead, we all work together and bring our differing skills into the room to create something together.
What’s going to surprise people about the show? I think people will be surprised by the fact that this may not be like any “classic” that they’ve ever seen (unless they’ve seen a Cyphers’ show that is.) Although the novel of Northanger Abbey is, of course, a period piece, we have avoided making any limiting choices about our version being set in the early 1800’s. So we are definitely taking Jane Austen’s context in to account, but we’re not letting it dominate our version of Northanger. Instead we’re looking at the universal themes within the novel that are still relevant now.
Do you have any pre-show rituals? Not that I’m particularly aware of. I do repeat my lines to myself a lot. If you see me before a show, don’t worry, I’m not just talking to myself…
What do you do when you’re not doing theatre? When I’m not doing theatre I dabble in a bit of voicework (reading audiobooks) and you will occasionally find me selling the newspaper. Other than that I’m a fan of running and playing and watching football. I’m a long suffering Arsenal fan but at the moment, I’d rather not talk about it…
What one thing do you hope the audience will take away from this production? The one thing I’d like an audience to take away from our show is the accessibility of theatre and the unexpected humour of Jane Austen. I hadn’t read Northanger before getting involved in this project but now that I have, I was surprised and delighted by the humour and modernity of the novel.
LUKE LAMPARD studied English and Theatre Studies at Warwick University, before training at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre includes: The Elephant Song (including Hong Kong transfer); Thaw (Vaults Theatre); 13 (Unicorn Theatre). Film: Dennis Doyle; Anonymous; Wuthering Heights: A Radio Play. Radio: The Spy of Venice.
See Luke in NORTHANGER ABBEY at: LONDON | Pleasance | 7:45pm, 28-29 November 2017 | Tickets