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This is the third bulletin from Duke Senior (Philip Bird). It covers Philip's experiences of in early rehearsals,his work on movement, and Duke Senior's key relationships.

Early rehearsals

The first sessions are spent going through the play scene by scene, saying all the words, checking we all know what we’re saying, since sometimes with Shakespeare it can be a little knotty. The director [Thea Sharrock] isn’t telling you what to do, she’s just asking questions and throwing open possibilities:“What about this?” She’d like us to learn the lines fairly early, so that next time we come to that scene, we’ll probably be walking it about, with the lines under our belts, so we can have four weeks on our feet just throwing it around.

Movement work

We had a really good movement session yesterday with Glynn [MacDonald, Movement] about types of people. People in positions of power need to demonstrate that they have quite a lot of room about them; they are used to having quite a wide personal space because no-one comes that close to them, so they may take a wide circle when they turn, for example. The Duke is used to that sort of treatment, and so he is still trying to come to terms with how democratic this happy band is. He does still send people off, it is still called the “Duke’s banquet”, and people are still paying him some kind of respect, so I don’t think he can ever let go of that previous authority. I’m afraid he hasn’t changed that much – he’s not a complete democrat.

Relationships with Amiens and Jaques

The Duke doesn’t really ever engage with anyone and he doesn’t ever ask anyone how they are; he only concentrates on how he is feeling. He seems to be quite removed from the day to day, apart from talk about getting some venison or berries and fresh air. Music is very important to him, always songs everywhere and he’s got Amiens with him, who is absolutely loyal: he wasn’t banished but came with the Duke anyway; he’ll sing when he’s asked to or go and fetch Jaques. Duke Senior couldn’t do without him.

Jaques is just hugely amusing; without him the forest would be a very dull place. You need that acid in the mix to stop us getting too smug. He’s the one you can still have verbal backchat with, which I think the Duke needs. He may have led the expedition into the woods, but he just asks other people to do stuff, especially writing poetry or singing a song to entertain him. If he was on I’m a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here, I think the Duke would definitely need someone to play guitar and someone to have a good talk with!

I still haven’t decided how much to reveal to Jaques that I like having him around. I think it’s almost better if I don’t, as long as we can convey that to the audience. When he’s not there, I moan, “Oh, where is he? Go and find him, because I love having him around!” Seeing Jaques when he’s miserable really cheers Duke Senior up, even though Jaques says he’s been trying to avoid me because he finds me too argumentative! The Duke is the one person who actually argues back. So when Jaques says something extraordinary or pompous, I’ll say: “You hypocrite! You don’t mean that – you can’t possibly!” and then we have a row and he stomps off and sulks. I think he needs to be the centre of attention, but status-wise, the Duke is ultimately the boss.

Relationship with Rosalind

The Duke makes no mention of his daughter. Initially it made me think about those people who do great good in life; they have a very public image but their families miss out. Sometimes when you have a big wide world vision, you can neglect those who are close to you. So we’ve been looking into what it would have been like when he said to her, “I’m being banished. You stay with your cousin. Goodbye,” It must have been horrible, but he doesn’t talk about it so he must be keeping it locked up. It’s strange at the end though, because he probably thought “I’m never going to see her again” so he had to dismiss the idea as it was a source of too much sadness for him. But obviously he is thrilled to see her and even more thrilled to see her marry Orlando, his best friend’s son.

Making performance decisions

There is something I haven’t got to grips with yet; in the last scene, I’m waiting for my daughter to turn up and I can’t quite believe it. I’m waiting and waiting and then this guy Touchstone turns up, who Jaques has said is terribly funny. He says “Good my lord, like this fellow” and I say “I like him very well” [5.4.51-53]. I don’t say much at all after that. Touchstone witters on but I say moderately non-committal things. I’m just not quite sure how entertained I am by this or if I’m a bit sceptical, or if I’m actually just waiting for my daughter to turn up. That is my question after the rehearsal today. Sometimes when people don’t talk, or say quite neutral things, that’s just as much a clue as to whether they are engaged or whether their mind is elsewhere.

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 progresses.

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