The Tempest - the Boring Bit
I’ve just spent a few hours preparing and sending out contracts for the Tempest actors. It’s an essential chore but chore it certainly is. I hate admin! I just don’t have the right kind of mind, so the hours passed so very slowly.
Actually, even that wasn’t as boring as the “auditions” on Saturday. I use the quote marks because they didn’t happen. It appears the local paper didn’t run the story and so, naturally, no one turned up. I got there an hour early to prepare and the choreographer arrived just fifteen minutes later, and then we sat, and sat, and sat…. Eventually, after over an hour of sitting, we gave up. Somehow we’re going to have to find the time to re-schedule them.
However, now that that the admin’s out of the way, I can get back to the interesting part. The rest of the day - apart from some essential shopping: I have just realised I don’t have any envelopes big enough for the contract! - will be spent working on characters’ back stories and relationships. The relationship between Prospero and Ariel really fascinates me - layers of ambiguity there.
I recently came across a pic from a 19th century production in which Ariel was female (which is how I’m playing the character) and dressed in a tutu! So in the auditions I asked how each actress saw the character and the most common answer was “cheeky and mischievous”. No, no, no!
Anyway, to work!
July 27th, 2009 at 08:14 am
For the Tempest, you might be interested in the remarkable article about possible new found origins of the play, in the summer edition of ShakespeareScene magazine
July 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Thanks for that, Malcolm. I have just subscribed!