Page 495 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

The team soon discovered that while it’s one thing to map theatres digitally

to the nearest millimetre, adding live actors to the mix creates a new level of

complication. “It’s hard to put into words the amount of planning that was
required,” says Metcalfe, as he walks me through the process on screen. The

actors were almost entirely filmed solo and then digitally rendered into the

set.

This is no simple copy-and-paste activity, as all the colouring, shadows and

movements must be perfectly in sync. A scene in which someone behind a
bar passes another cast member a drink may look straightforward “but it

took hours to perfect”, Metcalfe says. “As far as we’re aware, no one has

attempted anything like this before – filming every actor separately and

then lining them all up in the edit.”

Ordinarily, this process would seem unnecessarily painstaking, but in the

age of coronavirus, it was the only way to get the show made. Metcalfe says

that although the amount of technical fine-tuning required may have been

vast, it was still cheaper and much safer than trying to film everything in

situ.

Cast members had only four days to rehearse before shooting began, with

Perspex screens preventing any close contact. During filming, they spoke to

markings in place of co-stars. The only time Tutty’s Romeo and Redpath’s

Juliet were in contact was for one day of filming intimate scenes, and they

both had to have Covid tests beforehand.

Tutty, who also won an Olivier for the title role in Dear Evan Hansen, has
described the process as one of the most challenging things he has done.

‘As far as we’re aware, no one has

attempted anything like this before’ –

producer Ryan Metcalfe