Globe Education Online

This is David’s second season at the Globe and he is looking forward to performing at the theatre again this year. He enjoys the first days of rehearsal, getting to know the company – however he always hates the first read through of the play as he feels there is too much pressure on people to perform their parts. An exercise David always does at the beginning of a rehearsal period is to write out every word of his part, he feels that the act of writing helps him to think about the words and highlights any sections of the text which he may not understand. In many ways he is terrified by the part of Touchstone, because he is a clown or fool and originally much of the part would have been improvised by Robert Armin, the clown in Shakespeare’s company. A modern equivalent might be Tommy Cooper or the use of sports personalities such as Frank Bruno in pantomime.

By the second week of rehearsal David’s fear is lost, this is because he is now working through scenes in the rehearsal room, and can explore ideas with the director and with other members of the company. David finds it useful to improvise scenes which are referred to in the play but are not seen on stage, for example the scene where he meets Jacques in the forest.

David feels that Touchstone does not like Le Beau. He has decided that Touchstone’s position at court has become increasingly difficult under the rule of Duke Frederick and this is partly the reason behind his decision to go to the Forest of Arden. When Touchstone leaves with Rosalind and Celia he effectively rules out the possibility of a return to the court – as a fool he is little more than a servant and has no power or position. David has decided that Touchstone will put on lots of airs in the forest as most of the people that live there will be of a lower social status than he is. Touchstone has been a companion to Celia and Rosalind for a long time; there is no mother in either of their lives and David feels that Touchstone is very protective towards them.

In order to research his part David is reading about Robert Armin and the role of the fool in Shakespeare’s plays.

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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