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History ensemble member Nick Asbury on a memorable and emotional few days...
Really listening
Well, we've just done EIGHT different shows in 5 days. (With two day long Understudy Technical Rehearsals thrown in for good measure). And what an amazing journey it was.
 Everyone had a story to tell. What happened when; who dried; who corpsed; who could barely drag themselves out of bed on Saturday morning to do three shows (everybody); who could barely remember his own name come the end of Part III that night; and again the following morning when waking with a headache sponsored by Flowers' Bitter and a mouthful of carpet (me). The reception we got on Saturday night after the trilogy of the Henry VIs and again after Richard III on Sunday was quite wonderful. And very memorable. And emotional too. I have written before about how the show somehow comes with us into the pub. Well, on Saturday I'd say a good 95% of the people in the Duck had either sat through, crewed, or performed three plays that day and done 4 more in the few days before that. There was a palpable sense of joy and achievement and celebration. Just like a wedding party, in fact. We were definitely aggregating all over the place. Heady stuff. Well, that's what I felt on Sunday morning.
During Richard III on Sunday people were coming off stage having done their last major bit with arms aloft in triumph and achievement - like marathon runners breaking the tape. But to be greeted with a standing ovation like the ones we received on Saturday and on Sunday is not everyday stuff and I will treasure them always.
When I'm not working as an actor, I play piano in bars and nightclubs and very very posh hotels to pay the rent. I have spent hundreds, thousands, of hours playing away to people who are not listening. I once played Baa Baa Black Sheep in every key, major and minor, for 45 minutes and nobody noticed. I could've been Mozart sat there twiddling and they would still have slouched there looking all fleshy and eating their scented peanuts and fiddling with their pearls and may have heard it but not listened to it. I started thinking about that as 1000 people from all walks of life who had paid a lot of hard earned money rose on Sunday to applaud us. And themselves. And the occasion. I thought about how much they HAD listened. How much they had watched and thought and followed us every step of the way. A thousand people laughing when you say a funny line is one of the truly great experiences. What is getting a 'laugh'? I suppose it is the ultimate feedback that you're doing ok and they're listening. Corroboration? Collaboration? Truth? Recognition? But the same thing can happen when you can hear a pin drop in the audience. There you are on stage and the audience are totally with you, eager, listening, aware. It's very special. And is a testimony to that fantastic space - The Courtyard - and not to me but to US. All of US in that darkened room - the actors, the audience and the crew. To the Plays. To the occasion; the project. And that is the hair raising, goose pimply thing that theatre can and should be.
Acting, art, is nothing if not communication. If it doesn't do that, then it just becomes showing off. Or background noise. I may well have given my best work to a load of over paid business men in bad suits in a hotel in Piccadilly, maybe not. But I wasn't showing off. And yet, I suspect I'm doing my best work in front of 1000 people every night and hopefully communicating and not showing off. I am truly privileged. And that's why there was a tear in my eye in the curtain calls on Saturday and Sunday and why I went and got thoroughly slaughtered afterwards. And my head still hurts. But in a good way.
 Respond to Nick's blog
Responses to Nick's blog
"Dear Nick, I have just come home from Stratford-upon-Avon after having lived for four days in and around the Courtyard Theatre watching the eight History Plays on March 6-9th. Looking forward to it, I realised I might get an indigestion of it after a few plays. How wrong was I! It was absolutely overwhelming! I loved every second of every play! I loved the acting, the staging, the language, the costumes, the music and sound effects, the Courtyard Theatre and the whole atmosphere during these eight plays. I feel like having lived in another world for four days and now being dropped off in every day life again.
"I think it is such an amazing achievement by all the actors to remember all their lines and to create tension or emotion, or be genuinely funny in every play again, as if it was for the first time every time again. It was such an intense experience, I will never forget it!
Yours sincerely,
Hilde"
"Dear Nick, and all - I have just arrived home after watching all eight of the plays this weekend, and knew that somehow, I had to say thank you to you all. I'm sure you must get thousands of emails like this, but nevertheless, this is one of the most heartfelt thanks.
"I have been brought up on Shakespeare and the theatre, and was lucky enough to graduate from Warwick University last year, and so was able to see a good dose of The Complete Works, although previous to this weekend, I had only seen Richard III from your ensemble. But nothing I have ever seen before lives up to the cycle of plays you all presented over the weekend; there was not a weak link, not a moment that didn't make the adrenaline race and the heart pound, and I have never before felt tears in my eyes at the final blackout, simply because the experience was over.
"You all worked so hard, and yet it seemed so effortless, so natural; you seemed to live the parts, and most importantly, love them, and love performing, and that is infectious, and helped to elevate the already impossibly high standard of work that you were presenting.
"I could go on forever with all the individual things that I loved about the weekend, but there are a few things I must mention. Lex Shrapnel's performance of Hotspur was awe-inspiring, and I have never seen an actor know, and be his part so thoroughly. Katy Stevens as Queen Margaret was amazing, and she completely lit up and owned the stage every time she was on. Clive Wood as Richard Duke of York was brilliant, as was Jonathan Slinger in every role he played. Geoffrey Streatfield too was fabulous to watch as both Prince Hal and Henry V, again seeming to really know and understand and love his character. And of course yourself, shining particularly in Pistol's later scenes in Henry V, where you brought a very human aspect to the character, whilst maintaining the comic effect. However, the whole ensemble was fabulous, and everyone worked so hard, and had such wonderful talent. You all appeared to work together seamlessly, everything and everyone was a real joy to watch.
"Please pass on my thanks to everyone involved in the production if it is at all possible, and I'd like to say again, this has been an experience that I shall never forget.
Thank you,
Hannah"
Watch extracts from the Histories
 View scenes from Henry V and behind the scenes in rehearsals.
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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 |
