danieldwilliam | Entries tagged with julius caesar

Julius Caesar opened last night. It went well. I’m pleased. We and I got some nice feedback. I’m particularly pleased with the two scenes where I kill someone.

I think most of the cast managed a top five performance on the night and nobody had a below par night. I think now we’ve had the opening night out of the way we can loosen up a bit and give it some welly. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights should be cracking.

Julius Caesar is an interesting play. Obviously very political. I’ve been reminded of Aristotle’s Politics.

I’ve enjoyed watching the directing process. I like working with the director very much. She has a happy knack of keeping everyone focused and disciplined without seeming authoritarian. She also has a nice eye for bits of detail.

The actress playing my on stage buddy has been immense. It’s her first time on the stage since primary school but she’s been Assistant Director on a few of the Grads’ shows so she is very professional. She’s also been really good at looking after the kids who are in the show. It’s been lovely working with her.

I think I’ll have a shot at the one act play festival next year which is the Grads traditional route into directing full plays.

Current Mood: delighted
Current Location: Adam House
Current Music: Julius Caesar - The Soundtrack

The man playing Julius Caesar in the Play What I Am In (1) has been really struggling to learn his lines.

The director appears to have sacked him over the weekend. The email from her to the entire cast saying JC was stepping down and the understudy arrangements was a little unclear. JC popped in to say farewell (2) and from his valedictory speech I think he was keen to stay on but had been asked to step down.

His replacement is a guy I know moderately well. He’s a good actor, is already in the play in many of the same scenes so knows most of the business, has already learned about half the lines so that will be fine. A few other people have been bumped up to larger roles.

I am unaffected.

Given the subject matter of the play I have been fighting the urge to make tasteless jokes for the last 48 hours.

(1) Julius Caesar

(2) which I thought very handsome of him.

Current Mood: ironic
Current Location: Rome, 44 BC
Current Music: The First Cut Is The Deepest, by Cat Stevens

This weekend has basically involved drunken fuckwittery. Actuals in line with Budget, no variance to comment on.

( For brief musings on my weekend )

All lovely.

Current Mood: philosopic
Current Location: East Coast Main LIne
Current Music: Sit Down by James

I am in a play. Specifically, I have a small role in the Edinburgh Grads production of Julius Caesar. I am to play Varro, an amalgamation of several small subsidiary roles, a citizen, a soldier and cobbler. Varro is one of several amalgamated roles used to show the reaction and actions of the Roman public to the personal and political drama happening before them. He’s a bit of a wide boy – a poor man’s Eric Morecambe playing Jimmy Dean in his own head.

I have some twenty lines, not many at all. However, I am first on the stage and last off it and, as you would expect from a character whose main purpose is to react to things I’m on stage a lot. Lots of my lines are general harrumphing at speeches. I’m actually finding it harder work learning the lines than if I had large blocks of speech or conversations. There’s nothing to hang them on

Rehearsals are going well. There are nice bits in the play and the quality of the acting is pretty good for an amateur production. The cast are a lovely mix of good humour without being silly. Scenes gets rehearsed, people pay attention, remember the blocking, throw in some constructive suggestions, have a bit of laugh.

I’ve not seen any costumes but preliminary sketches indicate a sort of Victoriana / steampunk vibe and I get to grow my hair a bit. This is quite cool. I don’t love steampunk as a genre but the clothes are quite cool. I wonder if I can get some googles to go with my switchblade.

I’m also getting a chance to do a little bit of improvisation in rehearsals, which is nice. On a few occasions my improv experience has really helped me to work out what happens next. I think the improvisation in my favourite scene will turn out to be very effective.

I’m enjoying watching the directing process and I’m learning stuff about directing as we go. I would quite like to have a go at directing something in the next few years. I’ve been on a few RSC / NTS workshops on production design and these are helping me think about directing.

It’s been nearly 20 years since I was last on stage with a script. It’s nice to

The show runs in the last week of November in Adam House opposite the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.

http://egtg.co.uk/productions/julius-caesar

Current Mood: energetic
Current Location: Rome, 44 BC
Current Music: Original Music, by the cast

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Entries tagged with julius caesar

On Opening Night

On Dramatic Irony

On Aberdeen

On the Play What I am In

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