THE preliminaries are over, now the graft and the craft begins as rehearsals kick into action for the “northern” company of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York.

The cast of 17 actors gathered for the first time at York Theatre Royal on Monday morning, exchanging introductions and taking a tour of the theatre and the De Grey Rooms next door that will be their home until preparations for staging Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Europe’s first ever pop-up Shakespearean theatre switch to the Castle car park, Tower Street.

By dint of directing not one, but two productions, Lindsay Posner is already into week three of London rehearsals with the “southern” company of 17 that will present Richard III and Romeo And Juliet in York over the 10-week run from June 25 to September 2.

The Theatre Royal’s Scottish artistic director Damian Cruden is directing the “Scottish play”, Macbeth, giving his full attention to Shakespeare's bloody tragedy when his world premiere of Jonathan Lewis's The Be All And End All (a quote from Macbeth, by the way) opens tomorrow.

The theatre’s associate director, Juliet Forster, will be rehearsing A Midsummer Night’s Dream simultaneously, the two directors finding ways to work with their shared cast.

Shakespeare's Rose Theatre is being launched by North Yorkshireman James Cundall's Lunchbox Theatrical Productions with York Theatre Royal as an associate company. "We're really proud to be part of it," says Damian.

"One of the things that's really important about the project is that there's recognition that culture in York is worth investing in for our community. For the city of York to have work like this is crucial; we've done it before with the York Mystery Plays in the Museum Gardens, The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum and Blood + Chocolate on the city streets.

York Press:

In full bloom: the "northern" cast for Shakespeare's Rose Theatre gather at York Theatre Royal on the first day of rehearsals

"With James [Cundall] putting his money into it, it's saying York is not only about shopping, it's not only about heritage, but it's also about cultural activity – and that's good for all the cultural institutions in the city. You have more reasons to be out and about engaging with stories in the heart of our community, or if tourists come, they'll discover those stories too."

Looking forward to his cast performing Macbeth in the Rose Theatre, with its combination of standing audience members (known as groundlings) and seats, Damian says: "The way that Macbeth can talk very directly with the audience sits very well with the texts. You see that in the soliloquies, which have keen sense of direct address and that's important to the immediacy of a Shakespeare play inside that staging requirement.

"Here you can re-engage with theatre in the very active way that audiences did in Shakespeare's time before that was gradually eroded away from the 1700s onwards. Theatre doesn't need to be this static sanctified space; it's a space that should be alive and most plays can cope with that!

"With a cast of 17 all in both plays, it means that everyone has lots to do, and it's a good size, 17. It makes for a really refreshing creative process."

Part of that process will involve Juliet Forster's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream gender-swapping the leads, Antony Bunsee now playing Titania and Amanda Ryan, Oberon.

"We're performing in an Elizabethan theatre this summer, so this is a nod to a time when Titania would have been played by a man, but also in the 21st century gender and gender roles have never been a hotter subject, with all the exposure of the Me Too and Time's Up campaigns," says Juliet. "We're at a point where we're reassessing how we are as men and women with each other, and here's a play that is entirely built on male/female inequality, so the opportunity to explore all this is really interesting."

A Midsummer Night's Dream is already full of changing identities, mistaken identities and role-playing,and this new element further heightens that realm of possibilities. "Theatre allows us to imagine ourselves differently, so I thought, what if Theseus and Hippolyta had the chance to explore being each other, would that lead to more harmony? Can we understand each other better through walking in each other's shoes?" asks Juliet.

"Only the roles of Titania and Oberon are transposed in my casting, so it's not a gimmick. There's a narrative dimension there that reflects our times."

Tickets for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.