Silence, panic and joy
November 14, 2011
11/11/11
We held a two minutes silence in rehearsals today to commemorate all the brave men and women who have lost their lives in fighting for freedom, justice and human rights. In a room that is normally thronging with words and music, silence rings loudly.
We spend the remainder of the morning tightening up the scene changes. It is relatively easy (well as easy as Measure for Measure can be!) to rehearse each scene individually; however, when it comes to putting them into sequence it becomes slightly trickier. For example, I spend my time backstage before each scene change in a state of cold-sweated panic: Am I on the right side? Am I in the right wig? Does my bum look big in this? Ok so maybe not the latter, but the formers are a constant concern.
This sort of work is imperative as if the transitions are clunky or slow it can really hold up the pace of the play and thus induce a snoring audience!
On the subject of snoring, I was tiptoeing on the precipice of sleep last night, when something occurred that I had only ever dreamed about. I was dragged from the edge of slumber by a 'Laura, Laura!' Bear in mind that this was actually only 11pm, as Grandma here was shattered from a day's rehearsal, but for the purpose of the anecdote we'll imagine it was early dawn... I ran to my window and pulled up the shutters to discover James Hayes and Jim Hooper (two of the greatest actors the RSC has ever seen) on the street below, reciting up at my window 'BUT SOFT, WHAT LIGHT THROUGH YONDER WINDOW BREAKS! IT IS THE EAST AND JULIET IS THE SUN...'
There are not enough words in the English Dictionary to describe my utter joy at this. If only Shakespeare were here, he could invent me a single word for such an occasion. But for now I will lock it 'within the gentle closure of my breast'.
We start Measure's tech tomorrow with set, costumes, lighting and props- anything could happen in the next half hour! Well, more like three to four days actually, but I'll keep you posted!
by Laura Darrall
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