Richard Curtis Masterclass

On Monday 5th October 2009, Masterclass welcomed the legendary British comic writer and director Richard Curtis to the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Unsurprisingly, the session evolved in to an exceptionally funny experience for all.

Curtis’ script editor and partner Emma Freud conducted the Masterclass as an informal interview in which Curtis gave a considerate amount of helpful advice to the audience members. He began explaining that acting was actually his first interest within the world of entertainment. Yet he jokingly went on to explain that performing wasn’t for him as he didn’t seem to gain much praise for any parts he played – and most of the main roles went to the ‘sharp chinned, dark haired bastards’. Something which really stood out about the Masterclass was the humorous yet affectionate way in which Curtis described his working relationship with Rowan Atkinson, whom he first met at Oxford University. He stated that although Atkinson was ‘the quietest object’ he’d ever seen, and a ‘bit like E.T’, he described watching one of Atkinson’s university sketches as being as memorable and as perfect as listening to The Beatles or Bob Dylan for the first time ever.

He also gave an excellent insight into the ups and downs of writing for the iconic British sitcom, Blackadder. He explained that when they first begun filming the writers had not decided the exact role that Atkinson would play, resulting in him having to act different characters on each day of filming, something which Curtis admitted didn’t quite work. He then went on to explain that one of the reasons why Blackadder got better and became so successful was because he and the other writers had to improve their comic artistry to impress the cast, something which resulted in the creation of more jokes for each actor.
Throughout the second half of the Masterclass, Emma Freud opened up the questions to the audience, and this enabled Richard Curtis to give lots of wise and helpful advice to many of the budding theatre entrepreneurs within the audience. This included a discussion of judging your own work. Curtis compared the way the Blackadder cast were artistically harsh on his comic writing to the way in which writers should be harsh on themselves in order to create better quality works. He explained that he would compare his own film writing process to that of a record mixer as it has many different parts that you can amplify or cut out. He stated that he thinks a film has the following parts: ‘character’, ‘plot’, ‘dialogue’ and ‘jokes’. He then advised promising writers to be nice to themselves and take a day to focus on each part. He even stated that he has spent days simply writing dialogue between characters which he insisted is very relaxing. He also advised writers to underline any jokes that actually make them laugh out loud in order to separate the comic writing.

Freud then asked Curtis about his transition to film from sitcom and how it came about. Curtis explained that one of the main reasons for his writing/ directing role within film was his unwillingness to give up his power as a writer. He didn’t want to be a writer who simply gave in his film script and let someone else do what they wanted with it, he liked to stay close to the process and enjoyed watching it grow. When discussing Four Weddings and A Funeral, Freud described it as being similar to a series of sketches which translated beautifully to the screen. Curtis stated that he believes his writing is mainly naturalistic, yet needs a technical accuracy when dealing with any lines of humour. It definitely seems that Curtis’ humour can transcend to any medium.

Casting was also a major talking point throughout the Masterclass, especially regarding the process for Four Weddings and a Funeral. Curtis described the intricate thought that went into every single casting decision even down to the character entitled ‘Vicar III’. He expressed that the actors within the Masterclass audience shouldn’t be too harsh on themselves if they didn’t always win the parts they wanted simply because he believes that the action which takes place in the casting room is a ‘chemical thing’ that can be compared to ‘friendship’. By this he meant that occasionally, even if some of the script’s lines are bad, a handful of people can still carry them off which instantly builds a type of relationship between them and the material thus winning them the roll.

When going on to speak about another one of his most well known and best loved movies: Notting Hill, Curtis spoke about the film’s grueling 9 month writing process, in which he wrote 30 pages a day resulting in a 9000 page film which he only used 1/90 of. Fascinatingly, he explained that during the process he had an entirely different film to the one that audiences are familiar with. This concerned the love story between Hugh Grant’s and Julia Robert’s characters. Within this movie version, Hugh Grant’s character also had a romance with a girl who worked in a record store {who eventually became his sister} and had to choose between her and the character played by Robert’s. However, Curtis also stated that the choice became hard for him as he didn’t want to pick between the two lovely female characters he had created and found it too depressing when reading it. Furthermore, there was also a tiny detail which didn’t fit with the fabulous ending he had penned: Hugh Grant’s character chose the record shop girl as Julia Robert’s character flew back to England to try and stop their wedding but ended up singing at the reception instead. The song which Curtis wanted her to sing was Bobby Vee’s Take Good care of My Baby. In spite of this, the line: ‘If you should discover that you don’t really love her’ didn’t fit as he wanted the line to say ‘him’ – and so he wrote another film {definitely the sign of a perfectionist at work!}. The fact that music plays a huge part in the stimulus for many of his movies also became apparent as the Masterclass went on. Curtis stated that he frequently listens to pop music when he’s writing. Intriguingly remarking that most of the time ‘the song that completely inspires a movie you can find no place for’.

A theme which Curtis continued to return to throughout the Masterclass was the relationship between the writer and director. Openly admitting in a very light hearted way that the reason he has chosen to direct his last two movies is mainly due to his difficult nature when directors won’t listen to him. He also made clear that he likes to have a few different ways in which a scene is performed by his actors so that he can have varied versions of specific scenes within the editing process. He gave an example of Hugh Grant’s characterization within Love Actually. Although Curtis explained that he didn’t want Hugh Grant to play the role of the Priminister within the film in an overly romantic way which could have been associated with other characters from his movies, he liked Hugh Grant to occasionally play it in the doe eyed, floppy haired type way which audiences would recognise as he liked to know that he had access to it just in case the more serious way didn’t work.

The Richard Curtis Masterclass was unbelievably insightful and both Richard Curtis and Emma Freud were incredibly open with our audience, and in the near future audiences can look forward to an episode of Doctor Who written by Curtis himself. The final audience question within this Masterclass was whether or not Richard Curtis had anything else which he wanted to achieve, to which he replied that he wished to eradicate Malaria. It’s easy to forget when discussing a writer/ director with such a successful, professional profile all the magnificent work he’s done as the co-founder of Comic Relief and the Make Poverty History coalition, and it was great to have a session with such a charmingly funny and socially productive Master.

- Emily Gallagher, Marketing and Admin Intern

Douglas Hodge Masterclass

On Tuesday 19th May, we had the privilege to invite Douglas Hodge to hold a Masterclass session.

Douglas explained how his career in the theatre constantly changes. He is currently the associate director at the Donmar Theatre in Covent Garden and is also working on a Ridley Scott movie with Russell Crowe. Furthermore, he has just been commissioned to do a musical. From the beginning of the session, it was very clear to us that Douglas lives a “varied life”, which he so eloquently put himself.

His career began in the playground. Douglas did a variety of impersonations of the people who he grew up around. He then began impersonating celebrities and started working in men’s clubs. It wasn’t until his English teacher suggested that he auditioned for The National Youth Theatre that Douglas began to consider acting as a career. He auditioned with his impersonations and was offered a place. With the help of a director from The National Youth Theatre, Michael Croft, who Douglas named his “surrogate father”, he auditioned for three drama schools; Bristol Old Vic, LAMDA and RADA. Unfortunately he was turned down by each one. However, a year later he re-applied, got into every school and went to RADA. Yet he then claimed that he “hated it”, found it “insular” and left early, deciding never to act again. Douglas said how he preferred creating and making something from scratch and so this is when he decided directing would be the best path for him. Whilst directing for The National Youth Theatre, he was offered a vast amount of acting jobs. After repeatedly refusing each job, he finally accepted one of them and from then on he has been in the business.

Douglas went on to talk about directing and how he always finds himself going back to it. He believes that this is mainly due to the fact that he enjoys creating his own vision. In terms of creating a vision, he told us that he also loves to write his own music. The more Douglas spoke; the more apparent it became that he is an extremely creative person.

After being asked for some advice which he could offer to the budding directors in the audience, he told them that they should experiment with all kinds of theatre in order to practise and see if it is the right job for you.

“As a director, nearly everything you do is decision making”.

Douglas explained that the aspiring directors should do as many productions as possible as opposed to simply writing in to theatres or film companies and asking for a job offer. By showing determination and drive, agencies and companies will immediately be interested in you.

Douglas admitted that the business is very tough and a great amount of willpower is required.

“Unless you’re willing to give your life to acting, then I wouldn’t do it”.

He commented how you also need to be able to block the outside world out when on stage. He said how if you think too much, you become increasingly self conscious. When asked how he deals with stage fright, Douglas told us to completely focus on the person who you are doing a scene with and to react to what they say and do accordingly.

“Most of drama, I think, is about listening”.

Douglas went on to talk about the gruelling reality of performance nights. He said that it is particularly difficult to keep it alive night after night and that you need to maintain a psychological separation from your character. He commented that “knowing who you are” is essential in stage acting.

“Everyone you play, will have a bit of you in it. People change you just in everyday life. Sometimes if you’ve played a part you bring an aspect of it home with you. Sanity, as I understand it, is knowing who you are. Try to separate your character from every day life otherwise there is a chance that you will go insane”.

Following on from this, he said that when he acts in a very emotional play, such as Titus Andronicus, he tries to use the acting as therapy so that he does not bring too much emotion home with him. He explained that it is best to use technical methods to sob, or to scream, to avoid feeling utterly overwhelmed. He reckons that drama schools should prepare you for it because he feels that it is the hardest aspect to cope with as a stage actor.

Douglas moved on to talk of his process as an actor towards getting into character. He explained that his method is based on detail and picking out the tiniest traits of his character’s personality to build on solely that characteristic for a period of time before moving onto the next one. He said that this enables him to gain a better understanding of his character. He also said that because theatre is fantastically text based, he reads the plays that he is performing, or directing, numerous times. Furthermore, he researches everything that there is to know about the play. He also spoke of how when he says lines, they have to mean something to him and that an actor needs to believe what they are saying in order to portray their role successfully. If he experiences the problem of hitting a wall with a particular line for instance, he tries to perform it a variety of ways with different outlooks to it. Eventually, this enables him to recognize his previous fault and he discovers the way that works for him.
It seemed that Douglas is very interested in being specific and acknowledging detail.

He went on to give some further advice to directors. He made it clear that if you want to publicise your work, you need to get a producer who believes in you and what you are doing. Douglas also made reference to the networking website Myspace and how if you have written a musical, putting your music on the site can be very beneficial for your career. Many people browse Myspace daily and thus millions of browsers will have come across your music if it is available to them.

He briefly spoke of where he would like to be in a few years time. This would be running a venue, that can host all sorts of events, not just theatre, and starting up his own theatre company. He also commented how he would like to devise a play about life around us nowadays and regular daily occurrences. It seemed that whatever it is that he wishes to do will always be true.

“If what you’re acting or feeling is not true, then don’t do it”.

Douglas then talked about some of his past experiences which included acting at The Globe. Despite saying how he loved it, he found it a real challenge and absolutely terrifying. The fact that The Globe is a very intimate venue in terms of the open air layout and daylight means that the audience can very openly ‘boo’ you. Douglas explained that you also need to possess a loud voice which can carry and are required to be extremely fit, vocally and physically. Although he described the whole experience as frightening, he considers it a “very valid experiment” and would love to go back there. He also spoke of working with Russell Crowe. He said that although it can be somewhat intimidating that such a famous name is working in close collaboration with you, “you have to be yourself no matter who the person is you’re working with”.

The session ended with Douglas saying how there is nothing to stop you and that you need to promote yourself as much as possible. He claimed that for theatre acting you need determination, enthusiasm, muscle, energy and application. Some last pieces of advice for the directors and actors in the audience were to target the RSC and The Royal Court. The Royal Court is constantly doing new plays and they generally do a lot of work involving young people. Moreover, the RSC has massive companies putting on productions there; therefore they are always in need of more people.

Douglas Hodge is a thoroughly inspirational man with a wondrous amount of creativity. His advice possessed a strong aspect of realism but maintained a definite sense of encouragement to the young members of the audience.

Matthew Warchus Masterclass

Matthew Warchus is a Tony award-winning English dramatist and director who hosted a thoroughly informative Masterclass session on Monday 18th May.

He spoke of when he first became interested in the theatre world at the age of 15 during a few weeks of work experience. He was working in a theatre and though not directly involved with the actors, he was assigned to help out with the more technical aspects of the building. This sparked an interest in him and he explained how even now, he still harbours a passion for the technical side of a theatre. It wasn’t until his early 20s that he became interested in directing. One of the first companies he directed for was The National Youth Theatre. He explained that although he enjoyed it, it was a large mass of people and he preferred working more directly with actors. Matthew felt that he could not fully see and explore the interaction between actors on stage and after being recognised for his directing, began taking it into his own hands. Matthew has previously directed for Bristol Old Vic, a variety of Opera companies, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.

He went on to explain that although he has no specific method, his aim is to direct “extreme situations that are truthful”. Matthew explained that he often warms towards comedies due to the fact that comedy is often full of opportunities to show this truthful extremity. This lead him onto talking about Boeing Boeing, a romantic comedy that he has recently directed.

“Everything that I choose to do is believable; it honestly would be like that”.

He spoke of the kind of stereotypical comedy in which the actors do a certain gesture or speak in a certain way which is designed to trigger a laugh from the audience. He hopes to provoke laughter in the audience by creating a situation which is funny without any forced actions. This way, if the audience laughs, then he has succeeded, but if they do not, there is still a piece of “fantastically complex comedy” for them to watch.

Matthew went on to speak in detail about his interest in disorientating the audience. In reference to his enjoyment of creating extreme situations, he explained that the technical aspects of a theatre such as lighting and sound contribute towards provoking wildness and extremity which he so desires for his productions. It became clear to us that Matthew’s principal focus was believability and although using extreme situations to provoke a successful comedy, his productions had to possess truth.

He went on to speak about actors. It was very clear that he had a large amount of respect for them; acknowledging the difficulties of being a stage actor. When choosing his actors, he explained that the audition process is more of a chat than anything else. One of the most important things to Matthew is a good relationship between the cast.

“As soon as a connection between the actors is broken, the play is less believable for the audience”.

He also said how he looks for actors that are believable and convincing in a role. If they make him feel as if they are not acting, he is immediately drawn to them. During rehearsals, he tries to make the environment of a scene as similar as it would be in reality to help the actors live the part. He also explained that each actor possesses their own individual ways of creating their character and directors need to be able to recognize that and support each actor in their journey towards opening night.

After being asked what enchanted him about the theatre, he surprised everyone by saying,
“I don’t think it’s a great job”. After explaining the negative sides of directing, he said how although he was not necessarily enchanted by the theatre, he found the buildings in which he worked fascinating.

“There is something about what happens on a stage that evokes an emotional response in me”.

He described the theatre world as a journey into wildness where the audience goes into a place of disorder and chaos. The fact that the theatre possesses such an intensity and madness thoroughly fascinates him. He chose to do Lord of the Rings for the reason that it was going to be a massive challenge and a hugely vibrant production, but he had confidence in the fact that you can create anything on the stage. He told us that he was in close collaboration with all aspects of the production process such as the costume, and the set design. He believes that all aspects have a vital role towards putting on a performance because they contribute to aiding the audience to have a better understanding of the play and the characters in it. He later spoke of writers, and how their contribution was crucial in aiding his creation. Matthew showed a great deal of respect for writers and their initial intentions for how they wished their story to appear to a reader or an audience. He believes that this is essential towards his direction.

Next, Matthew gave some words of advice to the audience in terms of building a career as a director. He explained that the three things that have been most important for him have been a large amount of tenacity, determination and a musical awareness. Matthew told us that although it is not essential to be musically aware, he personally has found it extremely useful. He spoke of the fact that in being aware of music, he is able to acknowledge vocal tones easier and concentrates on sounds to evoke his chosen emotion in the audience. Silence also seemed important to him as he feels that a lack of sound can be equally affective as an auditorium full of noise. He told the aspiring directors in the audience to choose things that they can vent their strongest feelings into and which they can connect with.

“The audience should be able to hear the director’s voice in a production”.

Matthew said that this is when your career in directing truly begins.

Matthew’s inspirational, yet realistic, advice was both riveting and exciting. It was very useful to listen to his view on the theatre world and his career as a director.

Business Skills for Theatre Professionals

On Tuesday 17th February 2009, Masterclass held a Business Skills for Theatre professionals seminar, the first event of it’s kind for Masterclass.

As it is Masterclass’s mission to nurture new work and talent, as well as offer young people exceptional creative opportunities and experiences we thought that this would an excellent opportunity for young artists to add another string to their bow or tool to their toolkit in terms developing skills which many might say artists are often lacking in or at least don’t concentrate enough on.

David Paynter, a Management consultant with 7 years industry and 10 years consulting experience, is a friend to Masterclass and offered to divulge some of the tricks of his trade for the benefit of our young people and the projects which they may have been working on. You can take a look at David’s biography on our website.

David’s main focus was to try and encourage attendees to use their talents in the corporate world, a sector of the industry which he insists is growing rapidly. However in addition to this, most attendees on the day were interested in taking the business tools which David discussed and had used to be successful within his arena and apply them to being more successful within the arts as individuals.

Here are some of the main notes from the event, in order to apply some of what was shared on the day. Hopefully, you will be able to translate these business principles and draft them into your own work or make them relevant to your work as writers, performers, artists, directors and company managers or artists thinking of setting up a company.

To do this, try to see the ‘Product’ as yourself if  you are an actor/performer or director and think about whatever you as an individual artist or ‘product’ have as opposed to other ’products’ on the market. There are also some notes from us on how you could interpret some of thiese principles.

NOTES

Areas which arts organisations could improve on
(From David’s past experience)

• New Product Development
  Reduce complexity of the idea, design and/or product portfolio
• Operations
  Deliver to customers what has been requested in full on time at quality
• Sales and Marketing
  Focus on key customers to drive revenue & promotional activity
• Finance
  Measure, manage and report regularly on cost, revenue & profit
• Human Resources
  Maximising flexibility and improving through training
• Regulatory and Compliance
  Ensure appropriate public relations, legal and regulatory measures are in place

Masterclass suggestion
This could include writing yourself a budget for business expenses and sticking to it, or keeping in contact with theatres, casting directors or directors that you have met or previously worked with. This could also include ensuring your ‘promotional kit’ is kept relevant and up to date, that you keep yourself sharp with additional projects and/or training, and that you make sure that are always ‘work ready’.

KEY BUSINESS PRINCIPLES WHICH ARTS ORGANISATIONS CAN DRAFT INTO THEIR OWN WORK

THE HOURGLASS BUSINESS MODEL: An illustration of the business model which was suggested for the successful implementation of a business project. Preparation and research is essential

Principle 1: PREPARATION

• UNDERSTAND THE MARKET
- What are your competitors offering?
- Who are your customers?
- What do your customers want?

• UNDERSTAND YOUR PRODUCT
- How much does your product cost to develop?
- Do you need to be continually producing?
-What can you offer that others don’t?

• ESTABLISH YOUR POSITION IN THE MARKET
- Identify which customers you will focus on; what product attributes will they want?
- Focus your efforts on the small number of products or product attributes that have the highest revenue/value
- What does your customer perceive when they look at your business?
- Step out and be objective looking at the ‘front and back’ of the business
- Branding; Give the customer a reason to buy, by building emotional links as well as practical
- Investigate using the Johari window

 The Johari window:
What do your customers know about you?

This is an illustration demonstrating 'The Johari Window', often used to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is often used in corporate environments as a tool for discovery and problem solving.

 

 Masterclass Suggestion
One of the best things you can do for yourself in a profession where how other people see you is so important, is know exactly how other people see you and how you come across. Maybe you see yourself as a ‘hard man’ or gangster type, whereas others see ‘the boy next door’. Be realistic and do your research.

PRINCIPLE 2: USP

What is your Unique Selling Point?

- Why do people like you?
- Where do you add most value?
- How does your work generate interest?

 

PRINCIPLE 3: PERFORMANCE

SEGMENT YOUR CUSTOMERS
- differentiate between who is providing the most revenue and who is costing you the most

 SEGMENT YOUR PRODUCTS
- Reduce complexity – Which products provide the most revenue and which cost the most?

ALWAYS MEASURE YOUR PERFORMANCE
- Costs increase and revenues fall –what is most important is that profit grows or at least maintained
- Focus business around maximising the financial income
- Cut costs which don’t increase revenue or deliver the product
- Pay the minimum level of expenses possible and hence maximize the level of profit

 

 

PRINCIPLE 4 : Decisions

Business is about relationships
- Not all decisions are based on financial criteria
- Business is about making a profit  but people who have accomplished a position of wealth, don’t make all investment decisions to make more profit
- Businesses can also protect positions in one market by electing to make a loss in another market
- Success is about meeting or exceeding customer expectations
- CV’s need to be well presented, try to make your CV stand out
- Always over dress for an interview – Or at least make an effort!
- Positive relationships breed success

 

Masterclass suggestion
David recommends reading ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon Lechter for more tips on business making decsions. Building relationships with others in the same business as you is absolutely vital. Getting to know theatres, actors, film makers, casting directors, directors etc. can mean future collaborations – and who knows where that could lead. Afterclass could be a fantastic non-threatening place to start networking. Try us out after the next Masterclass that you attend. Above all though, the most important thing is to be persistant and consistent. Hard work pays off.

David then conducted a short workshop, putting the attendees into groups,  to demonstrate the skills which he had been talking about.  The attendees who took part came up with some brilliant business plans and ideas. It included some more helpful and practical hints and which included the questions below:

1. What unique skill does your group have and how/where can it be used?
2. As a group, what is your name and how is it linked to what do you do?
3. How do events in the market affect what you will do as a group?
4. Who is your group competing with?
5. Who is paying for your product?
6. How to approach potential investors and what is promised to investors
7. Who your audience is and how you will market to that audience ?
8. How will you establish the price of your product?
9. How to keep costs to a minimum and what you will pay yourselves
10. How will you measure the financial performance of your group?
11. How you can leverage your product development into other markets eg
workshops for corporate groups or schools or other activities
12. If there were no theaters who would you play to, how and where would
you work?
13. Develop 30sec elevator spiel about why your group should be hired?

Derek Jacobi Masterclass

Friday 16th January saw a very lively afternoon here at the Haymarket, as members and non-members, friends, guests and even well informed tourists rocked up to the theatre to hear the legendary Sir Derek Jacobi wax lyrical about his life and prolific career, which has spanned almost 50 years.

It was suprising then, that a much loved, well respected and long established actor put the success of his career purely down to ”luck, luck, luck!”. Sir Derek had alluded us here at Masterclass for almost 10 years, feeling ”put off”, he said, by the word ’Master’ in Masterclass:

 ”I don’t feel that I have mastered acting. I don’t believe acting can be mastered. It remains ever elusive.”

It was one of the many thought provoking statements made by Derek that afternoon.

He began by detailing his early years in East london, including an ”idyllic childhood” and ”hugely supportive parents”. An environment, he said, which was less than inspirational in terms of art and therefore even he was confused where the desire to act came from. However, after gaining entry into the local grammar school, where he performed in all of the school plays, he was able to see the greats of London theatre – Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, John Geilgud etc. – perform on school trips, which was a great inspiration. It was then that he proclaimed he was ”The luckiest actor alive”. It was hard to disagree with him on hearing the anecdotes which followed!

He told a riveted masterclass audience how he had been performing in a production of ‘Hamlet’ at school, which it had been decided would be taken to the Edinburgh Festival. The main play at the festival that year had been a production of ‘Macbeth’ which was being panned by the critics, who redirected audiences to the ’Hamlet’, in which sir Derek was playing the title role. The reaction was amazing, and at the age of 18 he was given a profile in the Observer and was called to meet the head of the Royal Court and the head of 20th century fox. However he decided to complete his education and accepted a place at Cambridge university, where he continued to perform in professional level university productions. It was for this reason that after Cambridge, he didn’t feel the need to go to drama school:  “I felt that the veneer of university productions was enough”.

From Cambridge, he was picked up by Birmingham Rep. theatre for 2 years after the obligatory ’begging letter’ was sent; and as so many Masters of Sir Derek’s generation have told us in the past, being part of a repertory theatre was excellent training for the world of acting, providing time and opportunity to develop and grow.

When asked his opinion on training and drama school, he was quite adamant in his opinion that actors are born and not made, that one can’t learn to act but can learn tools and techniques (eg. accents or fencing) to help you in the profession. He believed that the role of drama school was to show and develop the skills an actor already posessed, to hone these skills and then give experience of what is needed to fulfil their potential. He seemed almost disappointed by what he saw as the down grading of respect for the profession, and the number of people who were interested in acting to try and achieve fame. He put it down to the fact the acting seems so accessible now, mostly due to popular television. He said:

It’s a vocation. One has to really have the fire for it. You’ve got to need to do it. If you
want to be an actor, think much more than twice about it, because it’s really hard out there. It’s not enough to want it. You have, have, have to have the fire

The reputation which he had managed to build from his fringe production remained, and he was invited to audition for the RSC by Masterclass patron Sir Peter Hall. The audition, which ended with the proverbial  ’Don’t call us…!’ moment, left him feeling distraught. He counted this to be the first and the worst rejection he had experienced. It was luck which then came back into play, as a chance meeting with Laurence Olivier in a Brighton Hotel was among the events which lead to Derek’s inclusion of the first cast of the first season of the National Theatre (performing at the Old Vic).

 He was to be the understudy to Peter O’ Toole’s ’Laertes’ in ’Hamlet’. But…Luck! Peter O’ Toole decided to sign to a film studio contract and couldn’t be in the company. On his 25th birthday, Derek Jacobi joined a company which included Maggie Smith and Albert Finney to perform on the Old Vic stage to rave reviews; and Shirley Bassey led the rendition of ’Happy Birthday’ at the after show party! He recalls it as one of the best nights of his life.

He stayed with the National Theatre company for ”8 golden years” before getting itchy feet and leaving, in hope of gaining television and film experience. This, of course, followed with appearances in ’Day of the Jackal’ on film and ’I, Claudius’ on television – which catapulted him into the public eye both at home and abroad.

There were some interesting questions from the enraptured audience. One member was interested in the approach that Sir Derek took when he first received a role and how he approached character building and rehearsals. He recommended reading the play. Then, reading it again and again. He noted that he usually went through the ’given circumstances’ of the play and for his character in particular (i.e what they say, who they do and don’t speak to, what they talk about,where they are going etc.). He needs to know the play thoroughly. He then mentioned that what worked particularly well for him, was to to learn his lines almost by rote and definately without any emotional content so as to be very familiar with them by the start of the rehearsal process. He found that this enabled him to really use rehearsal time for discovering why his character would say the lines, where the emotions came  from and where his character fitted into the story being told. This way, he wasn’t hindered physically by holding the book, nor by the dangers of learning his lines in patterns which couldn’t be broken thus preventing him from developing the character further.

When asked about his most challenging role to date, he laughed about the fact that it had taken him 22 years to get back to the RSC after his awful original audition for Sir Peter Hall. But that when he ’arrived’ he was given some of the biggest roles of his career, including the title role in ’Cyrano de Bergerac’.  A role whcih he felt he couldn’t quite grasp because he ”didn’t have the anger” which he felt was necessary to play the part. He spoke about the fact that with hindsight he could see that he was holding himself back and allowing a view he had of himself to influence his thoughts about his own ability.

Once he had taken the risk to go somewhere emotionally that he had doubted he would be able to get to, the experience became one that was extremely valuable and enjoyable for him. He had been challeged to stretch himself and had been successful which meant that the ”elasticity of that stretch stayed with him” and he felt that he could take that previously undiscovered range with him into other roles. He urged the audience to take risks and to realise that confidence in their own abilities was of the utmost importance.

This related to another period of his career when Sir Derek told us that he was ”struck with the disease of stage fright”, which he said was much, much stronger than a feeling of ’I can’t go on’. He described it as a core shaking fear, which he had talked himself into. It began, he said, when he had been playing ‘Hamlet’ and one night when he reached the infamous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy, he quickly realised that it was not to be! He had completely forgotten the lines. Thankfully he went into auto-pilot mode and the words continued to trickle out, but the whole experience sowed a seed of doubt in his own ability which led to him avoiding theatre work for almost 3 years. He reiterated that one cannot act or be creative if one is worried or doubting yourself in anyway. He continued to give advice and tell witty and interesting anecdotes to an audience who were obviously impressed and awe struck by the experiences of great actor with such a great history.

Whether speaking about doubting that William Shakespeare was the true author of his plays, his thoughts on method acting or thinking that his agent probably hadn’t actually ever got him any theatre work, Sir Derek spoke elegantly, often poetically and in great detail about his life and career, much to the delight of the Masterclass audience. We could all clearly see that despite his self depricating claims of it all being down to ‘luck’, Derek Jacobi’s huge success was not only attributed to his immense talent, but to his witty and charming nature and to his fantastic stage presence. It was an incredibly inspiring afternoon.

He spoke about how he loved the air of excitement and expectation in a theatre and the tangible quiet which befalls an audience at curtain up. He spoke of the magic moment that is created when the audience are so with you that the “silence feels alive”, and didn’t seem to realise that as he spoke he was creating a magic moment which Masterclass would never forget.

Did you attend this workshop? What did you think? Let us know.

David Morrissey Masterclass

We have had a wonderful start to the Masterclass year with 2 great talks from the wonderful David Morrissey and the legendary Sir David Jacobi.

 

David Morrissey’s Masterclass, on Tuesday 13^th January 2009, was both funny and informative, with David’s anecdotes proving to be very popular with the audience.

 

He spoke about his first fascination with the acting world coming from a love for the old Hollywood musicals – his first idol being Gene Kelly; but then being completely blown away by the 1969 Ken Loach film ‘Kes’; of which he commented that “He couldn’t see the join”. He felt that he was witnessing the world he lived in – his school, his teachers and his friends – being reflected back to him on the screen and knew from then on that he wanted to be an actor. After some screen experience and some time at the lively drama youth group at the Liverpool Playhouse, he went on to later  graduate from RADA.

 

He then went into detail about his processes when building a character for both stage and screen, one of which included reading and re-reading the script (all of it and not just your own parts!) over and over again, often up to 5 or 6 times, in order to know the story inside out. He emphasized the importance of ‘good writing’ to his choices of work.

 

He also brought along examples of work books which he had made on the BBC 1 production of ‘Blackpool’ and also for Neil LaBute’s ‘In a dark, dark house’, the play which he was just about to complete at the Almeida Theatre, London. These books were filled with the script – noted on and broken down, along with photographs, notes, newspaper cuttings etc. which helped him to develop the character and the character’s back story. The majority of which, he said, is never seen or used in the production but is information which informed his performance of the character. For example, David had found a black and white image of a woman which he had decided could be his character’s mother – who never appears, but who he speaks about. He could use this picture in his mind, which then made his performance more specific. Another method he mentioned was finding music from the time of the piece which he is performing or which he thinks his character would listen to or even music which simply matched the mood of the piece.

 

It became clear that David’s first love was screen acting and he divulged several pieces of advice for the Masterclass audience about working on film and television sets and what they could expect when they had the opportunity to do it themselves. He pointed out the speed at which they work at on a television set in particular and that it was a very “Hurry up and wait” environment. Something he recommended that our attendees be prepared for, as it can be frustrating.  He also suggested being over prepared and extremely focused, especially if you have just one scene or your scene is with a more established actor as you could only get one chance!

 

When a question came from the audience about sex scenes, David continued to be frank and open saying that sex scenes become inevitable if you want to act over a long period of time, especially these days, and especially for young actresses. He urged all in the room to protect themselves and their colleagues if the situation ever arose and they felt uncomfortable in anyway.

 

One of the most notable pieces of advice that David gave was to do with ‘standing up for yourself’ as a young actor. Knowing how difficult it can be when surrounded by more established names and when we are so eager for work, to ask for help or question choices, to really express ourselves and creative ideas or get our point of view across and  to not be taken advantage of.

 

Noting that questioning directors and the script or the choices being made could give you a ‘reputation’ in the industry, he said that if he was working with someone who was detailed enough to keep searching and questioning, he would respect the fact that they obviously wanted to do their best and that they cared about their character and the production, rather than someone who never wanted to contribute ideas or seemed to not care at all.

 

He commented that it was even more difficult for young actresses to do this saying:

“When an actor has a reputation, he becomes known as intense; but when an actress does the same she becomes known as difficult.”

He urged us to be opinionated and find the confidence to ‘stand our ground’ and be heard.

 

What came across from David the most was a deep gratitude and respect for what he does and has been able to do during his career, and also a burning passion to create good work. His advice was down to earth, telling us about the sometimes harsh realities of our business and yet at the same time, inspirational.

 

Did you attend this Masterclass? Where there any points which really stuck out to you?

Let us know your thoughts! We would love to hear them.

Visit : www.masterclass.org.uk

TheatreCraft 2008

TheatreCraft is a skills fair which highlights all the career opportunities in theatre outside of performance.
Run by Masterclass in association with Mousetrap Theatre Projects, Society of London Theatre, ENO Baylis and supported by The Stage, TheatreCraft 2008 at the London Colesium was a great success – check out the video clip by BoringStudent.com below: