My first blog
October 6, 2011
Sat in the kitchen of our Clapham rehearsal rooms, surrounded by mugs of various hot liquids (mainly of the caffeine variety), dog eared scripts and actors arriving in various states of waking up, I have decided to start my blog!
I am in the process of rehearsing Written On The Heart, directed by Greg Doran and Measure for Measure with Roxana Silbert, in which I am playing various small roles, such as servants, whores and nuns (what a mix!) but then understudying larger roles.
Understudying is a fascinating job, which involves putting in a LOT of work, often learning up to 4 or 5 roles... I have 7 to get through... but without the nightly reward of the applause.
However, I like to think of understudies as the super heroes of the acting world, stepping in at the last minute to save the day and yes I have already designed the costume! It definitely involves a cape.
What is wonderful about working at the RSC is that no matter what the size of your role, everyone is equal, we all fit together to make the cogs of a growing ensemble and are constantly learning from each other.
For example, I learnt today that give a 60 year old actor a sword and he instantly becomes 10 again...mentioning no names, Bruce Alexander! We're running the two plays at the end of this week, so I'll let you know how it goes!
Laura x
by Laura Darrall
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