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ACTING WITH THE RSC by Jamie Ballard Extracted from Scene 2007- 08 December Issue 2 Acting with the RSC by Jamie Ballard Over the past two years, I have worked with six different directors on six plays in Stratford. Each one, naturally, has their own individual style and approach to working, and it has been a thrilling and enlightening experience moving from one rehearsal room to another, constantly learning new techniques and angles on tackling a piece of text. It began with Greg Doran and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was playing one of the mechanicals, Francis Flute the bellows-mender, and so was part of a collaborative group of individuals whose purpose was to put on a play. The rehearsal process began with sitting round a table with Greg and the rest of the cast reading the play and working out what it all meant. At this point, though, you weren’t allowed to read your own part or make any comments about your character. This took any pressure off the actor to deliver a performance at such an early stage of the process. Once we’d worked through the entire play thoroughly, we set about reading it again, but this time taking our own parts. What Greg is fantastic at, among other things, is creating the world of the play. This can be seen in his approach to examining the lives and loves of the mechanicals. In the play, this group of craftsmen put on a production of Pyramus and Thisbe. In Shakespeare’s day, to avoid plagiarism, actors didn’t receive the entire play, but only their own lines and their cues on a role of paper – hence our modern usage of the term ‘an actor’s role’. Also, because the turnover of productions was so fast, the actors only had a day or so to learn their entire part. That is one reason, among many, why plays were written in a metric style (eg. iambic pentameter), because it is easier to learn. In order to discover what this 14 | Scene | 2007-8 December Issue 2 must have been like, Greg had us put on a production of Robin Hood, giving us our ‘roles’ the night before. We, therefore, had just one night to try and learn our parts and our cues, just as the mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was to take on the role of Robin. A daunting prospect! So the next day arrived all too quickly and we all got up to perform. What the experience showed us was how little you do in such a scenario. All we did was stand still and listen for our cue, because it could come at any time. At one point an actor inadvertently cut out a huge chunk of the play because he thought he’d heard his cue, but in fact it was a different line that sounded very similar. It was a hilarious afternoon that informed our eventual playing of the mechanicals final production of Pyramus and Thisbe in front of Theseus. This is just one example of the meticulous approach that Greg brings to his work. If we hadn’t done that exercise, we would simply have imagined putting on a play and would probably never have thought of how it actually would have been at the time. Greg also got all the mechanicals to learn brass instruments, as he felt they had this wonderful team feel about them like a Yorkshire colliery brassband. Once again the results were hilarious and many a night I struggled to get through our opening number with Snug and Starveling behind me making a fabulous cacophony. Throughout the rehearsal process for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the entire cast, along with that of Twelfth Night, had ‘lessons’ in the mornings – be it verse-speaking, movement, mask work, puppetry workshops or improvisation. This set-up not only enabled us to get to know the other actors in the company, but it was also a great leveller. Some people were better at one thing than another and so you had the older, more experienced actors helping the younger ones and vice-versa. Once we had opened A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, we began rehearsals on As You Like It with Dominic Cooke, another wonderful director who is passionate about creating the world of the play. We were joined by some of the Twelfth Night cast to do As You Like It, while some of our cast went off to do Comedy of Errors. It was nice at that stage to work with different actors with different energies and approaches. Once we had done the read-through and discussed what it all meant, we got up on our feet and improvised scenarios at ‘The Court’ and in the ‘Forest of Arden’. The rehearsal room was full of clothes rails with all sorts of costumes on them for us to put on and play dressing-up. The concept was to have the play begin at Christmas time at The Court then move through to summer in The Forest, so we also experimented with temperature and how that affects movement, thought and emotions. As with Greg, it was a tremendously happy rehearsal room, and after ten weeks or so we opened As You Like It at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford running it alongside A Midsummer Night’s Dream in repertory – that is to say a few nights of As You Like It, then a few nights of Dream. In the January of the following year we took both shows to the West End in London for two months. At the same time I started working on Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing for the next season. During the day I would oscillate between working with Nancy Meckler on Romeo in one room and Marianne Elliott on Much Ado in another. In the evenings I would then head off to the theatre to perform. It was a very fullon, busy time, which was absolutely knackering, but, paradoxically, probably one of the most fruitful and exciting rehearsals periods I’ve experienced. As my time was limited, I was either in one rehearsal room or the other, never having a free moment. As a result, I was very receptive to any ideas the directors would have, and, conversely, the directors would be very open to my playing around with thoughts I had brought in with me. In Romeo and Juliet, I was playing the part of Mercutio. This for me was a dream role – the mercurial friend of Romeo, who has a fabulous death scene half way through the play. When I auditioned for the part, I knew that Nancy would probably get me to read the ‘Queen Mab speech’, so I thought I would learn it. Mercutio always seems to be portrayed as this very funny, wacky character, but on reading the speech, I began to see a darker side to him. The end of the speech is littered with derogatory references to women – eg. ‘pricked from the lazy finger of a maid’, ‘O’er ladies’ lips... Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues/Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are.’, ‘And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs’. Why has he such a profound problem with women? What is his attitude to them? He seems to be a very funny, witty man, who is the life-and-soul of the party, but with a deep sadness to him. A few people I know who are like that are alcoholics, and so I wanted to explore that possibility. I went into the audition, therefore, with these thoughts and ideas going around in my head. On getting the part, I was really excited about taking them further, and that is what Nancy is brilliant at. She is great at helping you get into the psyche of a character, offering up psychological reasons for certain kinds of behaviour. Unlike Romeo, who tells you why he is feeling the way he is (e.g. He’s in love with Rosaline, but it is unrequited), Mercutio never explains why he says the things he says. Nancy and I, therefore, built up a history for Mercutio together, examining his relationship with his mother, his father and, subsequently, his friends, notably Romeo and Benvolio. To make Mercutio opinions work for me, I had his mother run off with another man, abandoning him in the process. This helped to explain why he has such anger towards women and love. He wants to love, he wants to get close to someone, but whenever he does, he pushes them away, because in the end ‘life is sh**’. For me, Mercutio was a nihilist. Marianne is similar to Nancy in wanting to get to the root of why a character is the way he/she is – it’s all about motive and intention. So when I went into the audition for Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing, one of the first things she said was, ‘I think Borachio is in love with Hero’. That was brilliant for me. Instantly there was a reason for having such hatred towards Claudio, but also for having such a sudden, open confession at the end of the play. Marianne doesn’t let you off the hook for a second. If your motive and intention aren’t razor sharp she’s onto you. We would do a lot of improvisation to free-up the scenes, but also to bring these intentions into clear focus. That is just a taster of what I experienced in my two years at The RSC. I learnt more than I could possibly imagine from all the directors and my fellow actors. It was a huge learning curve that I hope will continue to grow. I am about to work with Marianne again at The National Theatre in May for ten months, and I can’t wait! Review Recommended to ISTA, by Bruce McDonald, from Graded School, Brazil Text taken from University of Hawaii Press Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture by Alexandra B. Bonds Beijing Opera Costumes is the first in-depth Englishlanguage book focused exclusively on the costumes of Jingju, the nationally dominant form of indigenous theatre in China. Meticulously researched in Honolulu, Taipei and Beijing, this comprehensive volume provides the theory of the conventionalized style of the costumes, and analysis of the design aesthetics as well as performance practices. A survey of the rich and complex history of Beijing opera and significant developments in design over the past millennium explains the development of standardized costumes to communicate the roles to the audience. Derived from historical dress, the costumes were modified for the stage to enhance the actors’ performance and the audience’s enjoyment. Extensive descriptions illuminate the details of the costumes, the system of colour meanings, and symbolism in the embroidered imagery and how these design elements transmit details about the characters, as well as contribute to the overall beauty of the stage picture. Details on makeup, hairstyles, headdresses and footwear present a complete view of the Jingju performer from head to toe. The intricacies of selecting costumes and dressing the actors for a production is also included, along with pattern drafts for most frequently worn garments. Lavishly illustrated with over 250 color and black-and-white photographs and pattern drafts, Beijing Opera Costumes is an indispensable record of and resource for Jingju as it is performed in China today. Textile artists will appreciate the beauty of the colors and designs as well the information on embroidery techniques and symbolism of the images. China scholars will value the contextual analysis and theater specialists the explication of costumes in relation to performance. Finally, costume designers will relish the opportunity to examine in detail their art in another cultural setting and theatrical style. Alexandra B. Bonds is professor of costume design at the University of Oregon and Vice President for International Activities of the United States Institute for Theater Technology. Publication date: Spring 2008 ISBN: 987-0-8248-2956-5 Available from www.uhpress.hawaii.edu Scene | 2007-8 December Issue 2 | 15