Day 8: Soph-is-tic-at-ed Ed-u-ca-tion

Day 8: Heaven to Hell Tour

            Class with the Globe Ed. Director

            Table Work

            Dressing Shakespeare’s Actors

            Heaven to Hell Tour with Jason Benterman

            Jason is the company stage manager for the Globe. He’s young, or at least young at heart, and has a fantastic sense of humor for 8am. We toured the technical workings of the stage. The pit is maybe—maybe—five feet high. There isn’t really a fly system, only a trap with harnesses from the ceiling. “There’s no use hiding it,” said Jason, “Shakespeare didn’t, and audiences aren’t stupid.”

            Lots of holes were drilled into the heavens that still needed filled. Katrina Lindsay, who designed an elaborate set for Macbeth a year or so ago, decided to have a Dante-style ring of hell above the stage. And drilled through everything to support it. I’m sorry. This is a great idea, but it was forced into the space. It was unnecessary. Here’s a link to the design though, just a few photos:

            http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/theatre/annualtheatreseason/macbeth/

            Anyway, got to tour into a special climate-controlled costume library where all the £1000+ garments were. Also, some authentic Elizabethan garments! These, obviously, are kept in boxes. Apparently, tours don’t get to see these. But since we’re the acting group… :)

            In the pit there was a strange shrine of what looked like trash from various shows. Turns out, the black box holds the ashes of Sam and Charlotte Wanamaker (Sam rebuilt the Globe in the last 30 years and co-founded the Globe Education Program with Patrick Spottiswoode). The “trash” was stuff found around Sam’s office when the building was demolished. There’s also a box given (to/from?) Mark Rylance to/from Zoe Wanamaker. Only they know what’s in it, and only Mark has the key to the ashes. No one gets to see this beautiful eulogy, but we did.

            Also, asked Jason about auditioning. Rarely do they hold open auditions (they get over 150 applications a week!), but they will take two actors out of the master’s schools, the actor being selected by the school. My friend joked when I was asking questions, “She’s planning.” England, just you wait. Jason was great too—shaking hands, he said, “See you soon, again, yes?” Obviously, just being nice, but it was really empowering.

            Class with Patrick Spottiswoode

            Patrick is the other co-founder of the Globe Education Center. He’s absolutely brilliant and energetic, with a wealth of knowledge spilling out of him like the fountain of youth. Really—he has to be over 50, and it keeps him young.

            He joked and played (it was hardly a lecture, please) about language and its development at the turn of the 17^th century. English was an “impoverished tongue,” a harsh monosyllabic language that needed Latin ed-u-ca-tion, and, if you were lucky, university Greek soph-is-tic-a-tion. But, like Patrick, I could go on forever about this.

            So, some fun things I learned:

·      Acoustics appropriated language. If you’re in the street, you don’t use iambic pentameter.

·      English folklore has Mercury pouring the languages of the world all over each country. He ran out when he got to England, so he took the remnants of all the bottles and emptied them into what would become English.

·      In Shrew, Katerina gets pissy about being called Kate because, as an Italian woman of status, she would not be “reduced to an English monosyllabic bitch” (Patrick’s words, not mine)

·      Names like Jacques (pronounced Ja-ques for the sake of added syllables!) sounds an awful lot like jakes, a toilet flush

·      “Juliet can engage the heart in monosyllables.”

·      Shakespeare invented over 17,700 new words; King James and his newly translated Bible only used 7,000.

·      Romeo and Juliet opened in The Curtain, where bear-baiting and sword-fights were held. This is why R&J has more fights than any other play of his.

And so much more, my notebook is bursting.

            I love this place.

            Table Work with Anna

            Learned some great stuff doing table work with Anna for Kate’s and my scene from As You Like It. Rosalind and Celia have such a dynamically competitive relationship, which I hadn’t noticed before, seeing Celia only played as a caricature.

            I’ve never been a fan of first rehearsal read-throughs, because they’re self-indulgent. But a good picky table talk would be an awesome alternative to communicate a common vision and unite the cast. (Again, storing this away for Odd Couple.) I love that she didn’t allow us to talk about our scenes until table talk time. I felt so much more connected to the text, and so honest about my feelings. It was like Meisner and Shakespeare’s lovechild, so much give and take that I’ve never experienced until well into the process. So, why not start off on the right foot?

            Still struggling to refer to the character as “I” and not “she.” I’m trying very hard. But damnit, it’s called acting.

           

            Dressing Shakespeare’s Actors with Jenny Tiramani

            This woman is currently designing shows for the Met and some fantastic opera in France. Lucky dog. She worked for the Globe a few years ago. She never talked about women’s dress, which was disappointing. She gave some great advice though: “Wear the clothing, don’t let it wear you.” Confidence is everything.

            She talked a lot about silk velvet, horse-hair padding, and Malvolio’s yellow stockings.

            Also, didn’t know this before, crimson/vermillion dye was made from insects. And was wicked expensive.