Globe Education Online

This is Paul's fourth and final blog entry for the 2000 production of The Tempest, after taking a break due to injury earlier on in the rehearsal process. In this final entry he discussescoming back to join the cast after his time off, and beginning work on The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Happy to be back!

Firstly I must say thank you to all the people who sent me such wonderful cards. They really were a terrific help.

I am very excited and happy to be back, but at the same time it is very strange. Just before my accident I was working at The Globe six days a week for 10 or 11 hours a day. Suddenly not being here at all was quite a shock and it took me a long time to adjust. The full force of the accident didn’t hit me until I got home from hospital. I felt very frustrated at not being able to do anything. My mind was active but the pain from the injury stopped me from doing anything. I was forced to take it easy and slowly. It took me about a month to really relax and to realise that I wasn’t going to be in The Tempest. Eventually all my friends started to come around and see me, which made me feel a whole lot better.

I did go and see the press night of The Tempest. I hadn’t been to The Globe for a couple of weeks. I was very nervous about seeing the show. I thought it might depress me. Somebody must have tipped everybody off that I was coming, as the cast were there to welcome me. Seeing the show wasn’t depressing at all. Sometimes it felt a bit like standing outside of myself. I was seeing for the first time what the moves that I had developed looked like. It was a good experience. I was very aware of what worked and what I thought should change. I went to the party after the performance and was able to talk to everyone.

The Two Noble Kinsmen

Now I’m at The Globe rehearsing for The Two Noble Kinsmen by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. I am playing the Wooer and having a fantastic time. It's nice to ease back into things as the part isn’t too demanding. I started rehearsal with my leg still in plaster and had to spend some of the time in a wheelchair. It's really good to start acting again. It wasn’t always set in stone that I would come back for The Two Noble Kinsmen, as I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling and whether I would be fit enough. But I have to say that it was a really good decision. It's great to be back with the cast. The Wooer is a great part, but it isn’t too big so there's not too much pressure on me. I have one big speech and a few other scenes.

My part in The Two Noble Kinsmen is mainly in the section of the play written by John Fletcher. It is very intimate and informal. A lot of the text is in prose. I want to see if we can keep this intimacy on the Globe stage which is very big. My scenes are not openly comic, which they were when I was playing Trinculo. The humour is more ‘dead-pan’.

These comments are the actor's thoughts and ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal and performance process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the process progresses.

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