Our rehearsal room is a large space at the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road, tucked away in the shadows of the gigantic golden Freddie Mercury statue. We’ve been working for five weeks now and the room is littered with the remnants of intense rehearsals. Photographs of Stephen Brimson Lewis’s beautiful set design line the walls alongside pages of research, timelines and rehearsal calls. There’s a heavily frequented tea and coffee table with a dangerously never-ending supply of bourbons and custard creams! Occasionally on tea break the sounds of We Will Rock You rehearsals drift through the walls and we tap our feet along to yet another power anthem!

The stage space is marked onto the floor with tape so the actors can learn their entrances and exits and start to imagine the size of the playing area. The second a chair is moved an inch one of the stage management team goes flying across the room to ensure that it is marked down with a piece of carefully colour co-ordinated tape. It is a military operation and at the end of the day precise measurements are taken and scribed into the stage management bible.

Every day we receive more and more detailed rehearsal props in place of the show props which will arrive during tech week. During one week a piece of holly morphs from a mimed prop, to a hashed together string of green paper towels and rope to finally some fake leaves. The Christmas tree arrives early in the process so we can get used to the size of it in the space. It’s currently made of pink ribbons and a hat stand. I don’t think it will make the final design! (see below image with Kelsi our Technical Apprentice)

Alongside the rehearsal space are several tables of onlookers, or as Trevor calls them, the judging panel. There’s a large table for stage management which is slowly being taken over by sound equipment as music cues are introduced to rehearsals. Trevor and I sit at a table which is covered in history books and notes; I am on constant alert to field any contextual questions that might fly my way. The understudy cast have just joined the room and will be observing the last few weeks of work; they sit on their own table scribbling down notes onto their scripts. In the far corner is “the family”; a large square table where the L.I.W. cast sit, eat their lunch and run lines. Both on-stage and off the cast maintain the family dynamic; each child is greeted with a hug in the morning from their stage parents, there are affectionate squabbles over who sits where and food is shared around lovingly. If only the Plantagenets got on so well…

His directorial debut:  Acting and directing in Coriolanus was a mad and ambitious risk. I went into it knowing it could go very wrong as he is one of the lesser known Shakespeare characters but it spoke to me.

Work: Every actor should be trying to work and be challenged. Keep the hunger going.

Actors: Peter O’Toole is extraordinary on stage. I love watching Mark Rylance and Fiona Shaw – people who really take risks.

Choosing projects: Good writing is a very important factor.

American screen actors: Kevin Spacey is completely economic and understated. He is thrilling.

The Tempest: It’s a company we steady each other.

his inspiration: My imagination has to be excited.

The secret to great acting?  Learning a line… in detail!

Film: I like the immediacy of film.

The magic of performance: Some nights it clicks and some nights it doesn’t, but no one knows why. Even though we all try as hard.

Parts he would like to play: I’d love to play Macbeth or Iago. I’m a bit nervous about the comedies as I’m a total tragedy junkie!

The original Rose Theatre:  It should be preserved as a site of extreme archaeological importance.

Acting for film. I now know how much of the performance is made in the editing room.

by Anoushka Warden

Name: Tinuke Craig

Apprentice: Apprentice director on The Tempest

What did you eat for breakfast today? Fried egg on an English muffin!

Tell us about being an apprentice: You get the wonderful opportunity to observe the people that could do the job you want to do with their eyes shut working on a project. You also get to watch a large-scale production come together before your very eyes. Best of all, you get to apply everything you’ve learnt in your own showcase.

Proudest moment? Realising I really understood the Tempest script and the curtain call after Waiting for Lefty.

Strangest quirk? Being called upon to learn the ‘reaper’s dance’ for a run of The Tempest.

If you had one super power, what would it be? Controlling time. You could get exam results in advance, fast forward when you’re running late, prevent natural disasters,….

Favourite play? The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill

Would you rather have teeth made from wood or a tongue made from carpet? Wood Teeth.  Because you still taste that way.

What do you want to be doing when your 40? I want to be an associate of a great subsidised theatre. Failing that, I want to be directing plays wherever anyone will let me.

Favourite chocolate bar? Dime bar every time

What past production would you have loved to work on? I’d love to have worked on London Road by Alecky Blythe. I’d love to witness her process first hand. And Adam Cork would be such a great composer to work with. And I love Rufus Norris’s work. And that acting ensemble is perhaps the best I’ve ever seen. Just a dream team.

Which animal would you like to be able to communicate with? Cats. I’d find out why they’re always so off with me even though I’m so nice to them.

What is the best thing since sliced bread? The iphone.

What have you got lined up next? I am a director on The Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays on 23 October at The Old Vic.

Interview by Anoushka Warden

The Moment he walked on stage everyone felt a sense of awe and disbelief that one of the best known names of Theatre and TV was on a stage in front of them. He immediately, in the first 30 seconds made everyone feel relaxed and comfortable; he appeared charismatic, funny and laid back allowing everyone to act and think the same way. Patrick Stewart was a prime example of a struggling after leaving drama school with no job, no agent and no contracts what so ever he was offered a role in a play at the Theatre Royal Lincoln , in ‘Treasure Island’ as “Morgan (a pirate)” it found him happier than he’ll ever be on stage, as it took him from a jobless life into a career of drama. “For someone who was looking at the death of his career, it was a life belt, which I grabbed at”. After this lucky break he accomplished his ambition to be in monthly rep at Bristol where he had gone to drama school from there he went on to get his most significant job after being at the Lincoln, to be accepted into the Royal Shakespeare company, which he truly enjoyed, and did for 14 years, “The Royal Shakespeare company gave me everything I ever wanted as an Actor, great plays, world class Directors and World class Actors to work with”.

After this long period of his career with the same company, he decided to travel to America to further his knowledge of the profession in another country, whilst in America he was cast in one of the biggest American TV series’ of all time, ‘Star Trek: The next Generation’, his stay in America lasted for 17 years. When he had finished his work in America he came back to the UK and was out of work for 6 months, until a producer called Duncan Weldon offered him a role in a West end play called ‘The Master Builder’. “That began what has been the happiest and most creative 5 or 6 years of my life”. He believed his acting on the stage was the grandest most prestigious thing he had done. All He’d ever hoped for was to work hard enough to earn a living, and his hard work has made him one of the most renowned American TV actors and one of the most recognizable West end Actors as well.

The two main insights he shared were;
1. “it’s all a matter of truth”
“ in order communicate the truth your technique needs to be adjusted so the kind of truth we attempt to communicate here every night is one that is conditioned by the fact that there are 800-1000 sitting out here that there are some further away from the stage than others, maybe the text and ideas are too complicated, so the consciousness of technically communicating has to be broadened ”

2. “Film Acting is about thinking rather than Acting”
“ a camera photographs thoughts, and the kind of film acting that most interests me is ‘thoughtful’ film acting, where there is not a sense ‘Performance’

-Written by Luke Briggs

His faith in acting comes from his first acting experience, during his teenage years, he was lucky enough to meet a great director called David Hayman who was visiting his secondary school. His classmates seemed to think acting and work in the arts was “gay” but ignoring his mates he approached The Director, David, after he had finished his speech and asked “if your going to make another film soon can I make tea for you?” to which David replied a few months later, by inviting him to be in his film. The young Mcavoy then realised “by being bold good things follow”. Later in his career he also discovered “your decisions as an actor and playing a moment, all those things are hugely important, openness to the moment, to let things in, as well as emit things is really important, vulnerability because when you are that open you can be shot down in flames” he acknowledged that you must listen and take what’s said in, and that’s what makes you open, putting yourself on stage in front of an audience that may not necessarily like you makes you vulnerable and realising what people think and accepting it makes you stronger and helps you become bold and fearless.

Many of the questions asked related to is current work and his past roles in television and theatre as well as film, but he was happy to answer questions on his career and his colleagues. He explained to everyone that his view on an acting career is that “if your working, you’re successful” no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s a small role in a television show or a lead in a play/film.

His career has been a huge pick ‘n’ mix of different aspects of acting including film, stage and television. However, he prefers film and stage performing rather than television because it’s over too quickly, his work on film and theatre has given him the understanding that the higher people in those areas consider your artistic concerns greater than that of television. He described ‘The Last King of Scotland’ as an adventure in both good and bad ways, and wishes to relive it “although, I wouldn’t change anything”.
He described his favourite characters as being like his role in “The Last King of Scotland”. His advice to film actors is that you should never leave the set and you should keep your eyes and ears open to the crew and the director and you will learn so much more about the life of film and the jobs people do to make yours easier. During a play his most loved talent about a stage based character is the conflict with the audience, for example having the first five minutes to hook the audience than the ability to play with them after that, “you can become a bastard after that, and I like that, I really like that”

He also described the preparation for a role, his methods were to read and re-read the script over and over again “and more often than not you learn it without meaning to”. He also believed reading books written during that time period can bring new motives and feelings to the role you’re playing to gain a back story, but he enjoys using his imagination and creativity to bring his own vision to the personality of his character. His main recommendation to build an interesting character is to create a viewpoint of your own towards the other characters so you can implement your own moral fibre for the role, continuing on benefitting your character he believed when you have a character who Is completely one thing e.g. a truly evil character, you can bring new feelings to the person and show yourself as multi-faceted the connection with the actors is a vital point but even more important is the connection with the audience and the passion you use to keep them interested, “even when performing a monologue, you still have to connect with the audience”

- Written by Luke Briggs

Nica’s Masterclass was a great chance to hear how a play begins and the economics involved with bringing it to a West End stage. The main point that Nica wanted to press throughout the session was that theatre relies on collaboration and this collaboration must take part at all levels, ‘it doesn’t matter if you’re playing Hamlet you’re stuffed if you don’t have a good Laertes, it doesn’t matter if you have the best company in the world if you don’t have as good a stage management in the world.’ To take this point even further Nica later stated that, ‘there is no such thing as a great director, actor, producer who can’t collaborate. A selfish actor is essentially at the end of the day a ‘not good enough actor.’ However, even with collaboration and the best team, there is no guarantee of a show that will sell and make you money. Nothing is certain and there is always a massive risk.
Nica started her career as an actress at University where she was studying law. Both of these have helped her career as a producer, the law has provided her with knowledge of contracts and business and the acting has allowed her to understand the creative process in rehearsals. It was whilst acting at University that she started producing as everyone wanted to act or direct but no one wanted to take charge of dealing with the admin side, consulting with venues and liaising with all the creative team. So Nica volunteered herself and found that she liked being the one in charge, motoring the production on. This was confirmed when she adapted an H. E. Bates story, The Dulcimer, in which she played the lead role for the stage and took it to the Edinburgh Festival on £600, which she had saved. She realised that she wanted to control her own work and she learnt the, ‘satisfaction of being able to have a vision and completing it.’
Nica then went through some of the main points of what producing entails. The start is finding the text and understanding (very important) where the edits need to be made. After this you need to raise he money, find the director who can share your vision and then cast the actors. There is for the West End a certain amount of decision making into who your leading actor is as there does need to be a draw for the audience. Nica also sits in with the director on all auditions and plays a large role in the casting.
To be a good producer there are several qualities that are needed. The most important is:
– being able to think with the two sides of your head – the creative and the business. Most people will end up finding that they are far better at one of these and will really struggle with controlling the other.
– You should also never get directly involved in the rehearsal process – this needs the one strong voice of the director. Notes that the producer has for the actors should go through the director.
– You don’t get paid to be a producer, you have to create the money yourself, to achieve this you need to have a clear head and most importantly not panic under huge pressure.

Nica outlined the important 5 R’s that every producer needs to remember:-

Reason – You have to be able to think your way through problems.

Relationships – You have to have good relationships with everyone involved. It makes breaking bad news far easier and can keep alliances going. When you have to make decisions it has to be a quick ‘yes’ or a quick ‘no,’ leaving people hanging is the worst for maintaining good relationships.

aRithmetic – You have to be good with money. You cannot delegate, you have to do it yourself.

Responsibility – The buck stops with the producer. The director is the king of the rehearsal room but the producer is the king overall – they will always have the final say.

Risk – You have to be able to cope with risk. This risk can even include your own house and your personal relationships. You have to step in and sort out the problems. There is no one else at the end of the day to pay the bills apart from you.

Dealing with risk is one of the hardest parts of becoming a producer. Nica told us that there are several brilliant and talented people she has known produce once only. The pressure of the risk had been too much for them and they had ended up with physical signs of being unable to cope, eczema on the hands, rashes and being sick. Nica mentioned that those who still want to be in this side of theatre but feel that they might not be able to cope with the risk should look at becoming a general manager. The general manager is the producer’s right hand and they are totally responsible for the business side but they are not making the judgement calls.
Nica then told us in detail about One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest, which she produced at The Gielgud Theatre before taking it on for a limited run at The Garrick. The first thing you have to work out is your budget. In OFOTCN they could factor in that it is set in an asylum so the costumes will be simple, it is one set and the play is finished (which means that you don’t need extra rehearsal time). You then have to add in the costs of the actors wages, rehearsal space hire, fees for the creative team, rights for the play, building the set, press officer, print, art work/graphic design, copy (it should cost around £100,000 for publicity).
Nica’s end figure came out as £352,000, which was raised to £450,000 as contingency. This follows the idea that you can’t get money when you’re already in trouble – always raise more money then you think you will need. We then worked out the average weekly cost of running the show – £22,000 just to open the theatre, (hire and staff wages) on top of this you have insurance, admin, actors wage (equity minimum for west end £450 p/w – although Nica will always pay more than this!) Altogether this comes to £65,000 a week.
After this you have to work out how much you will be able to gain in revenue. The theatre (most of the Nimax theatres) seat 700 people and most of the seats they sell will be top price, £45, although the price goes down to £7.50. If the show is a sell-out then the likelihood is to make your money back in 4 weeks. If the show is operating at 50% capacity then it could take up to 10 weeks to make your money back.
Finding the investors (angels) is the hard bit. Never be embarrassed about asking for money. Nica suggests parties as a place to try and find people who are interested in theatre but don’t want a creative input. Once you have found your investors the usual split of the profit is 60% investor with the remaining 40% going to the producer. Nica ended the discussion with the statistic that 1 in 10 shows will make a profit. The risk is clear. When asked why so many people continue to take that risk Nica could only say, ‘because we believe.’

At 17 years old he was the youngest in the school and found his 1st year very tough and left him feeling dispirited and depressed. Matthew mentioned, with hindsight, how he felt that perhaps this low beginning was good for him and acted as an ‘acid test’ as he set about starting his career as an actor on graduating.

The two companies that were storming the theatre scene at the time of his graduation were Simon McBurney’s Complicite and Declan Donnellan’s Cheek by Jowel. It was with the later that he won his first part playing Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi before going on to perform the role of Benedict in their Much Ado About Nothing. On being asked the question from a member of audience on whether he found writing letters to directors beneficial Matthew informed us that although he wasn’t too sure about the effectiveness of this method he did get the role of Benedict by faxing Declan Donnellan whilst drunk in the middle of the night begging him to give him the part. This of course may not always work and cannot be advised.

Most of the questions centered around how he was feeling about the industry at the moment. Matthew was incredibly open and told us how his agent, at this difficult time with the economy, has just said, “work. Do anything. Just get through the year.” Although he refuses to do another talking book after his first disastrous attempt, where even the sound technicians working on it looked horrified!

Matthew also talked about how he wishes he could relax more. He finds that auditions are getting harder and harder for him as he grows older and becomes a more recognizable face. He feels that this is because he has more to loose and recollected that when he was acting alongside Michael Gambon in Henry IV part I and II at the National, Gambon was as white as a sheet and trembling before their first night. Acting doesn’t get easier with age or fame but can in fact add to the pressure of doing a job well.

What does improve with experience, in Matthew’s opinion, was your ability to lie or at least have the ‘necessary vocabulary’ to tell casting directors and directors how much you love the script at auditions, ‘even if it clear that the writer has never read the script aloud.’  When he does love a script and really wants one of the parts he sees no reason in keeping cool about it. He favours the approach of being honest and passionate telling them how much he loves the script and desperately wants to be a part of it.

Although Matthew has never been out of work for more than 5/6 months (a relatively short amount of time!) he says the biggest lesson he has learnt is how out of control actors are, in terms of their career. “Actors are beggars, going from job to job.” He then also made a comparison between his father, who has had three work interviews in his life unlike himself who has when the times are good an audition every week. As an actor you are setting yourself up for constant rejection.

As a moto when he is feeling desperate and insecure about his career he remembers a letter written by Chekov to his wife, an actress, ‘art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling. There are in store for you many unsuccessful days and whole unsuccessful seasons, great misunderstandings and deep disappointments. You must be prepared for all of this, accept it and nevertheless stubbornly, fanatically follow your own way.’

Alongside the lows the enjoyment and highs can be immense. Recently whilst working on the film set of Frost/Nixon he and the rest of the cast had the constant giggles until he and Sam Rockwell ended up ‘having to change their clothes!’ Throughout the session Matthew left the audience under no impression that acting was easy or a career path you should ever consider if you can’t handle the lows but if you have the determination, strength and perseverance necessary the payback is enormous.

Elaine didn’t train at a music college but instead picked it up as she went along. For her the real lessons came in learning through experience, real dedication and understanding that there are ‘no shortcuts to singing in theatre.’ For Elaine there were 7 objectives that you must follow to get to where you want to be:-

Technique
Research
Memory (he he!)
Perseverance
Fit and healthy
Audition (make yourself a little different from everybody else.)
Winning the part

With technique posture is the most important and basic measure to remember. Think about how you are sitting and where your shoulders are – upright or slouched, sunk in the middle? When you are on stage you should always try to remain centred with your shoulders pulled back and down and your head in a relaxed position, slightly held back but being careful not to let your chin stick up in the air. In this position, all your airway passages are open and help you to project your voice. Breathing is also incredibly important and this should be done from the diaphragm and not from the shoulders.

Elaine made us all stand up and put this into practise and then she and her pianist Chris guided us through a selection of exercises that should be practised everyday for around 30 mins to keep the voice strong and supple.

We worked on a ha ha ha ha ha up and down the scales. This helps to strengthen the diaphragm, which if working properly should mean that you never lose your voice!

An octave jump on vowel sounds. By jerking the diaphragm in on the high notes the air will come out freely helping to produce a strong top note.

Diction is very important and is necessary to help convey the story to your public. You have to be a servant of the music (the composer and the lyricist) and if the audience can’t hear you or understand what you saying then you are not fulfilling your duties. With Elaine we practised the two exercises ‘red lorry, yellow lorry’ and ‘the lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue’ up and down the scales to help improve our diction.

Never be late. Always be early and prepared. Bring a notepad, pencil, rubber, script and your research to all rehearsals. Being early and prepared can boost your confidence and help you battle nerves.

Research – read as much as you can, try and understand the story of the character and the who, the what and the why of the situation. Research will bring you a confidence (without arrogance) and a certainty in what you are doing. Once you know the song off by heart you can begin to play with it and put your own spin and interpretation on it. It is of vital importance to have some connection with the song as this will help you to explore the emotion with more depth and appreciation. If you don’t understand the song it would be to your advantage to choose a different song.

Memory. Knowing a song off by heart (the lyrics and the meaning and its place and context within the musical) is imperative in an audition situation. Elaine felt particularly strongly on this point as at one of her first auditions for Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley ‘Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd’ she forgot her lines and dried up for the rest of the audition. It was such a horrible experience for her that she promised never to let it happen again. Her advice was to learn something so well that you almost don’t even have to think about it, ‘You must know the character so well that as soon as you begin you are there in that zone and don’t have to worry.’

The research was a key point that she kept on picking up with the participants when they came up to sing their songs. Other suggestions of things to look at were:-

- Dynamics of a piece – always make sure that you have somewhere to go. Don’t use your big bang up at the beginning or where it is not necessary as it will take the wow factor away from where it is needed.
- Gesturing in odd places. Less is more (Edith Piaf never did more than 1 or 2 gestures per song). Don’t gesture unless you have a reason to.
- Act throughout the song. Don’t stop just because you don’t have lines to sing.
- Know melodically where the crux of the song lies – it is important to follow the orchestration of the piece.
- Think before you sing! Don’t just hope the lyrics will convey the meaning on their own.
- If you are singing to someone, know were they are on stage. This will help give you a focus and not confuse the audience/audition panel.
- Don’t wear shoes that are too high as it can put your balance off – especially if you know that you will be on a stage as most of them are raked forwards. If you are leaning too far forward it can put pressure on your diaphragm. (n.b another top tip that Elaine gave was to never wear satin on stage as it shows every movement of your body which is particularly unflattering when singing and moving your diaphragm.)
- Force yourself to do things over the top – even if it feels silly. It gives you confidence and playfulness. It can always be pulled back and refined.

Elaine had a tendency to be a harsh critic but it was very constructive for the participants and there was a great humour and rapport between her and them. It was wonderful to see and hear someone speaking about their career who is obviously driven and passionate about what they do. Although luck always plays a key role in people’s careers with Elaine you were given the feeling that she has created her own luck through sheer determination and hard work and of course a bucket load of talent. At the end of the session we gave her an enormous round of applause whether she liked it or not.

Suggested Books to read from Elaine Paige (her bibles)

1. So you want to tread the boards? – Jennifer Reischel (self help book)

2. The Voice Book (for actors and pubic speakers) – Michael McCallion

3. Master Class – Terence McNally (play based on the life of Maria Callas)

4. Voice and the Actor – Cicely Berry

5. At the Actors Studio – Strasberg (tape recorded sessions) ed. R.H. Hethman

Miriam Margolyes was exceptional at the recent Masterclass. She had the audience hooting with laughter whilst also putting across important points about approaching the dramatic text. Miriam had no prior knowledge as to what the chosen text would be (The Importance of Being Earnest) so it was wonderful to see her tackling the text alongside the participants without any preparation on the text itself. Her advice, although unplanned, showed her extensive knowledge of the rhythms and musical quality of Wilde’s prose but also the impression that she would be able to approach any text with sensitivity and an ear for the writer’s intended pace and rhythms.
Her advice was universal to all scripts.

Finding the truth of the character to Miriam was of the upmost importance, ‘the only thing we have to do as actors is to present the truth as we see it.’ The truth brings the audience into the story, it is a fine thread of gold that runs between the actor and the audience, ‘it’s a tightrope, a bond of love, and if you tear it with lies you tarnish it and it dies.’ Whilst on the Masterclass stage Miriam promised to only tell us the truth as she saw it.

Miriam was very encouraging for those in the audience who hadn’t been to drama school although she did go to Cambridge University where she read English. Drama school was a continuation of being a student and this didn’t appeal to her. What she did feel held her back about not going to drama school was learning technique, of which she believes herself to have none, saying, ‘I know that you have to breathe, that’s the first thing you have to do, both, as a human being and as an actor.’ For Miriam it is the, ‘joy of words,’ that has been the greatest inspiration to her as an actor and it is her facility with words that has helped her into the position that she is in today, ‘anybody can give me any script and I will be able to read it fluently and without mistakes […] You have to make yourself able to deal with words because they are not only the currency of thought but words are what we use to show who we are.’

TIP 1: Vowels carry the emotion in a word and consonants carry the sense. It is very important to hear the end of the word and the end of the sentence.

Radio was Miriam’s way into theatre and landing herself an agent. This was made possible by John Bridges, a director, who came to see a Footlights performance at Cambridge and said afterwards that he had liked her performance. On leaving Cambridge she wrote to him asking if he would help her get an audition at the BBC Radio Drama Company (RDC). He managed to get her an audition and instead of performing a standard piece she created her own monolgue, set on a train and playing a multitude of different characters to show how versatile she was in terms of the flexibility of her voice.

TIP 2: Although it is difficult to get an audition with the RDC it is a wonderful way to start your career.

Miriam felt that age has been a significant factor in her recent work and has allowed her to experience the fragility of life which can now inform her work. ‘Don’t be afraid to let the things that have happened to you in your life show BUT never use theatre as therapy.’ Miriam suggested that, for her, the best way of doing this is to read and re-read the script making notes about the similarities in the characteristics of the person she is playing and herself and then read and re-read it trying to find the characteristics that she has no connection with at all, so that she see’s the journey that she has to make from one to the other.

TIP 3: Everything is about sex. Act with your groin!

Having talked about the beginnings of her career in theatre, Miriam then introduced the two participants to the stage and they performed the famous handbag scene from ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ Instead of her comments being taken as criticism she wanted to open up a discourse between herself and the actors, presenting them with a new way of approaching the text. Confidence was her first and main point for the actors. This is followed by the need to follow Wilde’s grammar to gain the comedic pace that this scene requires. Balance is also of particular importance, when it comes to the weighting of the words as it Wilde clearly had an ear for music in speech and the rhythm and pace that the scene should run at.

‘To lose ONE parent Mr Worthing may be regarded as misFORTUNE, to lose BOTH looks like CARElessness.’

It was brilliant watching her with the two actors Michael and Olivia as they really seemed to be encouraged by her advice and both by the end had felt that they, as characters in the scene, and the scene itself had greatly improved. A more coherent understanding of the meaning behind the lines and the use of the rhythm within the text also enhanced the comedy of the scene. Both of the actors were great and responded well and it was hugely enjoyable and valuable experience.

TIP 4: Nesting. (When you don’t start with the actual word of the speech.e.g ‘Ahhh’ or ‘well.’) You mustn’t do it. You must start with the word in the text. ‘Let that be your shovel in to the line.’

At the end of the session Miriam answered several questions. One question asked was advice that she could give on ‘getting in’ to the acting industry. At first she joked saying that if she knew the she would be permanently employed, ‘in show biz there are no rules, if there were rules then everybody would be doing it.’

Miriam left us with her final words of wisdom on the acting profession.

‘It is a ceaseless search but you have to keep going, keep trying, keep nourishing your talent, keep going to the theatre, there is no answer. I promised to tell you the truth. That is the truth.’

Although Warner was reluctant to talk too much about her past if it wasn’t relevant to the questions we had to ask her, “Things get sort of shipwrecked on something so long ago, I don’t know if it is the richest vein of discussion.” She did, however, give a quick précis of her work, throughout 2009, in which she had opened seven shows! Five of which had been opera (Britten’s Death in Venice in Brussels and Luxembourg, Handel’s Messiah at The ENO and two revivals of Dido and Aeneas in Vienna and Holland) alongside Mother Courage with Fiona Shaw at The National Theatre and The Wasteland read by Fiona Shaw at Wilton’s Music Hall.

As well as this she gave a very quick summary to her first years within theatre, choosing to go to Central School of Speech and Drama where she studied Stage Management. This she found incredibly insightful to the world of directing as it allowed her to watch the rehearsal process on a continuous basis and gave her a purpose for being there. On leaving Central she formed her own theatre company KICK and with them she took a Shakespearian show to the Edinburgh Festival every year. This was interesting to hear and it probably helped her to gain work later in terms of developing her metiers so early on in her career thus allowing people to recognise her style and to see it as a strength. This certainly proved to be so as she went on to direct Measure for Measure in Stockholm and The Tempest in Bangladesh for the British Council before being asked to take on Titus Andronicus at the RSC. Warner notes that she was, ‘the only director left that they hadn’t asked,’ but due to her knowledge of the Shakespearian text they felt that they would be in safe hands.

Many people in the audience wanted to know about Warner’s rehearsal experience and how she works with actors and the differences between working with actors and opera singers. Warner mentioned that in some respects she found opera far easier than theatre as the template for the rhythm in opera had already been laid down by the composer. This is in comparison to the theatre where it was the work of the director with the actors to, ‘find the rhythm at which it is going to play.’ Rhythm, for Warner, is the foundation for which all theatre springs from. This seems to be influenced from her extensive work with Shakespearian texts and with opera, at which she drew parallels between the verse and the composer’s template for the music, ‘ignore the iambic pentameter at your peril and ignore Mozart’s musical intonation at your peril.’ For Warner it is finding the correct rhythm’s within the prose play that can cause the most difficulty, ‘you have to find what the composer would have found and put in place [and that] will be your template.’

Warner also talked about two theatre practitioners, Beckett and Brook, who inspired her as a young person wanting to go into theatre and in creating her own work. With Beckett she spoke about ‘Footfalls,’ which she directed at the Garrick Theatre and ‘Happy Days’ at the National. ‘Footfalls’ created such a furore that one critic said it was a bit like, ‘seeing someone doodling on a Rembrandt,’ and the Beckett estate banned her from taking it on tour. Warner conceded that she had misunderstood at that time that an estate can grieve and that perhaps at only 7 years after Beckett’s death to do something so dramatically different, ‘it aesthetically certainly looked new, it didn’t look like Beckett’s look,’ had been insensitive towards the Beckett estate. They did later, however, let her direct ‘Happy Days’ at the National saying that they greatly admired her work.

The main issues with ‘Footfalls’ had been due to Warner not following the stage directions and the re-assigning of lines. Stage directions have notoriously been a contentious matter with the Beckett estate, The Independent noted that Beckett had once tried to put a stop to the 35 second production of ‘Breath’ due to a ‘stage direction being violated.’ Talking about the problems with stage directions in Beckett, Warner suggested that they were often misunderstood. If you follow them it doesn’t mean that you have done the play, ‘stage directions are not like cookery recipes.’ However, following them and paying attention to them and asking why they are there can help you release the magic of the text, ‘they are not restrictive but prompts,’ to opening the play.

Towards the end Warner talked about Brook being an inspiration to her and realising what ‘he is about.’ This she told through a touching story of watching ‘Ubu’ in London and then three years later going to watch the ‘Cherry Orchard’ in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord. Warner acknowledges that she was filled with trepidation at going to Paris due to her worry that she would not be affected in the same way as she had with ‘Ubu’, because of the language barrier. Twenty minutes in to the ‘Cherry Orchard’ Warner started to cry as she realised that ‘Ubu’ had also been performed in French and she had forgotten. It was in this moment that she understood Brook and the potential of ‘theatre to go beyond language.’ This is something that Warner feels a modern audience is missing out on these days with the constant use of surtitles underpinning the action leaving us unaware to the ‘experience of language’ in the modern theatre.

- Caitlin Albery Beavan (Marketing and Admin intern)