Week 1: I'm cool. I promise.
December 19, 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
On my first day at the RSC, I suppressed the over-friendly, over-smiley American that lives somewhere deep down inside me, and tried to act as I imagine any other London-based actor would.
'Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent.'
(Twelfth Night, I. ii. 56-58)
In addition to drinking lots of cups of tea (British actors do that), I also contained the impulse to say, 'I'm cool. I promise,' everytime I introduced myself (British actors don't do that). Instead, I just said my name... then spelled it… and then spelled it phonetically (ˈəŋ-kur bə-ˈhel), correcting the variations that I was presented with. It's an occupational hazard for an actor with a Sanskrit name. Luckily, actors are better at reproducing unfamiliar sounds than most people are.
We're also good at memorisation. Within the first hour we had played games to learn the names of two directors, a company manager, two assistant directors, a choreographer, a voice coach, four stage managers, an intern, and 18 actors.
'Oh, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!'
(The Tempest, V. i. 203-204)
In the afternoon we sat in a circle to read The Comedy of Errors. It became apparent how cleverly the company had been cast. All the actors are in all three plays, and all the understudying will be done within this cast as well. It's a diverse company. Some tall, some not, some young, some not, white, Asian, black, Arab, men, women, some funny, some serious, some posh, and some not (you'll get properly introduced to them all as this blog progresses). It was a joy to hear the different voices and accents unleashed on this quick-paced, action-packed text.
Friday 4 November 2011
The directors for the season, David Farr and Amir Nizar Zuabi, used the first few days to contextualise the plays and identify their common themes. The reading of each play was accompanied by a rich discussion. In house, we are calling the season the 'Shipwreck Trilogy', because all three plays begin with disasters at sea and use the displacement of characters to unveil their true identities.
The RSC brought in James Shapiro, an English professor from Columbia University, to speak to us about each play. Wednesday it was The Comedy of Errors; Thursday The Tempest; Friday Twelfth Night.
We ended the week with a viewing of a model of the set for Twelfth Night. It's useful to know the world that Designer Jon Bausor is setting up, because next week we begin rehearsals on this play whose title ends with 'or What You Will,' which is normally omitted.
Photo: Ankur Bahl, actor playing Curio in Twelfth Night, Spirit in The Tempest, and Messenger in The Comedy of Errors.
(The What Country Friends is This? plays are; The Tempest, Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors, and are part of the RSC's World Shakespeare Festival)
by Ankur Bahl
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