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Resource Extra
“I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me..."
Many years ago, Egeon, his wife Aemilia, their twin sons and twin servants were shipwrecked.
Egeon, one son and one servant were separated from the rest and have travelled the world in
search of their other halves ever since. Now, with the most chaotic of consequences, fate is finally
about to bring them all together – and with no-one sure who's who and what's what, confusion is
sure to threaten the reunion in Shakespeare's anarchic and magical comedy.
THE VIEW FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM
Assistant Director Sam Pritchard gives us an insight into what has been happening over the past five
weeks in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS rehearsal room...
“The role of assistant director
on a production at the Royal
Exchange varies hugely
depending on what show
we’re doing at the theatre and
the way in which the director
likes to rehearse and prepare
the play for performance. The
Theatre usually gives
Shakespeare plays a five week
rehearsal period and we’ve
been very lucky with THE
COMEDY OF ERRORS because
we have had all that time to
work on what is actually
Shakespeare’s shortest play!
Our director, Roxana Silbert,
began rehearsals with all of
the actors and technical staff
sitting down to read through
the play. We spent the next
few days at a table with the
actors working slowly through
the script and using Giles, our
expert in Shakespearean
language and verse, to make
sure we understood what was
going on and what all the
characters are saying. Once
we’d done this, we began to
look at each scene on the floor
(with the actors standing up
(l-r) Michael Jibson as Dromio of Syracuse,
Sarah Ovens as Luciana and Orla Fitzgerald as
Adriana (photo - Jonathan Keenan)
and actually playing it). During
this part of rehearsals, my job
was to observe the actors and
offer suggestions about what
a particular line might mean or
alternatives as to how we
might stage a scene or how
the moves might work (known
as blocking).
Samuel Collings as Antipholus of Syracuse (left) and Jack Farthing as Antipholus of Ephesus
(photo - Jonathan Keenan)
As we rehearse each scene
more and more, an important
part of the assistant’s job is to
take a note of important
decisions made in each
rehearsal and discussions that
we had. This can include the
time of day given to each
scene, what we decide might
have happened just before the
action begins or the intention
or aim we gave to a particular
character in a scene. Any facts
that need to be looked up or
research that needs doing can
also be down to the assistant.
Roxana really likes to work
with actors on their scenes
and speeches individually – so
I’ve also done lots of standing
up and playing all of the other
characters in the play when
we’re working with one actor
in particular. In these
rehearsals we’ve also played
lots of games with the long
speeches in the play, with
actors going through and
emphasising all the verbs,
throwing a ball to someone on
the last word of each line or
literally acting out the speech
and what it describes.
Occasionally, we’ll split up
rehearsals and I will work with
the actors myself, including
one session helping them work
out how Antipholus could most
effectively beat his servant
Dromio.
Michael Jibson as Dromio of Syracuse (left) and Owain Arthur as Dromio of Ephesus (photo Jonathan Keenan)
Another bonus of having five
weeks rehearsal is that we get
to spend two weeks working in
the theatre itself. One of the
unique things about the Royal
Exchange is that it’s impossible
for the director to watch the
play from the same angle as
all of the audience members,
because it’s in the round. This
means I get sent to as many
different seats as possible on
all three levels of the
auditorium to make sure the
actors can be heard and that
the action on stage isn’t
blocked or obscured from any
particular angle.
Outside of rehearsals I’ve been
busy going to all the technical
meetings to discuss preparing
sets, costumes and the lighting
and sound designs. I’ve also
worked with the marketing
department finding pictures
and articles to go in our
programme.
Being the assistant director on
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS has
been a brilliant way to learn
about directing Shakespeare
and to see how what seemed
like a complicated play can be
made into something fun and
lively on stage.”
------------------For more information about
the directing process, please
see the Royal Exchange
Theatre website for an audio
interview with Director Roxana
Silbert.
Samuel Collings as Antipholus of Syracuse and Orla Fitzgerald as Adriana (photo - Jonathan
Keenan)
THE VIEW FROM THE WORKSHOP
The set for THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, designed by Anthony MacIlwaine, has a highly technical and
complicated build process. Technical Manager Lee Pearson talks about the challenges that this
unique build has posed for the Royal Exchange production departments...
Can you give us an overview of what the set will do?
“Well THE COMEDY OF ERRORS stage is a 7 and a half metre circular revolving stage with a 4 metre
offset revolving stage within it! The whole floor will start flat and then the outer revolve has to
hydraulically lift up, so we’ve had to get some mechanisms specially designed from a firm in
Rotherham. This ‘scissor movement’ hydraulic will generate 110 kilonewtons (11 tonnes) of force
which will lift the 1 and a half tonne outer section of the stage.
What other challenges does the design of this production pose?
There are a couple of challenges with the flying system. The show requires a very, very large
Perspex doorway to be flown in. We also have to fly in a couple of the actors. The Duke has to be
lowered onto stage inside a large Perspex box whilst sitting on a throne and The Abbess is flown in
wearing a battery powered illuminated costume. So as you can see there are a few exciting tasks!
So where are you up to at the moment?
The whole of the outer stage frame is built, and the smaller inner revolve is being worked on as we
speak. That smaller revolve has problems of its own. Because we’re trying to revolve the whole
structure, it’s tricky to get an electricity supply to just drive the small inner revolve. So we’re going to
use radio racks which are remote controlled racks and this will allow us to control the inner revolve
with a 24 volt motor, so we’re basically powering it by battery. I imagine that there’ll be a lot of
recharging going on.
And what are the next big steps
Fitting the hydraulics is the next major hurdle. We need to get the scissor mechanism back from the
manufacturer, fit it and test it. We have to make sure the rams run at the same speed so we get a
balanced unit. As you can imagine, if they don’t extend and retract at the same time, then the eleven
and a half tonnes of force would just tear the steel apart. They’re all bespoke, custom made
hydraulics and they come with some very technical and complex schematics so we’re not anticipating
too many problems, but you never know. It’s all going to be a bit last minute. The hydraulic rams
won’t arrive until two days before we have to start moving the set into the theatre, so we won’t have
too long to fit, test and get it working.”
For further information, please see the Royal Exchange Theatre website for a short film documenting
the process of building the set for THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.
REHEARSAL DIARY
Actress Sarah Ovens, playing Luciana, has been keeping a diary of
the rehearsal process for THE COMEDY OF ERRORS...
WEEK ONE: We started the
week with a read through and
now we are up on our feet
doing a bit of acting. I have a
feeling time is going to fly by
and we'll be opening the show
before we know it. It's been
really great starting to get to
grips with the language of the
play and trying to decipher
character relationships as well
as trying to make the story
clear in all our heads. Two sets
of twins = much confusion and
of course, comedy!
We got the chance to have a
look at some costume designs
and the set design for the
production and I think we're all
going to look rather dashing I'm particularly jealous of the
Duke's cape!
WEEK TWO: We've pretty
much gone through all the
scenes in the play a couple of
times now, working on our feet
and in more detail. We've been
working a lot with Giles (our
brilliant Verse man) who has
been helping us with the
rhythm of certain characters
and scenes, giving us clues as
to what kind of mood someone
is in. I found it really helpful for
a lot of the scenes between the
two sisters as they often talk in
r h ym in g c ou ple ts. G i le s
explained that, normally,
whoever finishes the couplet
has the upper hand and in
Adriana and Luciana's case,
they were bickering! So, Orla
and I proceeded to bicker with
vigour knowing this is what
Shakespeare would have
wanted!
Roxana is great at focusing the
scenes with the use of
Objectives and Actioning which
really help us to pin down our
intentions and hopefully make
everything that's going on clear
for the audience. We've done
lots of exercises, breaking
down big monologues into
thoughts and attaching an
action to each thought,
throwing balls at the end of
each thought to maintain
energy throughout the line,
pulling people, pushing people,
lots of hitting of the two
Dromios. All these exercises
have taught me just how bold
and muscular you have to be
with the language in order to
convey a characters thoughts…
it takes a lot more energy than
I first imagined and is pretty
exhausting!
It's been great watching a few
of the scenes too! Very funny
moments which are going to be
very hard not to laugh at on
stage.
WEEK THREE: Still lots to slot
into place for dear Luciana but
the production as a whole is
looking pretty good I think. It's
great that we have another
week of running it and working
on bits and pieces. It's taken
me a while but I think I'm
finally starting to like Luciana
which I think is really
important. She's a bit of an odd
one. Very stubborn and naive
but as soon as Antipholus
professes his love for her, she
starts to question everything
she thinks and believes and
begins to realise that life isn't
so straightforward. I think this
change is huge for her and she
suddenly grows up quite a lot
to the point where she really
sticks up for her sister when
the Abbess is accusing her of
turning Antipholus mad.
It's a really tiring play to run,
especially for the two Dromios
who are constantly being
beaten, but amazingly
enjoyable. Can't wait to get into
costume and see our set now!
WEEK FOUR / FIVE: We
started teching for the show on
Monday and my oh my how
exciting it was to see the set
and everyone in costume!
Everything looks really really
great and we even managed to
slip in a sneaky dress run
tonight which, seeing as we
haven't run the show for a few
days now, went fairly well!
There has been some technical
difficulties with the revolve and
flying the door in but other
than that it's gone pretty
smoothly. I am exhausted
though, I think a lot of people
are but we open for previews
tomorrow and I'm sure the
nerves will kick in and give us a
good dose of adrenaline. I can't
quite believe how much fun the
show is to run. It goes so fast
as all the confusion grows that
before we know it we are
bowing! Looking forward to our
first audience tomorrow night...
For another view from the
rehearsal room, please see the
Royal Exchange website for a
blog by Actress Eleanor
Fanyinka, playing Courtesan &
Luce.