Artist You Need To Know: Joe Staton
The Global Theatre community’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been many and varied. Some organizations have opted to shut their doors and sit tight, saving their pennies for the eventual reopening. Some have, sadly, closed completely. And others have tentatively started to dip their toes in the brave new world of virtual theatre.
Joe Staton is one of those latter brave folks. An actor and producer, he has spent the last year creating myriad opportunities for performers in quarantine — and building a global network of brilliant theatre makers in the process.
In the last month, Staton produced, cast and acted in All’s Well As It Ends Well; an evening of Zoom Shakespeare to fundraise for The Blind Cupid Shakespeare Company (of which he is a founder and co-artistic director). Actors from all over the world, many of whom were eager to work with Staton, eagerly auditioned for this performance. The show was a great success, garnering a great deal of media attention and raising a profit that Staton claims he could never have predicted. In the showcase, Joe played Brutus- the Roman Senator responsible for the death of Julius Caesar. To be able to tackle such a prominent role whilst simultaneously producing his own work is an impressive feat that very few theatre practitioners can claim. His command and knowledge of Shakespeare is second to none (which is hardly surprising, seeing as he learnt his first Shakespeare monologue at the age of 10!).
Working on so many projects with such a sprawling network of international artists is a massive load on Staton’s schedule, not to mention his Zoom room. But he doesn’t mind the work — or the lack of sleep from straddling so many time zones. “I have always been a traveler, feeling restless if I ever have to stay in one place,” he says. “That’s why I loved being an actor in the USA: the opportunity to travel and bring art to such a huge community is extremely rewarding”.
Staton has been a globetrotter since the age of six, growing up between Spain, France, and his home of Minehead in Somerset. In 2016, he moved to New York to study at the renowned Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where he was able to learn from some of the best Shakespeare practitioners, including veteran actors Elizabeth Shepherd and Jack Wetherall, both of whom continue to support Joe in his artistic journey.
Staton hit the ground running after graduation with choice roles in classic favorites, appearing in The Seagull at the Harold Clurman Lab Company in NYC, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Classic Theatre of San Antonio, and in rep with Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew with Vermont’s Shakespeare in the Woods. Despite returning to the UK in 2020, he stayed in touch with his Adler cohort, something he credits for the success of his current virtual ventures.
“I am so humbled and grateful to the artists and collaborators I have been able to work with during this pandemic. The team that I have been able to gather around me for Blind Cupid are all extremely talented and hard working, and I feel blessed to have such a network around me,” says Staton.
Coming up, he’s performing in a new works festival, once again for The Royal Social Distancing Company (He previously played Edgar/Poor Tom in their production of King Lear, I noted his standout performance, “heartbreaking in his vulnerability”), is teaming up with the audiobook project Quarantine Kids to provide a series of Shakespeare plays in narrative form and, most exciting of all, is teaming up with Theatre companies The Javea Players in Spain and The Marrakech Operatic and Dramatic Society (MODS) in Morocco to bring Shakespeare to the two countries! Ever the constant traveler!
In the meantime, he’ll keep creating opportunities for actors, directors, and writers alike to sharpen their craft while the industry’s at a standstill. It’s not an easy job, but he’ll keep his Zoom room open as long as there’s Theatre to fill it. Hats off.
