danieldwilliam | Entries tagged with the play i am in

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

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Entries tagged with the play i am in

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