A Soldier In Every Son Social Media

To get to attend any Royal Shakspeare Company production is a real joy, but to get to attend their first ever Social Media Call an even bigger one. The social media call for A Soldier In Every Son was the RSC's first, and hopefully something they do again as I found it highly enjoyable and educational.

The play itself, "A Soldier In Every Son", written by the playwright Luis Mario Moncada and translated into English by Gary Owen, completes the trio of plays under the banner of "The Nations At War" trilogy. (The two other productions being Shakespearen plays, Richard III and King John) A play thats part of the World Shakespeare Festival and combines both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre Company Of Mexico.

Set in the Aztec Empire in 15th-century Mexico in a style inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays, the follows three tribes, The Acolhaus, The Tepanecas and The Aztecs and feautures various names that can sometimes be hard to prounounce, Ixtilxochiltl, Nezahualcoyotl and Tlacaelel, being a few examples. These names take nothing away from the peice, in fact as I discussed with my father after reading the reviews, some of which said the names made the peice almost impossible to follow, you wouldn't have gone to 15th Century Mexico and found Aztecs walking around called Dave/Bob or anything alike.Throughout the peice there's a lot of killing, and plotting going on, and it's easily followable and visually stunningly staged.

The Social Media call itself, involved two of the actors Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl/Nezahualcoyotl) and Susie Trayling (Tecpa/Macuetzin) who performed Scene 3 from the play for us in attendence to film/photograph. After one run through they ran it through again and this was followed by a question and answer session, with Luke Kernaghan (Assistant Director), Alex Waldmann, Susie Trayling and Diego Jáuregui (Techotlala/Tlacalel). Diego being one of the 6 Mexican actors.

                                   video clip of Scene 3 of the play from the Social Media Call

The Q and A was fascinating to be in attendance of, with a varied set of questions being asked, we learnt how long the process of putting the costumes/make up on takes (somewhere around 2 hours), more of the origins of the play itself, the fact that the period in history in the play isn't taught in schools in Mexico. We also learnt that this company are going off to play the production in Mexico, initially in English with subtitles and then the productions (sets/costumes) will go into the rep of the National Theatre Company in Mexico.

It was a fascinating behind the scenes look at a fantastic production that I highly recommend you all go and see while you have the chance. Below are a few pictures from the Social Media Call. For the fall set visit my facebook photo album -

Susie Trayling (Tecpa) and Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl) performing Scene 3

Susie Trayling (Tecpa) and Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl) performing Scene 3

Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl) performing Scene 3

Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl) performing Scene 3

Susie Trayling (Tecpa) and Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl) performing Scene 3

Luke Kernaghan (Assitant Director), Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl/Nezahualcoyotl), Diego Jáuregui (Techotlala/Tlacalel) and Susie Trayling (Tecpa/Macuetzin) during the Q and A

Susie Trayling during the Q and A

Diego Jáuregui during the Q and A

Alex Waldmann during the Q and A

Q and A

Luke Kernaghan (Assitant Director), Alex Waldmann (Ixtlixochitl/Nezahualcoyotl), Diego Jáuregui (Techotlala/Tlacalel) and Susie Trayling (Tecpa/Macuetzin) during the Q and A

A Soldier In Every Son plays at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, until Saturday 28th July. Tickets avaliable http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/a-soldier-in-every-son/, and for 16-25 year olds you can get tickets for £5