Keith's blog

Another Opening, another show
Thursday 2nd October pm
We're just about to open the 1st preview of Love's Labour's Lost and are in the middle of our final dress rehearsal. The tech was completed in record time and was done and dusted by Tuesday evening. Whilst this is usual for a Swan show, it is unheard of for an RST or Courtyard show. Greg is very efficient at running techs anyway but this particular play only has nine scenes and no set changes, hence the world record.
 

As I'm not in the first half at all, I had nearly all of Monday off, I turned up to rehearse part of the interval show on stage Tuesday morning on another beautiful set designed by Francis O'Connor (he did A Midsummer Night's Dream too). Another variation on our season's theme, the big mirror at the back is still there, but a huge tree has burst through and ruptured the smooth black floor and a thick root claws its way toward the audience across the width of the stage. In the afternoon my Marcade costume arrived having been couriered over from Tiddington. It showed much promise in the fitting half-finished and the final article certainly didn't disappoint! Having been made for me, it fitted like a glove (if that's not mixing some kind of clothing metaphor) the heavy layers of thick black fabric, the immaculate cut, absolutely reflecting the gravitas and status of the character and, as all good costumes do, made me feel like a 16th-century French courtier. I don't want to give anything away, nor am I bigging up my role in Love's Labour's Lost, but Marcade, despite being a very small part is an extremely important one that changes the course of the play right at the end. I feel a little like the trumpet player in a symphony orchestra who has one vital fanfare to play right at the climax of the music; if you muck it up there's no chance for recovery and an important moment in the story of the play lost forever. In addition to the glorious cozzie, I discussed some kind of make-up with the costume designer Katrina Lindsay. As well as some Walter Raleigh-esque facial hair I want to look pale, hollow-eyed, almost skull-like, Katrina gave that the thumbs up though counselled caution; she didn't want me to look too skeletal ... fair enough. In addition to my Marcadian pallor, a major make-up job is also required for my part in the interval songs and dances. We are supposed to be mummers of the village and Greg is anxious that I'm not recognised when I come on later as Marcade. Being somewhat pilositically challenged (or to be less politically correct bald as a coot), I wear a wig as a disguise have bright-green make-up on my face! The green face alludes to the pagan legend of the green man of the forest; hopefully although this verdant patina may actually draw more attention it does disguise me very effectively, and the wig ... hey-ho its been 20 years since such locks graced my bonce ... hmmm ... in this show I actually spend more time in the wig and make-up room then I do on stage! Back to the tech, I finally made my entrance for the final scene at about 5.00 and we were done by 6.00. Those of us involved in the interval show stayed on a little longer after a supper break to re-work the songs and dances in situ in the foyer as it was closed to the public by this time, and we were finished by about 8.20pm

We had our first dress run Wednesday afternoon, a careful canter through the play, typical of a first dress run in the theatre as we adjust to the space, lights music etc. Another first: after the dress we had yesterday evening off as well; two evenings off in production week, it just doesn't happen!

Well rested with time on our side, today's final dress went very well, now we desperately need an audience. I have to say that there's a real sense of leaping into the unknown, as we aren't entirely sure how people will respond to this difficult play. The thing is that – as I think I've blogged before – the humour is largely language-based and often quite obscure. In The Dream, much of the comedy is in the situation so is more immediately accessible; it is also a simpler play linguistically and much more familiar. Thus as a company in rehearsal we were able to enjoy the rough and tumble of the action, with Love's Labour's Lost we've worked hard to untangle the meaning and wit of the words so that the audience won't need to.

I had a costume fitting for Marcade a couple of weeks ago. My costume is being specially made for me and was half finished, so I was in tailor's dummy mode while the merits of different fabrics, ruff sizes etc were compared and discussed and different patterns were chalked or pinned about my person. It'll look amazing, whilst I think that Shakespeare works perfectly well in modern dress if the aesthetic is carefully conceived, I do love wearing period clothes, being unusual habiliments they are powerful to wear, ignite your imagination and you get into the feel of the play very quickly.

A few days later
We're in the middle of the preview period now and the audience response has been fantastic! The first preview was hysterical, however in notes the next day Greg quite sensibly warned us not expect the same reaction at the second preview as first-preview audiences in Stratford tend to be attended by RSC regulars who are keen to give their support to a new-born production. However, to our delight Greg was wrong and our second audience on the Friday was just as enthusiastic as the first! However he did warn us in notes on Saturday morning that Saturday audiences can be harder to please, they've paid a little more, will have tended to have booked further in advance therefore have higher expectations etc etc, again that can be true, but he was wrong again, the response was as strong as ever. On Monday he didn't bother to warn us as to the perils of a Monday night and it looks as though we've another success on our hands.

Press Night
The customary press day ritual to take our mind off the critics, focus on the show and bond as a company; an afternoon vocal and physical warm-up then some text work with Cis Berry and some final words from Greg. Then the distribution of good luck cards, flowers wine etc and then ... the show itself ...

The press performance is very well received and I meet my mum and dad (Pamela and Peter) who've come up from Cheltenham for the occasion. They thought the production was delightful and joined us all for drinks and a buffet in the upper foyer afterwards and more drinks at The Duck after that. I resisted the temptation to quaff as I did for the Hamlet press party and so was spared a cranium-busting hangover the next morning, not least because I had to get up early as a man was coming round with a big ladder to clear the gutters of our house before the winter ... oh the glamour of showbiz!

PS
Forgot to mention in my last blog, Patrick threw a big garden party at his house for the whole company on what was one of the few late summer sunny Sundays a few weeks ago. Once again he was a kind and generous host, superb food, great wine and it was wonderful for us all to get out of Stratford and chill out together in beautiful surroundings. It was also an opportunity for The Captain of our Fairy Band to play its first gig. We set up outside the French windows overlooking Patrick's garden and played a handful of songs from our set in the open air to our mates, which was great fun, and who knows perhaps next year Glastonbury beckons ... or anyway hopefully we'll be doing a gig in Stratford before we leave.

But never mind press nights and parties what about rites of passage? The major event of the month was dropping my son Laurence off at Oxford University on Sunday 5th; where he is going to study music. His mum Shona and I are so very very proud of him, having helped set up his room it was very moving to leave him at his college, letting him go positively fizzing with excitement on the threshold of his adult life. It seems so long ago he was a tiny babe, and now no longer a boy but a bright, independent young man striking out on a fantastic voyage. I am reminded of a wonderful set of poems by Kahlil Gibran called The Prophet, one of which is about children; the first few lines seem particularly apt.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.

KO 15/10

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About blogger Keith

         

Likes: Music, cycling, food, theoretical physics

Dislikes: Queuing, flying, mice (and creatures of similar size), smoking

Keith plays Marcellus in Hamlet, Egeus in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Marcade in Love's Labour's Lost as part of the ensemble.