Globe Education Online

Before each performance Tonia likes to make sure she is properly warmed up and prepared; to do this she goes through the same ritual before each show. She begins with a physical warm up – running, to feel energized. Tonia then warms up her voice, stretching it, making sure that it resonates properly, if she does not warm up her voice properly she could damage it during the performance. Half an hour before the show begins Tonia has a shower in cold water! She then uses aromatherapy oils (usually orange and rose) to help her concentrate and get into the mood of her character. Finally she brushes her teeth.

Tonia has found that during the performance she is increasingly able to play out to the audience. She has also found that they respond to some lines in a way that she had not even thought of e.g. the audience always laugh when Celia tells Rosalind she can have her father, as Celia’s father is not a very attractive character.

The company have now gone into rehearsal for their second play of the season, A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton. This means that Tonia has either rehearsals during the day and a performance in the evening, or a performance in the afternoon and rehearsal in the evening. She has a large part in the play - Tonia plays Mistress Harebrain – a French woman who has just married an English man a great deal older than her. He is an extremely jealous husband who does not allow her to go out. Mistress Harebrain is very different from Celia, although Tonia feels that playing Celia may influence her approach to Mistress Harebrain as she knows she will consciously try to approach the character in a way that is different.

Now Tonia is finding that she is able to relax during performances as she grows more accustomed to working in the Globe space. During the scenes in the forest Tonia is now able to simply react as Celia to events, rather than to first think about how Celia would react. Tonia is always finding small details to add to her portrayal of Celia, although there is still one scene where she feels she is still improvising and is not completely in control of what is happening. This is Act 3 Scene 4 in which Rosalind and Celia discuss Orlando and the notion of falling in love.

Recently during performances Tonia has found that Orlando and Celia have become accomplices in the forest, paradoxically Tonia has also found it easier to allow Celia to be left out of the action in the scenes between Rosalind and Orlando. During rehearsal Tonia tried to give Celia something definite to do in these scenes, but as her performance has developed she has become content to be an observer in these scenes. The audience often allies with Celia during this part of the play and uses her a means of interpreting and/or judging the wooing scenes between Rosalind and Orlando.

These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

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