Diary of an actor at the Stratford Festival-Day4

Enter Stage Right
Diary of an actor at the Stratford Festival
By Laura Condlln June 6, 2005

Day 4

I think it’s always a good idea to start the day with a bit of girl talk over brunch. This morning I met two friends — Martha Farrell and Jennifer Mawhinney — for some “eggs benny” and some good ol’ fashioned gossip.

The three of us spent the winter training together in the festival’s Conservatory program — a nineteen-week classical theatre intensive. We bonded instantly because we were outnumbered by the boys nine to three. It’s a harsh reality for women interested in classical theatre; there just aren’t that many parts. There are some really good ones — Shakespeare knew how to write for women — but there’s much more opportunity for the boys.

After breakfast I head to the theatre, running into stores along the way for some final opening-night supplies. I’m a great believer in multitasking, and I’m also a “last-minute” junkie.

At 12:30, I arrive breathless for warm-up; it takes me twice as long to settle and relax. By 1:15, I’ve signed in at the call-board and am putting on my make-up — except that after I’ve done half my face, I realize I’m preparing for the wrong show. It’s an As You Like It matinee, but I’ve been in such a Tempest rhythm all week that I went into automatic pilot. Not to mention that we haven’t had an As You Like It performance in five whole days.

Switching eye shadow, I get myself back on track for my first entrance in “the party scene.” Santo Loquasto, our designer, has put us all in outrageous 1960s costumes for this scene — all in black and white to symbolize the harsh, cold laws of the court. The effect of my big red beehive wig, the make-up inspired by an old Vogue ad, a long cigarette and my tent dress/unitard combo prompts people to tell me I conjure memories of their “Aunt Marilyn.”

After the scene, I begin the transformation into the second character I play in this production. Audrey (me) and Touchstone, (played by Stephen Ouimette) have a comic romance in the play. He’s from the court, she’s from the forest. He’s the clown, full of life with a quick wit and a healthy libido, and she, well, she’s a simple country girl who just wants to get married. Classic comedy.

We don’t meet Audrey until the second half of the play, so I have some extra time to get ready. And it’s a good thing, too, because I’ve developed quite the routine. They say that baseball players don’t change their socks before a big game; it sounds a bit mad, but I’m sort of like that, too, only with slightly more regard for personal hygiene.

Once I develop a pre-show pattern, I rarely change it. I do everything in the same order — even when I fill up my water bottle — and there’s a secret ingredient, too. Before I enter for my first Audrey scene, I take out my Walkman — not an iPod, but a Walkman — and listen to “Good Morning Starshine” on an old Broadway recording of Hair. It always puts me in the right headspace. Down the hall, Sara Topham, who plays Rosalind in As You Like It, listens to Mozart arias before she goes on. We all have our quirks.

The show goes very well. The audience is our quietest so far, but that allows us to go back to the text and the story — which I think will always serve us better than playing for laughs. Antoni Cimolino, our director, wants us back in the evening for rehearsal; during my dinner break, I secretly hope I’ll be let out early so I can attend the opening of Fallen Angels tonight at the Avon Theatre.

Throwing a dress in my bag, I hurry back to the theatre, and sure enough, at 7:45 I’m released. I fly across town, and just as the lights are coming down, I slip in beside my date to enjoy a brilliant evening of Noël Coward.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/stratforddiaryday4.html