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Paul is now spending a lot of time outside of rehearsals going through each scene and will raise any questions that come out of this work a the beginning of each rehearsal. Paul finds it useful to talk through each scene with the other actors before ‘putting it on it’s feet’ (starting to act the scene out) in the rehearsal room. When he is working on a scene Paul goes through it putting everything into contemporary English to ensure that he really does understand every word he says! He also feels it is important to have fun when rehearsing scenes and to try the scene in as many different ways as possible. Paul hopes that each performance will be different, because of this he does not like to block moves for a scene as he feels that this prevents creativity.

Paul is beginning to discover the way Orlando and Ganymede relate to each other in the forest – initially he feels as children – 2 boys who enjoy playing together. It is notable that at court Orlando speaks equally to Rosalind and Celia, in the forest when Celia is the only ‘girl’ present Orlando hardly speaks to her. Paul has also now started work on the wrestling scene, this must be carefully choreographed, so that it is visually believable. It will take place in the yard amongst the groundlings and will involve lots of playing to the audience. Paul feels that Orlando goes into the fight feeling that he has nothing to lose – if he wins he believes he will gain his freedom from the oppression of his brother. Paul will try to show that Orlando carries the physical pain of the fight with him into the next scenes of the play. He feels that Orlando can react like a wild animal when driven – he has the potential to be violent.

Orlando’s relationship with Adam is very important to him – Adam is a father figure. Paul feels that it was probably Adam who taught Orlando to read and write.

Paul enjoys working with the language of the play, he tries to find the ‘truth’ behind every line. He enjoys working outside, on the Globe stage and feels that an open air theatre adds a new dimension to the scenes in the Forest of Arden.

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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