Wednesday 21 March 2012

Last Night Nerves

Sunday afternoon saw the last performance of The Duchess of Malfi – and the last performance of any production at the Greenwich Playhouse. The final applause was loud and long. When it died down, Alice de Sousa, one half of the duo that have run the Galleon Theatre company for two decades (don’t quote me on the exact length of time) gave an emotional farewell speech.

So did I do well that last day after four weeks in the role? Actually, no, I was less confident of my performance than I had been for most of the run and several times found myself unable to focus on what I was doing. On stage in one scene I was suddenly aware that I had not performed my usual check before entering and my earphone dangled down instead of being firmly in place in my ear. Walking off a few moments later, I forgot to look back at the Cardinal and Julia – a minor point that the audience would not have noticed, but which connects to the end of the play when my character turns against his employer.

Worse was to come. Aware that actors often play tricks on each other off in the final performance, I donned a long black Cher-type wig in my role as a keeper at the madhouse. It had the desired effect of forcing Bruce (Cardinal) Jamieson, Phil Gerrard and Alex Reece (fellow keepers) to stifle laughs, but it also did what Damian Quinn (Bosola) had warned – put me off my own performance. With strands of hair flopping around my head, I could not see properly and found myself undoing the wrong straps on the mad Duke's neck, which meant his collar, not gag, came off. Putting things right took time and forced the Doctor (Barry Clarke) to ad-lib.

My apologies to Barry and the others on stage. I was lucky that none of the actors complained – most enjoyed the joke - but I learnt two important lessons. That no performance is routine, and that some nights I do not perform as well as others and on those occasions I have to focus – to work – harder than normal to bring myself back up to the level that I know I can achieve. In short, this kind of trick is not something that I will do again soon.


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So, another stage in my short acting career has come to an end. Thanks to Damian, cast and crew and friends and family enjoyed a glass of champagne on the empty stage. From there we moved en masse to a Cuban restaurant for a raucous – well, without naming names, some of us were raucous, others more decorous – last supper. And then, as must always happen, in twos and threes, we got up and waved and hugged and took our leave. But this is not just a group of actors, it is a family, where many of the cast and crew have worked together in the past and are likely to do so again. I’m sure I’ll work with several – perhaps many, perhaps all – of them again.


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Meanwhile, one half of a new agency turned up to see me on Saturday night. Yes, they were disappointed that I did not have more lines, and that I don’t have a Spotlight profile, but still they would like to represent me. At my convenience, could I call the other half of the agency (currently indisposed with illness) to take this further. Of course I can and will....

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