Globe Education Online

This is Philip's final bulletin, in which he describes what it is like performing at the Globe: opening night, press night, the audience and developing the play and his character further.

Opening Night

I have known other first nights here at the Globe and it’s not like a first night anywhere else. In the first show you walk out to a sea of smiling and expectant faces, not like in other theatres when it’s a scary darkened room and you can’t see anyone. Here, you really can see because it is light at 7.30pm at night, and people are really up for it. There are some hardcore fans who always come specifically to see the first preview, so you definitely see some faces you recognise! This opening night was certainly adrenaline-fuelled; I think we picked up on the enthusiasm that was coming from the audience. So it wasn’t very controlled, but it was an explosion. We were all ready to try it out (although not ready to be criticised yet, which is why we have previews!).

Changes

In between opening night and press night there are seven or eight shows. We are in every day too; the director [Thea Sharrock] watches each performance and then makes adjustments. We do the show and then we meet the following afternoon before the next evening show, or if we have a matinee, we meet in the morning, to hear the notes and rehearse little bits. That first week is about getting the focus right, so that the audience always knows where to look, and tightening up scenes where things aren’t clear. The director sensed the reaction of the audiences and tried to work out why we lost them in certain places. We then sped up all of the entrances and exits, to change it from a collection of scenes to a through line of action which doesn’t really ever stop.

Press Night

Press night was our eighth show. You tell yourself it’s just another show but of course, you know this is the night that will get judged (although some press critics came before that, and one came a whole week later because they’d been so busy. I think some press actually quite like going to see a different night). The press night audience is quite a mixture: as well as press you’ve also got pals, company members from other Globe shows, and people from the building, so it’s a big night. The reaction can go either way; it can either be a bit restrained because people are worried, or sometimes friends might try to over-compensate by cheering you on! This one was probably somewhere in the middle - I mean it’s a pretty joyous show and a pretty joyous ending so I think it has been liked. Also, I have to say, the Globe does a very good press night! Afterwards is quite an occasion and the management certainly does their part to make sure the beer is flowing (in the nicest family way)!

Reviews

I don’t look up reviews. When I first started acting I got very excited and used to look them up; to see something you’ve done in print is very exciting. Also, it is important to know what people think of the show generally, but you can find that out just by asking people in the press office “Were the reviews alright?” In the past I’ve read reviews that have been unkind about certain shows and it does make the next four months quite difficult because you think “Oh no, the audience have all read this too and we all know we’re in a two-star show!” But that isn’t fair because reviewers are often divided: some may like the performance and some may think it lacked something, so it’s never a universal opinion. I’ve heard the reviews have been good this time and I did see one which I pushed in the direction of somebody else in the company because he was mentioned in it - I share a dressing room with him and I thought it would be nice for him to see. So you do it that way, kindly and carefully; it can be a nice way to encourage other members of the cast. My policy is if someone says “Have a look at that one” then hopefully that means there’s nothing nasty in there, or maybe you’ve even been mentioned. It certainly means you’re alright.

At the end of the season the press department put together all the reviews so you can read them in October. I think if they can stick four stars on a poster then that’s fantastic because it all helps. Tickets sell pretty well anyway, because people book in advance from all around the world, but the yard will fill if a show has good reviews.

Audience

Some people have said that that Globe audience is like the extra character in the play and until you’ve got those people to talk to, you’re just talking to an empty space. In the first performance you suddenly realise how much you can address your lines to people in the audience. The dynamic absolutely changes. When my character the Duke first comes on in the Forest of Arden, his first line is: “Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile…” (2.1.1) and in rehearsals I had assumed it was to Amiens and the lords, but when we got into the Globe I realised it’s to the entire audience! They all come with me to the forest, because the whole theatre becomes the Forest of Arden in my head. So I decided to address them first as my co-mates and by the end they have all been on this journey with the Duke.So it all falls into place once you get on stage.

The last couple of things I’ve done here have been comedy roles and immediately you know if you’re going down alright in a comedy role because people are laughing at what you’re saying or what you’re doing. But Duke Senior isn’t there for that purpose – we laugh at Touchstone, Jaques, Celia and others, but that’s not his job. Instead, this time I had to come on and just trust that the language and the part is doing its job. You just have to do it and you can tell by the atmosphere if people are listening and by the shifting of movement, or if they’re quite still, and by faces looking interested, but it’s a less direct kind of appreciation. I do address the audience quite a lot even though the Duke is not particularly personal – he never talks about himself or asks how anybody else is and seems to have moved on to an almost philosophical level – but since we’ve put the forest in the theatre, I think it is fair enough to include the 1500 people who are in the forest with him!

Weather

Every show varies; we have people fainting on hot afternoons at the moment. There are doors open and people should drink lots of water. I actually like it when we have rain because one of my first speeches is about: “the icy fang /And the churlish chiding of the winter’s wind” (2.1.6-7) Obviously I don’t mind standing there in the sunshine saying “Welcome to the forest” but I think the Duke loves it when it’s raining. At that point I am standing out on one of the extended parts of the stage and if it rains I sit there longer, in sympathy of the groundlings. Maybe I’ll start wearing a cagoule!

Development

We’ve done about twelve or fourteen shows but we’ve got eighty to do in total! The director saw it after a few days away and she said it had got deeper, without losing its freshness. That’s a good stage to be at because the panic of getting a play on has dissipated somewhat, and you can actually investigate lines which you’d missed previously. Shakespeare is about the only author that I personally never get bored of reading.  

I certainly found a new word this afternoon - I mean I’ve been saying it all the time, but then I thought “Oh, actually that’s quite an important word in this sentence and so I’ll give that a bit more weight today.” It is right at the end. The Duke has been offered the crown because his brother has become a monk and he says, “First, in this forest let us do those ends / That here were well begun and well begot” (5.4.168-9) so I was thinking about “well begun and well begot” and the kind of effect that they have – the assonance. Then I was looking at the word “here” and decided it was significant because the forest is so important to the Duke. He is all about the here and now – everything is very immediate and the forest is more important to him than the palace that he is about to go back to. So for me, this afternoon, the use of the word “here” was very important, and a few shows along I’ll have found something else, but just for now I’ve got that little bone to chew on for a while.

Obviously you can’t give weight to every ten syllables in every line, I can’t stress all of it but I still go through my scenes again before I go onstage, just to see what I might have overlooked or automatically assumed was an easy thing to say and perhaps it wasn’t. It’s still the language that’s the surprising bit. Sometimes it can be the other actor and what they do but my own discoveries as an actor often come from close study of the text! Shakespeare really is great, isn’t he?!

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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