Globe Education Online

Paul has never seen As You Like It, and feels this will enable him to bring a freshness to the play and the role of Orlando. He is currently performing in The Mysteries for the RSC at the Barbican, playing the role of Jesus. This is a 5 hour show and it will be a demanding time for Paul – rehearsing at the Globe during the day and performing in the evening.

Paul hopes to take things from his role of Jesus to the role of Orlando. He feels that both characters are very centered and have a deep connection to the earth and nature. Orlando has been made a servant to his brother Oliver, he wants to develop the manners and bearing of a gentleman but is deprived of an education by Oliver. Paul feels that Orlando undergoes a type of rebirth in the Forest of Arden.

One of the biggest challenges at the beginning of rehearsal is getting to know the rest of the cast and to develop ways of working with them. An exercise which Paul found useful was to enact in mime (or dumb show) the story of Sir Rowland de Boys up to the point where the play itself begins.

Paul has decided that Orlando is a young man – around 18 years. He also has discovered how important Orlando’s father was to him. The whole of the first part of the play for Orlando is dominated by the memory of his father. He mentions him 8 times in the first scene. Later Rosalind becomes the focus for Orlando; when he first approaches her at the wrestling it is as if he is approaching a princess. Orlando doesn’t have the schooling to have any confidence in this situation and Paul wants him to appear very gauche and insecure at this moment.

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.

Back to Orlando