Highland actor Sean MacGregor eager to take on more Shakespearean roles
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Highland actor Sean MacGregor says he would relish the opportunity to take on further Shakespearean roles after appearing in two plays in the Bard's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Sean was among the cast of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet staged by Tread the Boards Theatre Company in a run that culminated with a double bill on April 23 – the anniversary of Shakespeare's presumed birth date.
Sean (25), from Huna, Caithness. is in his third and final year at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and will graduate in July.
Both plays were performed at Stratford's Attic Theatre and were directed by John-Robert Partridge.
Romeo and Juliet was staged in traditional costume, with Sean in the role of Lord Montague, Romeo's father. Twelfth Night was set in present-day Ireland, with Sean as Fabian the barman.
“That month was very busy,” Sean said. “Our final show was on the Sunday. We did Romeo and Juliet, then Twelfth Night.
"Romeo and Juliet finished between a quarter to five and ten to five, and we were starting Twelfth Night at five o'clock, so we would only have 10 minutes really to get out of our Elizabethan costumes and into modern-day Irish clothing.
“It was such a lovely atmosphere. It fell on Shakespeare's birthday, so that was a good time to end it, and it has been 400 years since Shakespeare's First Folio.
“Romeo and Juliet proved to be the most popular one – it's the one that everyone knows before they discover more about Shakespeare.
“Twelfth Night is one of my favourites so it was really fun to be part of it – I do love Shakespeare's comedies.
“One of my ambitions is to perform at the Royal Shakespeare Company. There is Shakespeare's Globe as well, or the National, anywhere that's doing Shakespeare, any opportunity.
“I would happily go back to the Attic Theatre and do more Shakespeare, if they will have me.
“I think what's good about Shakespeare is that these plays were written over 400 years ago but they can be so vital to nowadays."
It wasn't Sean's first experience of performing Shakespeare. He appeared in an outdoor pop-up production of As You Like It towards the end of his first year, playing dukes Frederick and Senior.
He would welcome the chance to take on TV and film roles as his career progresses. He said: "I'm really open to anything."
Sean, whose parents are Steven and Wilma MacGregor, was a pupil at Canisbay Primary School from 2002 to 2009 before going to Wick High.
He was a member of amateur drama club Thurso Players and said: "They were a vital part of my journey. They really helped me."
This year sees the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio. Published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, it was the first printed edition of his collected plays.
