Globe Education Online

Before each performance Paul likes to make sure he is properly warmed up and prepared; to do this he has a routine of physical and vocal exercises which include Yoga and balancing. At the end of his warm up Paul likes to lie on the floor for 5 minutes to clear his mind and to concentrate on the coming performance. Paul feels that it is particularly important to warm up in the Globe as the space is quite demanding. Paul and Martin (who plays Charles the wrestler) rehearse the fight scene before every performance. It is important that they do this as it helps to prevent mistakes and injuries in the performance itself.

The company have now gone into rehearsal for their second play of the season A Mad World My Masters by Thomas Middleton. This means that Paul has either rehearsals during the day and a performance in the evening, or a performance in the afternoon and rehearsal in the evening. When Paul worked with the RSC he was involved with 3 plays at once, so he is used to working in this way. He does find though, that he needs to warm up very thoroughly before the show in order to find the energy he needs for the performance. Paul will play a servant. called Jasper in the play. This is a very different role from Orlando who ends As You Like It as a nobleman. In A Mad World My Masters Paul works with actors in the company that he does not work with in As You Like It, he is enjoying getting to know them while rehearsing the new play.

Paul is enjoying the technical demands of working at the Globe. For example when it rains it is very difficult for the actors to be heard and Paul has to take great care to speak very clearly. Paul is also discovering the best places to stand on the stage, in order to be seen and heard by the audience. One of these is downstage of the pillars and another is underneath the heavens trap.

In each performance Paul tries to play moments as they occur, he is still finding new things in the play and is having great fun, in particular in the scenes with Rosalind in the Forest of Arden. Paul has found audience to be very supportive of Orlando. During the prologue, when Orlando is introduced, they often cheer and they also shout his name in the wrestling match. Paul says he can also feel the audience willing Orlando to discover Gannymede’s identity. At the beginning of the wrestling match Orlando has a speech where he says he has no friends, at this point Paul has to take care not to play too much on the ‘ah’s’ that he gets from the audience. Paul tries hard not to play a line or speech in order to get a certain reaction, he knows that every audience will react differently to the play –if a line ‘gets a laugh’ at one performance it does not necessarily mean the next audience will laugh at that line.

Paul now feels that he is settling into the role and increasingly is able to think as Orlando on stage. His performance is still changing and developing which Paul feels is very healthy, he has found that the reactions of the audience have a big effect on the tone of the show and the performances the actors give. At present the rehearsals for A Mad World My Masters are hard work for Paul while the performances of As You Like It are enjoyable. Paul is constantly finding increasing depth in his portrayal of Orlando.

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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