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History ensemble member Nick Asbury on bad hands and rehearsals...
Card sharks
Teching Part III this morning and flush from the Poker Tournament yesterday, Miss Alexia "Cincinnati" Healy is triumphant.
 So she should be, Anthony Holden was there who has written books not only on Shakespeare but on Poker too so when he heard that we as an ensemble were having a poker tournament he was up here like a rat up a drainpipe. Strangely, he didn't win; he came second. Some geezer called Carl won. But "Cincinnati" came third which is a considerable achievement considering she only played the game for the first time three weeks ago. I lost everything in the first hour and a half and was up moodily stomping around the hills watching the sunset as Alexia was holding 'em and folding 'em. Hats off to Keith Bartlett for organising it (what was it I said in this blog about him being a seven year old boy with a fifty year old face....?) and running it so smoothly.
Which also can be said of our technical rehearsals for the remounting of all these Henry VIs. The stage management and crew have all been fantastic as have all the new dressers that have come in or returned. Everyone is working so hard. And doing Henry VI Part I & II last week was a real joy for me. As I've said, I've been doing these shows on and off for nearly eight years now which is strange and comforting at the same time. The lines are part of me now. And even though I don't say that much in Part II I'm on all the time and it was electric to be back doing it all again. And to see it all being informed by what we have done in the intervening year it now feels like we are beginning to complete the jigsaw.
There is a pitch to how much we can produce at any one time however. We seem to have developed a weird instinct as to how much we can give collectively in a dress and technical so that it is the performance that gets our full energy. It's not spoken or judged, just felt and done. This, of course, is the benefit of working so closely together for the last two years. And also a result of being so tired that we've stopped bothering to think and just done it instead. Which, in my case, is always a good thing. The moment I start using my brain before I perform is always a cause for alarm in my book. It always gets in the way.
Which is why I'm useless at Poker and Alexia wins.....
 Respond to Nick's blog
Responses to Nick's blog
"It's so much fun to read your blog and find out a bit more about what is going on behind (and under) the scenes.
My husband and I found out about The Complete Works when we ended up in Stratford-upon-Avon totally by accident in July 2006 after a hiking holiday gone wrong. It was then when we first saw Henry VI Part I. We didn't know the play and first didn't want to go (unknown, unloved, you know), but since the tickets were cheaper being it only the 2nd performance, we decided to go after all. And we were totally swept off our feet! We absolutely loved the wonderful acting, the fighting scenes, the costumes, the language and also the courtyard theatre in itself! So much that we came back the following evening to see the same play again. And that we came back the following months to see every other play of the Histories Cycle.
We have grown so fond of these plays and of its actors that we booked tickets for the 8 History plays on the weekend op 6-9 March 2008 to enjoy them all once again.
Many thanks to the actors, directors and everyone involved in these performances!
We are already counting down the days until 6 March!"
Hilde
Watch extracts from the Histories
 View scenes from Henry V and behind the scenes in rehearsals.
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Latest blog posts
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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 |
