An insight into creating our schools touring production of Othello

9 October 2012

Othello has played to over 1,000 students during the first part of its tour to schools.  Assistant director Sheryl Hill gives us the lowdown on the first week of Othello rehearsals.

There was an air of excitement right from the very first meet and greet between the creative team, cast and the staff at the Rose Theatre Kingston where rehearsals are taking place.  As we all got to know each other over a cup of tea the chat quickly turned to anticipation for that important rehearsal milestone: the read through.  After eighteen months of planning and Beth’s hard work in transforming Shakespeare’s text into a sixty page adaptation it was time to hear the actors bring this story to life. 

Beth’s adaptation takes us to the very core of the text whilst respecting the language and imagery Shakespeare uses to convey the different themes within the play.  From the outset Beth emphasized the importance of using Shakespeare’s metre to the actors.  Metre is a fantastic tool that Shakespeare created to help an actor figure out a character’s thoughts and feelings by counting the number of syllables in each of their lines.  So, with sixty pages ahead of us it was time to get counting and filled to the brim with enthusiasm we quickly got to it.  Going through the script in such depth meant we could really explore the meaning of what is written on the page.  Additionally, we were also able to discuss the more practical challenges such as how our cast of three actors would play all of the many characters between them.    Everyone was able to contribute their ideas in this relaxed and collaborative discussion.  We even had a giggle when we had counted for so long that even counting to ten was becoming a huge challenge…. but in those moments we stopped for a quick tea break!  The whole process took us two days but it has been hugely beneficial and gave the actors a firm grasp of their characters from which to develop them further. 

As we’ve been generating ideas in rehearsals we’ve also been adding to our props list so one of my jobs today involved phoning up Heidi, Beth’s assistant at The Watermill Theatre, to ask her to source some more of our props.  One particularly memorable prop is something that will be created from a piece of round, black foam and a bendy bit of metal like you would see on a desk lamp.  I’ll let you see if you can work out what that prop is in the performance….!  We concluded the week by running all the scenes we had covered since getting onto our feet and staging the show.  It was great to see that we were already nearing twenty minutes worth of material!