Two plays to use the same cast, set, and wardrobe

And one wardrobe of costumes, only slightly altered between one production and the next. That's the exciting concept that lies at the heart of the first two productions of the Royal Lyceum's 2010/11 season, which opens tonight. So how do you share the staging of a 16th century tragic romance and a 19th century trivial comedy for serious people? Here directors Tony Cownie and Mark Thomson compare notes

Director: Tony Cownie

Production: Romeo And Juliet

Period setting: Post World War One - 1920s

Synopsis: Arguably Shakespeare's most passionate and heartbreaking drama,Romeo And Julietunravels the tangle of emotions in the hearts and minds of the forbidden lovers and their friends and families.

The play is an elegy for doomed youth, exploring the damage that social divisions and family feuds can inflict. The impact on Shakespeare's star cross'd lovers and on the society around them is overwhelming. The outcome is lies, conflict and the play's famously tragic ending. With themes that speak as powerfully in this age as in his own,Romeo and Julietdemonstrates Shakespeare as a writer for all time.

Describe the challenges of the casting process for you: It was a bit trickier to cast than for individual shows. Mark Thomson and I had to cast a Romeo who could go on to play Algernon, a Benvolio that could play Jack and a Juliet that could play Cecily. There are also more characters in Romeo and Juliet than Earnest, so we couldn't do it with all of them, but it was the main characters that were the hardest - trying to find someone who could play both roles and not just the one. It took a long time, but it was certainly worthwhile.

Describe the set design: The set is all in a black marble effect with three portals. In Romeo and Juliet there has been a disaster, an earthquake, and it represents a state of collapse with the feuds between the Montagues and Capulets. There is scaffolding to show the repair, with a scaffold bridge which is also used for the balcony scene. The same set is then dressed up for Earnest, it is cleared up and more colour is introduced to make it cleaner and more glamorous.

How much of the set design was modelled for your production? The set design had to work for both productions structurally, but both shows will look very different. Earnest is set just before the First World War, whereas Romeo and Juliet is after the First World War. It's almost as if the Romeo and Juliet set is reduced to rubble after the feud between the Capulets and Montagues, and is undergoing repair. There is a huge piece of scaffolding on the set that doubles up as a bridge acting as the balcony for the two young lover's scenes.

What are the challenges of working within the confines of a shared cast and set and costume design? Any challenges have been good ones. We have had to approach things in ways we wouldn't have thought to. We've just kept it simple and clear - Shakespeare and Wilde have done all the hard work.What do you see as the similarities and shared experiences of the characters in your production and the following one? Both plays are impossible love stories by wonderful writers that capture two basic human instincts - our need for love and in some cases our desire for conflict. These are such universal themes in both plays.

What do you hope audiences will get from seeing both productions? Both Romeo and Juliet and Earnest will be performed by the same group of actors on the same set designed by Neil Murray, giving audiences a chance to compare and contrast the work of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, to see how the same actors embrace different roles and how a good set has the capacity to adapt.

Director: Mark Thomson

Production: The Importance Of Being Earnest

Period setting: Pre-World War One

Synopsis: Oscar Wilde's classic comedy of manners and mores has delighted audiences since it was first staged in 1895. Ernest loves Gwendolyn. Cecily loves Ernest. What could possibly go wrong? Double lives and double standards abound in this masterpiece of satirical wisdom. Town and country lives become horribly entangled when Algernon's love-struck friend Jack escapes to the country as his alter-ego Ernest. Identities are assumed at a rate of knots as each confusion leads inexorably to another. Even monstrous Lady Bracknell has secrets to hide concerning a rather celebrated handbag. Can it all end happily? Will Algernon's invalid friend Bunbury throw the metaphorical cat among the exceedingly well-mannered pigeons? Join our crack ensemble cast to discover for yourself the vital importance of being earnest!

Describe the challenges of the casting process for you: Casting is always fascinating and terrifying. We met with so many talented people to try to figure out if bonding them with the plays would be agreeable and exciting. This process placed challenges on Tony Cownie and I, once we realised there was something intriguing about the two plays, both so different, yet united by the brilliance of the languageand being impossible love stories. We found great pairings in both plays, like the two young lovers, the solid best friends in Earnest, the servants, a friar and a reverend, and fantastic matriarchal figures in the Nurse and Lady Bracknell. To take care of both required huge energy and being open to these surprising choices; both of us needed the two plays in our heads all the time and both needed to care as much for the show we were not directing as the one we were.

Describe the set design: Neil Murray has corralled both plays - one requiring a reasonable degree of stage realism- chairs, sofas etc (Earnest) with one that doesn't (Romeo And Juliet). It cleverly houses both in a marbled world that reflects class, period and the huge stakes of each piece with a dynamic relationship between actor and audience.A little sleight of hand and it welcomes Wilde's witty play out of the bones of Shakespeare's tragedy.

What are the challenges of working within the confines of a shared cast and set and costume design? There really wasn't anything particularly confining about it any more than an individual play with its characters and requirements. It stimulated us by making us think across the boundaries of the plays in a theatrical, non-academic way. You start to see links, costumes that can be worn by the actor in both plays, perhaps little opportunities for staging echoes. The main thing was not to suffocate these incredible plays by an oppressive concept that bound and diminished them. Instead they meet, they talk and they bring happiness, fun and perhaps revelation to each other. That was the idea.

What do you hope audiences will get from seeing both productions? I hope that above the pleasure of each play, maybe it will focus or stimulate thoughts about these two wonderful writers and how they saw love's relationship with society. There is no 'message' just a dialogue that perhaps focuses some of the themes and stories that both actually share, even if the tone, adventure and outcome couldn't be more different. At worst, it should be fun.

Romeo And Juliet, Royal Lyceum, Grindlay Street, tonight-16 October, 12.50-28, 0131-248 4848

The Importance Of Being Earnest, Royal Lyceum, Grindlay Street, 22 October-20 November 12.50-28, 0131-248 4848