Macbeth Blog: Week 2 | Shakespeare's Globe

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Tech week
Inside the rehearsal room

Key term: ‘tech’ is short for technical rehearsals.

We have been extremely fortunate to get familiar with the space on several occasions through week 2, rehearsing sections of the play, working with Tess on voice in the space, and working with Glynn and Shelley on movement.

As the Globe is a tourist attraction, open to the public and an educational space, the theatre is always populated. This is great for us, as we get used to seeing faces and working with the audience to tell the story. I was very lucky to be rehearsing a short soliloquy as Banquo and was able to interact with the populated theatre. Myself and the company can then take all these experiences back into the rehearsal room, holding them in our minds as we continue to rehearse the play. By doing this, our transition into the space for tech and dress rehearsals and then shows, will hopefully be confident and smooth.

Key term: ‘tech’ is short for technical rehearsals. These are vital in preparing for each of the productions that take place on the Globe stage. A ‘technical week’ is the week before the opening of a play, and an exciting time when all the different elements of the production come together for the first time and the theatre itself is prepared and renovated for the oncoming season of productions.

Two weeks to go!

Samuel Oatley – Banquo

PHOTOS FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM

PREPARING FOR TECHNICAL REHEARSALS

REHEARSAL IMAGE 25_ MACBETH 2020_ PLAYING SHAKESPEARE WITH DUESTCHE BANK_ STANDARD IMAGE — You can see as Samuel and the rest of the cast are rehearsing there is a wooden cylinder in the rehearsal room. This is used to represent a pillar on the Globe Stage so that the actors can practice their movements as if in the theatre itself.

SAMUEL GETTING INTO CHARACTER

REHEARSAL IMAGE 23_ MACBETH 2020_ PLAYING SHAKESPEARE WITH DUESTCHE BANK_ STANDARD IMAGE

No rehearsal room or stage markings can prepare you for the extreme difference of being in the theatre and on that stage.

Stage time! When rehearsing a play, the rehearsals usually take place in a room with the stage and set marked out on the floor to give you an idea of the space. When you’re working in a standard modern theatre, the work you do in the room is, usually, easy to transfer to the stage. The Globe is a very different matter. No rehearsal room or stage markings can prepare you for the extreme difference of being in the theatre and on that stage.

It’s a round building, (makes sense if you’re going to call it the Globe), and that is a very different beast to proscenium arch when you are telling a story for an audience that is all around you.

The theatre has no roof, it’s an outdoor space, so you can see the audience at all times. This is vastly different from a modern theatre, where the audience is usually covered by darkness. In Shakespeare’s time they had no electricity, so needed the sun to light the theatre.

The Globe is made, predominantly, of wood and we work with no sound system. This requires a very specific sound and vocal quality. For example, my voice is quite low in pitch, uses a lot of breath and can engage my throat in a way that could be damaging in the Globe space. We do extensive work with Tess, Head of Voice, to prepare our voices for the space. For Banquo, I will need use a higher pitch, drop and steady my flow of breath and keep my throat relaxed.

This all leads me to the importance of stage time when rehearsing for a Globe show, which I’ll chat about in my next blog post!

Samuel Oatley – Banquo

PHOTOS FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM