My first few days at ASC have been
extremely informative. Monday was my first day and it consisted of meeting the
touring company, and members of the costume, business, administration,
education and a couple members from the residential troupe. I met so many
people at the meet and greet and it was wonderful to see a group of people who
came out to support each other so fully. Later that morning I went on a tour of
the theatre and got to learn about what drove the members of ASC to start their
company and build the Blackfriars theatre. The Blackfriar is the only replica
of the original Blackfriars theatre that no longer exists in London. It was a
theatre used by Shakespeare’s company also known as The King’s Men during their
time at the Blackfriar. The theatre originally existed in a monastery in London
but had to be disguised as a rehearsal room for a boy’s choir because the
neighbors were worried about the trumpets being too loud. (A genuine complaint
during that time period) During the tour I got to stand on the stage and it was
an amazing feeling. At ASC they believe in preserving the conditions in which
Shakespeare’s theatre was performed this means staying true to the text
Shakespeare provided. Shakespeare was often influenced by the performance
spaces his actors were in. At ASC they seek to preserve the space that the
actors used and the lighting under which they get to perform. A phrase I have
often heard is that they “do it with the lights on” they perform in full light
there are no blackouts, no scene change lighting. They use the cleverness of
Shakespeare’s words to create a magic in the space.
The
afternoon that followed was a very exciting one because I learned about
something I had never experienced before. Throughout the day the cast of
Othello had been working on a renaissance run (or ren run for short) which
means that they all learned their lines beforehand and did the work necessary
to come into rehearsal prepared to work through the show as a group and then
present it to the director the next day. The actors that were not veterans had
only just met the previous night and so they did not know anyone when they
walked through the door that morning. It was pretty amazing to watch them work.
My job was to sit back and observe which I personally felt was a great learning
experience in and of itself. All I really wanted to do was hop up and do the
entire play with them. They worked through
each scene and never did a complete run through until this morning where
they performed it for their director and a small audience in the rehearsal
space.
After the
ren run we sat down at a table to start tablework. Tablework consisted of going
through each scene and making changes to different areas focusing on the text.
They went through and paraphrased the scenes, stood up and read the scenes in
exact verse, and then worked through the scene to discover things they had not
noticed before. In these rehearsals it will be a much slower process to achieve
the full show because it’s a way for both the director and the actors to go
through the play and really understand what Shakespeare is trying to say.
Being here
is already an amazing experience. I have loved Shakespeare’s work since I was
about nine or ten and I’m currently working through different scenes in
Shakespeare’s Anthology to practice some of the methods I previously talked
about. The work this company is doing is quite impressive and I am so happy to
be apart of it.
- Lauren Olivia Dentler
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