The first RSC productions in the World Shakespeare Festival are three plays cast from one acting company, looking at migration, exile, and the discovery of brave new worlds. Actors Nick Day and Ankur Bahl share their experiences in rehearsal for The Tempest, Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors.
Nick has beached on the shores of the RSC for the fifth time. Having drifted about in a variety of theatre, TV and film roles over 40 years the winds and tides have given him good passage into our waters a little more often lately. He loves it here and has absolutely no desire to be taken off this magic isle.
After spending his youth on the international jump rope circuit, Ankur arrived in Britain six years ago as a postgraduate studying migration and diaspora. Shipwrecked in London, he began performing in theatre pieces about the people he was studying.
March 16, 2012
David Farr is often telling us how Shakespeare has his characters turning on a sixpence. We can fall into the trap of not moving with the changes fast enough because of decisions we have made about our characters mood and objectives.
by Nick Day
| 1 comment
|
Read this entry
March 14, 2012
So this is how it goes. On Monday we would start a technical rehearsal that continues through twelve hour days until Wednesday, when we might have time for a dress rehearsal in the evening.
by Nick Day
| 1 comment
|
Read this entry
March 13, 2012
Actor Felix Hayes had a big announcement: his wife, Hannah Broadway, gave birth to their daughter, Ursula Olive Hayes.
by Ankur Bahl
| No comments yet
|
Read this entry
March 9, 2012
Well, we're in Stratford. The weather coming up the M40 was as bad as could be – when overtaking a big truck meant being blinded in its spray. You know what it's like.
by Nick Day
| 2 comments
|
Read this entry
March 6, 2012
Well, that's it. Clapham, au revoir. It was a celebratory day in some ways. I persuaded the staff at Clapham North tube station to write my own bon mots on their 'Thought of the Day' board at the top of the escalators.
by Nick Day
| 1 comment
|
Read this entry
February 28, 2012
Would you like to hear about the Actor's Dream? No, I don't mean to win an Oscar; I mean the kind of dream that is close to a nightmare...
by Nick Day
| No comments yet
|
Read this entry
February 27, 2012
I've had a couple readers of this blog express an interest in what I had to say about rhetorical and grammatical punctuation, so I thought I'd offer a bit more on the theme.
by Nick Day
| No comments yet
|
Read this entry
February 25, 2012
Director Nizar Zuabi is setting The Comedy of Errors in a Mediterranean smugglers' town. In our version of Ephesus, the weather is hot, doors are always open, news travels fast, and trouble travels faster. Instead of what he calls the 'shame culture' of Britain, Nizar wants the play to be set in the 'honour culture' of the Middle East.
by Ankur Bahl
| No comments yet
|
Read this entry
February 21, 2012
Sunday was perfect weather for sailing: blue skies, cotton wool clouds and a fair north westerly that took me and my boat down river with a journalist and photographer from Yachting Monthly.
by Nick Day
| 1 comment
|
Read this entry
February 20, 2012
During the run of Twelfth Night, Nick Day, who plays Sir Toby Belch, lost his trousers.
by Ankur Bahl
| 2 comments
|
Read this entry