Would Jubilieve it?
June 6, 2012
As a lover and a user of the Thames, I took my family off to see the thousand boat Jubilee flotilla. Our sovereign and her floating followers were showered with love, praise, respect... and rain.
What a shame that this diligent and dignified woman should have her parade so thoroughly p*******d on. We had a privileged position on Vauxhall Bridge where the queen passed under us, and the heavens rained over us. It was a wonderful sight, but very very wet and windy.
And at 7.15 on the Monday morning, while the rest of the million people who celebrated and suffered alongside us were dug deep in their duvets enjoying a day off, I was standing under a slightly warmer shower in preparation for a day's work.
To misquote Gonzalo: If I should report this now, would they believe me? If I should say that seven months after starting the rehearsals for these plays we are still in rehearsing...? Well, so it must be.
We have three plays to open in a new theatre. Jon Clark has to implement anew his beautiful and complex lighting plot, we have a new crew to induct, and - perhaps most significant for us actors - a very different acoustic to get used to.
Tom Courtney once said that he found the Roundhouse a difficult space to play because his voice went up into the roof and never came down again. The RSC have done their best, with acoustic baffles and reflectors, to keep us audible and comprehensible but this is unquestionably a demanding space to judge properly.
All the infrastructure that has been installed here for the RSC's London season is frankly amazing: stage, auditorium, flies, lighting gantries, catwalks, wardrobe, dressing rooms, laundry, control rooms... the whole bang shoot.
So now we have to find the right balance whereby we speak clearly without sounding like we are earnestly trying to conquer the challenging acoustics of an old engine shed.
Last week we tech rehearsed Comedy of Errors and did two previews. This week we'll do the same for Twelfth Night, and The Tempest. Bookings were a bit disappointing last week, but apparently they will pick up for the other two shows.
In the photo for this post, Nizar Zuabi peps up the players.
by Nick Day
| 2 comments
Share this