{"id":1586,"date":"2020-02-18T11:21:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T16:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2020-03-09T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T17:41:41","slug":"the-tempest-spring-2020-tour-entry-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/the-tempest-spring-2020-tour-entry-4\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Tempest\u201d Spring 2020 Tour: Entry #4"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rubin<\/strong><\/p>\n

And so to our first warm weather week. We\u2019ve headed south from chilly Chicago and landed in 75 degree heat in Houston, Texas, for week three of our \u2018Tempest\u2019 tour. Lovely! I\u2019m wearing shorts all week in celebration. (Didn\u2019t last\u2026it got cold and rainy here on Day Two!).<\/p>\n

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Arriving at Houston.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Meeting lecturers to arrange workshops.<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019re actually located quite a way from Houston city centre (39 miles), and about three and a half miles from the University where we will be teaching and performing (at The Bayou Theatre).<\/p>\n

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Our self catering accommodation for the week.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our accommodation this week is slightly different\u2026more of a self catering set up. It includes a kitchen and dining room – each! Homely. It\u2019s located on a highway, or should I say freeway? It\u2019s on a 6 lane road, and we\u2019re surrounded by huge retail complexes. Everyone here seems to drive everywhere. Pedestrians are not much catered for. Good then, that we\u2019ve been provided with two fabulous cars for the week.<\/p>\n

I certainly want to visit Houston city centre, and there\u2019s even talk of driving five or so hours through the night, after the show on Saturday, for a visit to New Orleans\u2026 I\u2019m VERY keen on that, despite it being almost 800 miles round trip. Always wanted to go there.<\/p>\n

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Best way to see town!<\/p><\/div>\n

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About town in Houston.<\/p><\/div>\n

Monday. On our first night here a few of us braved a walk across the freeways and to the lovely, Irish themed \u201cMolly\u2019s Pub\u201d It was great. Darts, beers, food and good company \u2013 friendly locals. Workshops at the Uni start tomorrow, though my first one isn\u2019t until Wednesady. Leisurely week this one. Fitting perhaps, as Monday was my birthday.<\/p>\n

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Tourism time.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tuesday. I went into town and rode around on one of the easy hire bikes that cities have nowadays. One of the first things I saw was another Molly\u2019s Pub \u2013 maybe it\u2019s a chain. [It is, I\u2019ve since discovered]. I also saw a lot of homeless people. 95% dark skinned, of course. A saving grace for them, compared to the huge numbers on the streets of Chicago, is that at least it\u2019s not below freezing down here in Houston. Houston also has a few museums and a small theatre district. The highlight looks to be the NASA museum. So I\u2019ll be heading there at some point. Having been spoilt by the art I saw in Chicago last week, I might skip this week\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts\u2026<\/p>\n

Wednesday was a day pottering around my abode, feeling very at home, what with two bedrooms, dining area, desk, bathroom and kitchen all at my disposal. I prepared for two workshops I\u2019m giving on \u2018Performance Appraisal and Feedback\u2019, which I\u2019ve since delivered and which went very well indeed. And I caught up on emails and Whatsapp calls to friends, family and lovely Sal.<\/p>\n

Today is Thursday. Our three performances here start tonight. There was some great discussion during my workshops yesterday and this morning, about the challenges of working without a director. Some simply could not fathom it. Others were fascinated and wanted to hear how we negotiate \u2018choices\u2019 and directorial decisions in a company whose unique selling point is their lack of director.<\/p>\n

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Students after Performance Appraisal Workshop<\/p><\/div>\n

Caliban\u2019s attempted rape of Miranda came up for discussion in both my workshops, there being somewhat different opinions within the cast about this. I explained the delicate negotiating process of the rehearsal period, where we are free to make choices as actors and then, hopefully, are open to \u2018notes\u2019 from our fellow performers on those choices. I shared that on matters affecting the whole group, we would have a democratic vote to decide on which way to go. Individually there was a greater freedom for each actor to come to their own conclusions, regarding their thinking, in the playing of their part\u2026a freedom to work from our own choices.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very well known within the acting profession that \u2018noting\u2019 other actors is not the done thing. It\u2019s a very dangerous world commenting on other actors\u2019 performances, unless you\u2019re the director, and it is a rare thing when it succeeds in acting companies. As a rule, it simply isn\u2019t done. It takes a lot of trust and a letting go of ego.<\/p>\n

If it is to work, it helps if the company are close\u2026friends even, which was, I believe the way it was with those first Patrick Stewart led companies of AFTLS.<\/p>\n

My very early career was with Chicken Shed Theatre Company, whom I joined at 16. We were just that sort of friendly, tight knit company, in those days, that did openly note each other \u2013 and no one was threatened by that as we trusted each other and shared the same goals. This current AFTLS company is getting there\u2026 we\u2019re on a journey\u2026 we are pretty open to hearing each others\u2019 notes, with the proviso that we can, as I outlined, each take or leave any suggested notes that are to do with our own personal acting choices.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s Thursday afternoon. Having not performed the show for six days, I\u2019m off to spend a little time with my script. I\u2019ve been thinking about trying a new reading of my line \u2018We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep\u2026.\u2019 I\u2019m contemplating a sacrilegious breaking up of the line (!), forcing it into a slightly new reading\u2026I\u2019ll see what the others say about it, but the final decision is mine. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Sal’s val. \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

Happy Valentine\u2019s Day for Friday y\u2019all. Sal was very pleased with her cards from me!<\/p>\n

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Saturday now. Four of us went to the NASA museum yesterday which was… underwhelming. There were a couple of interesting bits, but for me, it was too crowded and too highly commercialised to enjoy.<\/p>\n

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The stuff that we and dreams are made on\u2026 stardust.<\/p><\/div>\n

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NASA visit.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The shows here have been very well received so far, one more to go tonight. Audiences for the first two were around the 100-150 mark. Standing ovation last night!<\/p>\n

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Onstage straight after last show at Bayou.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Cast and our crew again at Bayou.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Desperate though I am to go, I\u2019ve decided to put New Orleans on hold for now. Twelve hours driving on Sunday, our day off, not the best idea. So we\u2019re going to go to Austin or to Galveston instead, before we fly to Vermont early Monday morning, where it\u2019s currently -14 Celsius, for week four of the tour\u2026<\/p>\n

Do catch up again next week! And thanks for reading\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Rubin And so to our first warm weather week. We\u2019ve headed south from chilly Chicago and landed in 75 degree heat in Houston, Texas, for week three of our \u2018Tempest\u2019 tour. Lovely! I\u2019m wearing shorts all week in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47489,361301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actors-from-the-london-stage","category-the-tempest-spring-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1608,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/1608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}