Week 25: Impending addition
October 9, 2012
16 April 2012
Moving to Stratford-upon-Avon for the season can be a difficult adjustment. It was particularly trying for actor Sandy Grierson; his partner Leah Lovett is pregnant with their first child.
Leah's due date was 10 April, but the baby is in no rush to be born. Sandy has been allotted three days of paternity leave, and is determined to be at the birth. A car is on standby, so he can whisk onto the motorway back to London the moment the call comes.
All the understudies are also on standby, attending extra rehearsals to learn the parts, even though full understudy rehearsals are not scheduled to start until 27 April. Every understudy is hoping they will not have to go on for Sandy during the Press Night performances that will officially open the season on 25 and 26 April.
18 April 2012
Leah went into labour, and Sandy drove off. Sandy's absence was announced during an understudy line run of The Comedy of Errors this morning; it's lucky we were already scheduled to run the lines, as Jan Knightley stepped into the role of the Duke, alongside his regular duties of playing the Merchant for the evening show.
All day our dressing room turned into 'Team Jan' headquarters; Kevin McMonagle and I ran lines with Jan, and visitors from cast and crew kept coming by to wish him luck.
If anyone in the company can step into one of the plays with limited rehearsal, it's Jan, a true Shakespearean who has performed most of the collected works in his career. And true to form, Jan produced the goods. The rest of the cast also seemed electrified by the shakeup, ready to react and be supportive in this exceptional change of casting.
A particularly electric moment came when Jan, playing the Duke, shot his gun into the air in Act 5. This always happens, but each actor's timing is different, and Jan's caught us by surprise—true surprise, sans acting.
19 April 2012
We spent the day incessantly checking our phones for any email or text information on the delivery of baby Grierson. Sandy's largest role in the trilogy is Ariel, and the big worry was that he would miss our next performance of The Tempest on the evening of 21 April.
In the evening's show of Twelfth Night, Stephen Hagan and I went on as Sandy's understudies. Stephen went on as the Captain, and I went on as the Priest.
Stephen's understudy duties were only required in Act 1 Scene 2. I'm on stage playing Curio during this scene, and almost broke out of character during the speech. I've become used to Sandy's Edinburgh accent colouring the lines; hearing Belfast-native Stephen's accent on these lines caught me off guard.
Luckily, for me, playing the Priest was rather straightforward. I had parked up beside the backstage monitors during previews to watch Sandy play the part and had learned the blocking and the lines.
During the interval, I got into my priest costume. It's a full-length black robe, with black shoes, and a Greek orthodox headdress (kamilavka and all). Sandy also wears a ginger moustache and beard. As funny as it would be for me to wear this part of Sandy's costume, for reasons of hygiene and authenticity the wig department sourced a curly black moustache and beard for me.
On my first priestly entrance, I slipped in my new shoes, tripped over the robe, and sneezed because the moustache was tickling my nostrils. But after this jolty start, my performance of the priest went well. I even elicited a chuckle during the speech, which shows the delicate comedy of the moment worked. Phew.
20 April 2012
We got a photographic text of Susannah Maud Grierson, weighing seven pounds and two ounces.
'O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have decked the sea with drops full of salt,
Under my burden groaned, which raised in me
An undergoing stomach to bear up
Against what should ensue.'
(The Tempest. I. ii. 152-158.)
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that Leah and Susannah were well. We also breathed a sigh of relief that Susannah had been born before press night, and Sandy wouldn't miss a performance of The Tempest; he will back to play Ariel tomorrow night.
Sarah Belcher had spent all week in a frazzled state, never far from her script, constantly rehearsing lines and songs for the part. She can now rest knowing it is unlikely she will have to go on as Ariel before the public understudy performance in a month.
I have no idea how Sandy will be able to play such a big role less than 24 hours after the birth of his daughter. Then again, maybe it will be a special performance—a newly-made father having witnessed life's greatest miracle, performing his own magic on stage.
Photo: My first understudy appearance — the Priest in Twelfth Night.
by Ankur Bahl
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