INTERVIEW | Daniel Nicolai, English Theatre Frankfurt
Interview conducted by Jacqueline Thomson
On my visit to see Something Rotten! at the English Theatre Frankfurt, I was able to have some brilliant conversations with the creatives behind the show. My previous interview with the Musical Director Mal Hall can be found here. Our next interview is with the Artistic and Managing Director Daniel Nicolai, who has been part of the organisation since 2001. We spoke with him to find out more about his role and influence on the theatre’s programme.
Firstly, can you please tell us a bit about your role within the English Theatre in Frankfurt?
In English, I would be called the Artistic and Executive Director. Here in Frankfurt, we decide on the season and what kind of shows we will present. Because we are the only English speaking theatre in Frankfurt, it has to be very diverse.
The musical is very important because it reaches a very wide audience. People come from as far as Hamburg or Berlin to see the musicals. And that's also maybe a little bit of cultural thing. In the Anglo Saxon world, or whether it's US or UK or Ireland, the whole genre is treated very well with a lot of production values and detail. In Germany, the genre doesn't have such a name. We have a lot of touring productions but that’s not the same as if you do something for one house. So the musical is really important for us to finance the rest of the season.
So, I decide what we are putting on and how we finance it. But we do that, of course, in a team. We also work with lots of directors in the UK who recommend things for us to see. Our casting director in London, Marc Frankum is permanent with us.
I know that a lot of your cast comes from London- are you personally involved in that it do you leave it up to the casting team?
Well, if you have one, permanent casting director, then we get closer and closer and he knows what we need. He comes for all the openings, he sees the result. And when I know the directors, usually I just go for the recalls at the very end of the casting. But for instance, for Something Rotten!, I didn't go to the UK because we are so busy with this fight for our venue. But that is such an exquisite cast, I’m so happy.
What kind of elements are important when choosing what shows to produce each year?
We have a mix that is some comedy and some classics. We try to start with the musical and build around that. 70% of our audience is German, only 30% is native English speakers, so the show needs to work for them. For instance, that is a little bit of problem if you have a piece from Ireland with an Irish accent people may not understand.
What was it that appealed to you about Something Rotten! being the big musical for this year?
One thing is that many Germans think of the English theatre and think of Shakespeare immediately. We've refrained from doing Shakespeare in Elizabethan English as for the audience it may be too demanding.
We had Spamalot some years ago which is the same kind of humour, then there’s all these references in Something Rotten! to not only to Shakespeare, but to the musical world. We thought that Something Rotten! is such a clever show. It's very entertaining, but there are so many little details. And we like the music, so for us it’s perfect. The opening night audience is the most difficult for us, and they were all standing. It was such a good atmosphere, they all loved it.
With it being such a young cast there must be a lot of enthusiasm there, especially to make that commitment to move to Frankfurt for an extended period of time.
Of course, they just love the show and enjoy doing it. But also, it hasn’t hit the UK yet so if it’s going to be cast later then they’ll have the material, the trailer, the production photos and so on for their CV. So they could be invited to a UK casting in the future too.
I would love for Something Rotten! to open in the UK, because I genuinely think audiences would receive it really well. He’s one of those figures who everybody knows, everybody studies in school… but we can have a good laugh too.
If you are taking A level English here, you need at least one Shakespeare- whether it’s Hamlet, Macbeth, or Romeo and Juliet. Also some of the sonnets. I think part of the joy for the Something Rotten! audience is to find out that they understand all these references. And with the musical references there are things that are easy to find, but there are also very hidden ones.
It’s just so thrilling as a theatre fan, to have a show that is basically a love letter to theatre. It really is such a fantastic show. It's lovely that this version still has the same kind of atmosphere as the previous production, but very much has been designed to this space.
We are very happy with Stuart J Charlesworth’s design work. It is quite the big production. People, sound design, light design… And it’s an auditorium of 299 seats so you’re always very close to the stage. Normally, I think that show would run in houses with maybe 800 seats or more.
And finally, in terms of audience demographic: I’ve been hearing about what types of people make up your audiences and how much work goes into making your shows accessible- what kind of things do you offer?
We have a lot of material for schools. We have a thestre pedagog, who always creates a package for the teachers. Also, in previews we have a test audience that is only English teachers, because they are super for us. You know, they understand every word and hopefully, they come later with the school groups. Outreach is very important to us.
Something Rotten! is at The English Theatre Frankfurt until 31 March 2024.
