O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide on man,
And make imaginary puissance;
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
We started off our first rehearsal by doing this poem by Shakespeare. We read through it individually, working out the meaning of it. I found that there was some language I didn't understand, but I could understand the overall meaning and tone.
Once we had read it, we used it to create a short piece . We came up with actions to go with the lines and everyone was given a different part to say. When the poem mentions an object or animal, we will all become that object or animal.
We went through it about two or three times, until it ran fairly smoothly. I think that all though we didn't spend much time on it, it looked effective and focused the whole cast. It got us used to the Shakespearean language, forced us to project and got us physically warmed up. We will do this warm up at the beginning of every rehearsal.
The next thing we did was do a full run through of the play. This was our first read through as a whole class, so everyone was reading off their scripts and we had to improvise and experiment. It was difficult to interact with others on stage because I had to look at my script, as well as make eye contact and move around. Everyone was unfamiliar with their character and the structure. This meant that some of the story was lost, because the words were said in the wrong way. When I was holding my script I found it really confining, because when you hold a script your movement is restricted and you can't explore your physicality. This run through gave me a clearer idea of the story line and made me realise how important it is to learn my lines. Once I have learnt my lines I can explore my physicality and interact with other characters on stage.
We were able to see sketches of our costume design and the model of our set. It is really important for us to have a clear idea of where we will be performing. As we begin to be directed, the staging can be decided right from the start. Once we know our staging, we can concentrate on our characters and lines. Here are some photos of our model set:
