Act Two, Scene Three: Kingston for a stage.

Baptism of fire at The Rose.
After just 4 preview shows at The Haymarket, we arrived at The Rose in Kingston ready to launch into an eight show week in a completely new and unusual space. Alastair had made us all aware the week before that some adaptions to the staging would need to be made. Coming from a traditional proscenium arch theatre to the large open half-moon stage of the Rose, with its close up pit for audience on cushions, meant a little re-blocking was in order! We arrived early on the Monday to give ourselves time to check out the space and its rather more challenging acoustics. Our set is very open and as there are only cloth curtains enclosing the back of the stage (rather than lovely sound-bouncy, reverberating hard walls) I soon realised that diction and projection were going to be key. Once the cast had assembled we walked through a 'top and tail' of each scene working out where exits and entrances would be made and how to navigate all our quick costume changes and 'push and pull' business in the horseshoe like corridor of the backstage area. 


It was cold backstage. VERY cold. I was not surprised to see snow by the end of the week, even though I always think London might avoid it somehow. If you took a sneak peak behind the scenes you'd have been greeted with the sight of half dressed turns toasting their feet and mitts on a large electric heater, like giant 18th century Donner kebabs, primed with a marinade of glycerin water. That's the stage 'sweat' spray we use to make ourselves look like we're in sweltering Sydney. How ironic.


We had some lovely audiences at the Rose, a nice mix of students and regular 'punters' and perhaps due to the presence of the 'creative' types of Kingston we noticed that the references to theatrical traditions and Wisehammer's play-writing quips went down particularly well.  Being in London also meant that many of us city-dwellers were able to enjoy the attendance of friends and loved ones, as well as agents and casting directors - all very important in the world of 'self promotion'. Whether we enjoy it or not, it's something we actors need to keep on top of. As much as you can get sucked into the world of your current project, there's always a constant nag wondering how you're going to secure your next job....

Phil, playing Asrcott, playing Kite, on mic.

As well as performing in the evenings and matinees, there were various calls from Alastair to further tighten some of the scenes. We also had a final session with Tim Van Eyken who made some more musical adjustments to the songs in the piece, and taught us a strong warm-up routine to keep us all vocally tight  and sounding sweet once on the road. On Wednesday we were all asked to assist with the pre-recording of Arscott's final speech. Our Country's Good ends with the the opening of the Recruiting Officer with John Arscott playing Sargent Kite. As he begins the colony's first performance behind the makeshift curtain, we watch the actors hear the rowdy but positive response to the play. The play ends with the excitement and exhilaration of the convicts and Ralph as their show appears to be a success. It's a powerful theatrical device to end on, so it was important to get it right. In the previews we'd tried Phil speaking this closing speech live from behind the curtain accompanied by canned laughter and cheering. But the timing never seemed quite right and the live speech jarred with the recorded responses. So we decided to record our own versions of the convict and officer audience responses. The opportunity for some company rhubarbing didn't go amiss. We made a somewhat more rowdy, excited crowd. Phil then recorded his speech as well and the two were mixed together along with the closing strains of Beethoven's 5th symphony. The result is far clearer and cleaner and certainly helps punctuate the end of the show with a real fervour and oomph. And it's neat that we now play the entire first fleet of New South Wales.


Congrats in order!
It's been an exciting time for the company this week. Not only have we received some wonderful reviews for the show, including 4 Stars from Libby Purves in The Times, it's also been announced that Original Theatre Company have been nominated for the MEN Awards Best Touring Production for their recent show Dancing at Lughnasa. It's a fantastic achievement for the company to be recognised alongside some top-class theatrical institutions in the same category including the Donmar Warehouse and The National Theatre. Here's wishing Alastair and the team best of luck! 
And we have an award winner in our midst! On Sunday Aden Gillet (who plays Phillip and Wisehammer) won Best Actor in the Off-West End Awards for his previous showAccolade. 
How lovely to be working with such a talented team.

White Out 
During the performance of the final Kingston show, the snow began to fall rapidly. By the time the curtain had come down and we'd packed away our dressing rooms there was a thick layer of the white fluffy stuff coating the roads. We hurriedly said our goodbyes, anxiously heading off to trains and cars for icy cold and tentative journeys home. 


Next up on the touring schedule - it's the North/South hop where we begin the week at the Reading Hexagon Theatre and finish up at the Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Let's hope we thaw out in time and continue to get a warm reception!
That's me done for this week but in order to give you lovely readers out there a further insight into the play and our company, here's the first of my weekly interview's for a real peek behind the scenes.
Enjoy.


Emily x


SNEAK PEEK OF THE WEEK:  Chris Harper on playing Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark.


So Chris, how did you get the part?


"Well, two years ago I played Stanhope in Journey's End for Original Theatre Company. Then I assisted Alastair on Dancing at Lughnasa and went on to direct See How They Run last year, so this is my fourth project with the company. But I didn't expect to get cast in this one at all. Ralph has always been a mystery to me and there are elements to him that I'm still discovering every night in performance. And that was really what my audition was: I told Alastair that I was completely lost when it came to Ralph and although it's a part I've known of for a long time I no idea who he was. So I'm amazed I got cast."


You say you know about the part of Ralph before. When did you first come across the play?


"I played John Arscott in my Bristol Old Vic Theatre School production. I had long hair and a beard and tattoos all over my body for the part.  Ralph was played by a lovely actor called Bruce Godfrey, who was certainly very good at portraying uptight and 'pure as driven snow'. But upon reading Ralph's diaries this time round and reading the novel the play was set against, and the history in The Fatal Shore, I've realised there's a lot more to Ralph than I expected. The diary entries in the first act of the play I find particularly tricky because they're neither clear exposition or narrative as such, and they are taken verbatim from the diary entries of the real Ralph Clark (not even in sequential order). So I'm having to speak them out loud and they were written to be read, so that's an interesting theatrical question. I have to admit I've also been very aware of the fact the original Ralph was played by David Haig. He's such a distinctive actor so I've really wanted to make Ralph my own."


Would you say that's been the biggest challenge of rehearsing Ralph?


"Well aside from all that there's a far more internal, human challenge of finding someone who's desperately shy and desperately unhappy, who's having to lead a group of people he has very little respect for. And trying to find his core, his sense of humour, his attitude throughout scenes where he's very aware of he should be behaving. So there's a struggle there, and I find find he starts a very tangled web of an unhappy man."


What did you enjoy most about rehearsals?


"One of my favourite moments is when you see the first full run through and you see what everyone else has been doing. We have a fantastically strong cast, all of whom are deeply involved in their characters and have done some excellent work. And as well as enjoying watching them, I also only then really began to understand where Ralph sat in terms of his place in the team. The actor playing Ralph is the only actor who plays just one part, and I think of him very much as a continuous thread- we definitely see the play through him. So from from the outside I'm very aware that Ralph is the audience's way in to the play. I felt I understood Ralph better once I saw the world he was in come to life"


Have a you done a play set in this period before?


"I've got a big old period face and I tend to do a lot of stuff set in war-time Britain, but yes, actually just recently I was playing 3 parts in a production of Persuasion at Salisbury Playhouse for Kate Saxon. That's a Jane Austen so it's set a just a few years later than Our Country's Good."


What's been your a favourite role to date?


"I'm now beginning to really enjoy playing Ralph because he's been one of the most difficult I've ever attempted and the last few performances I've caught myself actually enjoying it at times! I found Stanhope in Journey's End incredibly rewarding. I think I had most fun playing Don Pedro in Much Ado. He's always played so urbane and formal, he's always so respectable. I think he's more like Oberon- he comes up with all the ideas, all the mischief, he's great fun.


What attracts you to Our Country's Good?


Every time we perform this I see something new in it. Something someone will do or say, some word will resonate differently. It gets funnier and it gets sadder. And everyday and it gets more pertinent. Whether you're thinking of the way society treats prisoners today, or the way a teacher tries to control a class, or the way a director may work with a cast today, or perhaps how a play is received by someone watching it today, this show echoes all of these. You can hear it in the audience, every page has something that makes you think "that happens now, to me". The audience hang on every word because of that.

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