Globe Education Online

This is Laura's final bulletin, she talks about what it is like performing in the Globe, the opening night, press night, the audience and changes.

Opening Night

I always love the first performance and I was particularly looking forward to getting As You Like It in front of an audience. Celia does rely heavily on an audience because she has a big relationship with them. I couldn’t go any further with the part without an audience at that point. Am I doing too much to them? Or not enough? What works  and what doesn’t? When do you share the gag? In this theatre especially, it is the audience that are the second half of the play.

Because it’s a comedy, you never know when the laughs are going to come. It is nerve-wracking, because you know where some obvious laughs are going to come, but the audiences laugh at so much more than you anticipate. It often takes us by surprise and you have to be very much on your guard. You have to time it so that you’re not speaking when the laugh comes, because then they won’t get the next bit, but you do gradually learn how it works.

I think it is quite a different show now: all the elements were there but changes have been made. Changes were being made all the way through the previews, which I think is great, that’s how it should be. I just love working in this space and I love it when the audience come in, so as far I was concerned I just couldn’t wait to get up there.

Changes

A couple of small things changed for me in preview week, mostly staging issues. There were probably little tweaks in every scene, but nothing major from my actual character’s point of view. The one thing that really did change was the epilogue. We never knew when it should come, I can’t remember which version we did on the first night but we tried it several ways: before the wedding dance; after the wedding dance but before the jig; and then we finally settled on doing it after both the wedding dance and the  jig. I think that is the best option. I just love the way the wedding dance breaks into the jig and it would have been a shame to stop that rhythm. Naomi [Frederick, Rosalind] is very good at letting the crowd settle and getting their attention again, stopping them walking out because they think it is the end. Then we tried her in different positions on the stage: at first we all stayed in our line and she tried to quieten them from there, but that was taking a long time, so we decided to step back and leave her centre stage so they would realise that something else was meant to happen.

Audience

There is a scene when I have to move some of the groundlings, for the wrestling scene, and it is a day-to-day challenge – we never know how it’s going to pan out! Sometimes we race through and it is all very quick, but other times when it is really packed, it is quite impossible. Because they are so engaged in the scene, if they hear someone saying, “Excuse me” they assume it’s just another audience member, so you have to move them out of the way.  But in fact, as the play goes on, I think the groundlings understand that quite a lot is happening in the yard and they get the idea in the end. Sometimes the sea parts for you before you need it to!

I personally much prefer doing the evening performances, firstly because it is cooler and secondly because I like the change in the light. You start and it is still daylight, then by the end it gets dark. In the day, I think because it can get very hot, the audiences get restless, and there are quite a lot of younger people in the audiences and they are maybe standing and shuffling and so it’s a little bit harder. There seem to be more aircraft during the day as well, so that’s a bit disruptive. Actually I think we have started to play the matinee audiences a lot better; we are learning how to handle them now. But I think the beauty and the magic is more noticeable in the night.

Key Moments Onstage

As the play goes on, my character says less and less and becomes more of a spectator. In the rehearsals, the director would be calling me in for all those scenes all the time and after a while I started to think “Oh, I don’t say anything in this scene and I’m just going to be standing around for hours and hours while the others are discussing how to play their roles” and I got a bit tired by it. But those have probably become my favourite moments. It is just so much fun being able to find something new every day in the way I react to the scenes and to the love story that is happening in front of me. It is also really lovely to feel the audience are on my side, that I am representing them in a way.  Naomi and Jack [Laskey, Orlando] are playing the scene so beautifully, so mostly the audience know how they are going to feel, but I think there are moments when they look to Celia to find out how to feel about something.

Celia is a lot funnier than I anticipated and that’s great, because so many people have said, “Oh Celia, she can get lost,” because if you’re in a scene and don’t have anything to say then you can easily get ignored. So I like to get in there (as long as I don’t distract Naomi and Jack!)

I really enjoy the scene where I find the letter and I’m reading the poem out and I then tell Rosalind that Orlando is in love with her. I find the way that scene has been written is so modern, it is such a girly-screaming type of moment: “Oh my gosh, a boy fancies you!” I really feel like Celia comes alive and shows her personality and really look forward to doing that scene. I haven’t got at all tired of the show yet, I still look forward to doing it and I’m going to be sad when it’s over.

Press Night

Press night was fantastic! Although actors say “Oh no, it doesn’t matter what they think, we’re in a great show, the Globe will sell out anyway…”, press nights are always a more nerve-wracking experience than anything else. Because if there is still a significant run of shows to do and your reviews have been bad, then it is difficult to continue to love a show. Also I think if audiences read bad reviews, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not going to come, but I worry that they are expecting you to fail, or that they really want you to impress them. Whereas if they know that the critics have enjoyed it, then they are already in a positive frame of mind, thinking, “We’re going to have a good night tonight”.

I never think press nights are the best shows, because everyone is under pressure to get it right. You’re trying too hard, or things aren’t landing, or you’re listening to yourself rather than listening to the other person onstage. Particularly if it is a comedy, you know where the laughs are supposed to come, and so if you don’t get that response, it can knock you off your centre for the rest of the show. Luckily I think the play was in a very good place, the audience went wild and we all had a great time.

My agent and a casting director came to see it and they both absolutely loved it, so that was good. I tend not to have friends and family in on press night, I don’t think it is the best show, I would prefer them to come later in a run when it has settled down. You don’t want the added pressure of friends and family in as well! Plus, after the show on press night the actors are meant to be networking with the casting directors and different theatre people, and so you wouldn’t want your friends and family to be left behind, you’re still at work.

Reviews

I do read reviews, although I tend to give it a bit of time. My agent usually reads them and then will let me know where the good ones are. I don’t really like to read negative things. Some people say they don’t like to read reviews at all – even if they’re really good – because if they say a specific thing about you then it affects the show. For example, if they comment on the way that person said that joke, then that joke is never going to be the same again, because there is too much resting on it. 

I did read the reviews for this show (my agent said they were all good!) so I was really happy with them. They’ve all been great and loads of people have had nice mentions, so they don’t leave people out and I think the general consensus is that it is a great ensemble piece.

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

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