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History ensemble member Nick Asbury on a major understudy situation - the hardest job in acting...
All change
I was sat sprawled across Clive Wood's sofa yesterday (Sunday - bliss), glass of wine in hand, a bellyful of chicken successfully negotiated, when I looked across at Rob Carrol similarly plastered all over a chair and remembered that Rob was Clive's understudy.
 I suppose it is a big indication of the way we are all working together and for each other that it hadn't even occurred to me, whilst it was going on, to write about it in this 'ere blog that we had a major understudy situation two weeks ago.
Clive, due to a big family illness, had to miss the show on Tuesday two weeks ago and Rob had to go on as Bolingbroke in Richard II. Believe you me, that is a big ask. Well, he was brilliant. Cool and calm as you like, just went out and delivered. Bang. Just like that. There's life in the hairy Australian yet. Brilliant. And then he had to go on the next night and play the king in Henry IV Part I.
It was a real example of how the support we have for each other can go such a long way. He was in great company and we all were right behind him and off he flew. It was very exciting to watch. We also had a situation the previous week where Luke Neal, having been sick all day, went on to do the show. Halfway through Act 1 sc 2 he quietly walked off stage and vomited into a bucket. The most impressive thing was that he managed to do it quietly. I was standing ready to go on as Pistol and it was an edifying sight before I went on. Stage Management sent him home. Which meant, of course, that we had to change on the hoof. Chris McGill, seeing he was off took Luke's lines and for the rest of the play we were all running around, taking his lines and doing all the stuff Luke does in the play with trap doors and the like. Took it in our stride.
Due to the nature of this project, understudy rehearsals are a nightmare to fit in. We rehearsed the Richard II understudy stuff underneath the principle rehearsals for Henry IV Part II back in May. This meant I learnt my understudy lines back in April having gone through them in rehearsal only once since then until now. You have to be on your toes. Then, when we were rehearsing Henry V in London, we rehearsed the understudies for Henry IV Parts I & II, as well as the Henry V understudy stuff. All very confusing and complicated. Having mounted and opened Henry V, not content with playing four different shows by night we are now in understudy rehearsals on stage for all those four shows by day. We are reaching the end, as I've just come out of a fight call for the Pistol/Fluellen understudy fight. The final understudy run of this project will be on Thursday. On Friday we do the AGM thingy, then after two shows Saturday we are going to have the mother of all parties. It will be messy. It will be cruel. But, boy, it will be good. Slinger, Costain and McGill are DJ'ing. Wahey!
Now, in the middle of all that Rob had to go on and produce the goods to a paying audience. He was prepared and he was brilliant. We were all there for him and he said that he felt really good. Understudying is the hardest job in acting. You have to go on and do a performance with about 2% of the rehearsal time the principle gets. The lines are seemingly just at the end of your grasp and you're acting with people that you've never done the scene with. It's tough. But can be the biggest thrill of all.
And as Rob sat slumped across the chair at Clive's yesterday, with Clive's family all back to health, I know that he sits there with just a little bit more experience under his belt, maybe a small grey hair in his head, but with the smile of a job well done. Now that's a Sunday.
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About blogger Nick
Likes: Cricket and music. Fields and dark pubs with no music
Dislikes: Lager, crowded streets and light bars with music |
