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History ensemble member Nick Asbury on big bangs, red lights and loosing his voice...
Lighting grids
It's Tuesday morning, we're about to do a Dress of Henry V and then our first performance if it this evening, and I can barely speak.
 I came on as Pistol in Henry IV Part II on Saturday night towards the end of play when Pistol breaks the news to Falstaff and friends that the old king is dead - I flew the through the balcony doors, looked at David as Falstaff and hollered, "Save you, Sir John!", and promptly felt as if someone with badly cut fingernails had scraped them down the inside of my throat. Just like that. I got through to the end of the play. Sunday was spent filming, in a luckily silent role I might add, for a mate of mine's film in a freezing shed in Chiswick and then Monday we started teching for Henry V. I tried my best but after twelve hours of that the only noise I could make sounded like an old dog trying to bark. Or a badger attacking a bike.
It's because you can't do any impromptu warm up here. In Henry IV Part II, I come on all guns blazing as Pistol in the first half, and it's about an hour and a half later that I come back on all guns blazing again. In that time the voice has warmed down and there's nowhere here to give it a quick limber before you go on. In Stratford it's something I didn't even think about. You just do it - we're only talking twenty seconds of making silly noises and sounding like Eccles - but here unless you want seriously to put off the audience and, indeed, your fellow actors, you keep mum. So it's a steamer for me - that weird device that looks like some medieval torture: basically attaching your mouth to a boiling kettle as far I can see. Lots of gentle warming up all day and a wing and a prayer.
But I do love it here. Our dressing room 'booths' become more hilarious everyday. They stretch right around the semicircle backstage with the wardrobe department in the middle. There are two to a booth, and there is a real sense of community. It's like a being in a caravan park on a summer's evening. You go past and each booth is identical but has it's own identity and life within it. Because of the enforced silence, each has a certain sense of peace and quietness as if, like those achingly English campsites, no one wants to disturb anybody else. No towels first on the swimming pool loungers here....
Or again, because each booth is draped with two red curtains that meet in the middle to give some privacy if you want it, it somehow looks like a Moroccan street bazaar, with all the traders selling their wares - although, as Forbes pointed out, it looks more like the red light district in Amsterdam than anything else.
There have been a few teething problems, but the technical crew have all done wonders. These guys have been putting in 13 hour days for weeks now and, because of their hard work, it all seems to be going down a storm. I think. They all seemed to clap at the end. Which is always a bonus. It's always a bit unnerving sometimes when you're in full flow - as I was on Saturday night in Part II and I looked into the audience and there was one lad looking more bored than I ever was in a Maths lesson and what I presume was his dad next to him, staring open mouthed into the lighting grid. Kind of gees you up. I had to turn round and look at the other side of the audience just to see if anyone was interested. It goes with the territory of no fourth wall. You're in there with them and no matter how much they're enjoying it, there's always going to be someone shuffling in their seats and looking like a hostage. Still, there's always a few bangs and crashes to wake them up in these shows.
Given the state of my voice there might soon be complaints about improper animal sounds in a public arena... Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that it'll be fine - after all, there is always the lighting grid to look at.
 Respond to Nick's blog
Responses to Nick's blog
"I was worried that the blog would have finished after the Histories quit Stratford, but I'd largely forgotten the London run. It's wonderful to be able to keep the whole experience fresh in my mind a little longer!
"As someone who was lucky enough to be at the Glorious Moment in its glorious entirety, I can't heap enough praise on everyone involved. Mainly the cast, obviously, but with the amount of technical wizardry involved, the crew must have been run off their feet. There was never as much as a technical hiccup that I noticed in the 8 performances, which speaks volumes. (I was honestly surprised - staggered, in fact - by the smallness of the crew when they came to take their bow after Richard III. I was expecting legions.)
"During the official reception after the last show I was lucky enough to be able to talk to a fair few of the cast, some at length, and the sense that it'd been a mutual experience came up again and again. It was genuinely one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life, and now I'm just waiting for my first opportunity to say "I was there." with regard to it.
"The curtain may come down for the last time in May, but if I'm in any way a representative sample, these Histories will not be forgotten any time soon. Bravo. To everybody, bravo."
Myfanwy
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 |
