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Evans
Gareth Armstrong plays Sir Hugh Evans
Gareth has toured his solo shows across the world, and his theatre credits include Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the Salisbury Playhouse and the title role in Richard III at the Derby Playhouse. He played three separate running characters, including Sean Myerson, in The Archers.
Bulletin 1
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
Becoming an actor
I got into acting when I was very young. At Sunday school I suppose. My father was a preacher, and we used to do plays based on the bible. When I was seven, I saw Lawrence Olivier play Richard III in the movie. I fell in love with Olivier, Shakespeare and Richard III. It was the first Shakespeare I’d ever heard of or seen. I’m not even sure I was aware it was Shakespeare at first. But I followed it, I understood it. It’s still a magnificent film. I joined the National Youth Theatre when I was 16, went on to university to read Drama. Then I got into rep. I’ve been acting and directing ever since, splitting my time between the two.
Acting at the Globe
I’ve never worked at The Globe as an actor but I have done some work with the education department. This will be my first time on the stage. I’ve been in the audience a lot, but I find it rather uncomfortable. I have stood but mostly I sit, and I still find that uncomfortable. I thought Hamlet was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the original language production of Troilus and Cressida, which Giles Block directed with David Crystal working on the original pronunciation. That was a relief, to hear the lines rhymed in a way that I never thought I would hear. I knew they were there, within the lines, because Troilus and Cressida was the first Shakespeare play I was ever in. I loved that, not so much as a play-going experience but as a unique theatrical experience. I also loved The Comedy of Errors.
The play
I’ve been in The Merry Wives of Windsor twice before and I have directed it once. When I was young I played Fenton, the lover, at the RSC in a very famous production from that era. The production started in the late 60s and went on until about 78. I was in the last gasp, the last revival of it, by which time it had got a little bit tired. Not surprisingly. There were performances which had obviously been magnificent when it started but it had become a bit technical, a bit over the top. It was a very distinguished cast. We had Ian Richardson as Ford, Ben Kingsley was Slender. Brewster Mason was Falstaff. I think half the cast is dead now. But it was a seminal production of the play, by Terry Hands. He did a version of it, which I have to say, when I directed it, I just stole because it’s so clever. He re-arranged scenes. He re-arranged the end lines of scenes to make them funnier. They work better. Chris has done his own version, which I think is a combination of Terry’s and his own ideas about how the play should be reconstructed, as it were, made accessible. The other production I was in was my very first professional Shakespeare. I played Corporal Nim and I didn’t understand a single word of what he says because he talks nonsense. But I had great fun. I didn’t know what to do with him. I kept talking about humours so I looked up what humours were and I thought he’s probably yellow so I painted my face a terrible ochre colour to try and make sense of my character. It looked as if I was jaundiced.
Anticipating the space
I’m not frightened about acting in that space because I’m verbally quite confident about filling large spaces, and as I’ve done solo work for so long, I’m used to engaging with an audience on a one-to-one basis, and that’s one of the great things about acting at the Globe, you have a line and you can give it to a specific member of the audience, so that holds no fear for me. In fact I’m rather looking forward to it. But this is a much larger canvas than any I’ve worked on before. I don’t mind the fact that you can see whether or not the audience are enjoying it. I’m used to seeing people fast asleep. I really am. A lot of solo work I’ve done has been performed to very old people, in a warm and comfortable place, and the moment the lights go down they fall asleep. I don’t take it personally. Well, I do sometimes. But mostly I think: that’s life. You’ve paid your money, you’re sitting there. If I’m boring you, then nod off. It’s usually compensated for by the other people who are listening.
I’ve never worked with Chris [Luscombe, the director] as a director before, but I’ve directed him myself when he was an actor!
Cutting the script
The script has been heavily cut; in fact Christ has taken enormous liberties with it. But it’s not the type of play that purists will be saying ‘How dare you cut that vital entrance line’ about. I’ve done a lot of work with a company that only uses the full text, we never cut anything. We always have a Folio and six editions of the play, but we do the full text. We never reattribute lines. That’s a sin. We hardly ever change entrances and exits. Then suddenly you come to this type of production where we’re changing everything, everything’s up in the air.
There was a tiny little scene that Chris had cut which I think is maybe often cut because it doesn’t move the play on greatly, when I give Simple a letter to try and encourage Anne Page to favour the suit of Abraham Slender. There are three suitors for Anne Page and I’m for Master Slender. The host is for Master Fenton and Dr Caius is for Dr Caius. She has these three men wanting to marry her. It’s a nice little scene. It establishes Simple and myself because the next time we appear is together. But there is a wonderful final line, I say ‘I must go to my dinner. There’s pippins and cheese to come.’ Now I love that line. It tells you that it’s Autumn because they’re eating apples. It establishes the joke that the Welshman loves to eat cheese and there are lots of jokes later in the play: ‘I wouldn’t trust him any more that I would trust the parson with my cheese. I talk to Falstaff about butter and cheese. There’s a lot about cheese. I think other Welshmen have jokes about cheese in Shakespeare plays. There’s a tradition that they ate leeks and cheese. I thought it was such a shame to lose this and I said to Chris very early on when he sent me his copy of the script, that I understood why he’d cut that scene but I’d love to get that line back, because I think it’s such a wonderfully atmospheric line for the play and a very useful line for my character. Anyway we got the scene back. He’s been quite radical and quite brutal in his cutting but he’s always open to somebody who says ‘I don’t need that line, do I?’ and he says ‘No, you don’t’. Or somebody who says ‘Excuse me, if I had that line back it would be useful.’
Bulletin 2
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
About Evans
My character is called Sir Hugh Evans, but the ‘sir’ is an honorary title, it not ennobling. It’s a term of respect. I suppose he’s the Reverend. I was a little nervous when I first spoke to Chris [Luscombe] about it. He was thinking of setting the production a hundred years earlier but my character wouldn’t make any sense because he has to be post-Reformation, he’s not a Catholic priest. He’s much more the sort of vicar that Shakespeare would have had in Stratford and a teacher as well, although we’ve cut the schoolroom scene.
The First Week of Rehearsals
On the first day after the meet and greet, we sat round a table and did a read through. Then for nearly the whole week we went through the play scene by scene, line by line, making sure that we all understood what each line meant. It was very useful, especially with a play like this. I was certainly clear what my character was saying and mostly clear what the other characters were saying, but not entirely. A lot of my questions were prompted by weaknesses in the plot: ‘How does he know that?’ or ‘How does she know that?’, or ‘Why doesn’t he know that she knows that?’ – those sort of questions. Not all were resolved in that session, but when we start to stage it, those things will become clear. It’s a disputed text, because it’s mostly in prose.
Blocking the play
We went back to the very beginning again on Friday and started working, blocking it. Chris [Luscombe, director] works in a very conventional way, in that he blocks the whole play first, then he’ll come back and we’ll work through scene by scene. People think it’s a bit of an old-fashioned way, but it’s the way I’m much happier with. We got as far as Act 1 Scene 3 that day, and now we’ve got to the end of Act 3 scene 3.
Set design
The set design includes a walkway which ingeniously brings the action out into the courtyard. At the end of the walkway is a garden; initially, it’s a flat space but it flips over and becomes a knot garden where the wives first meet. Most of the cast get on it at some point. It gives a geography of Windsor; we have the imaginary Thames between the main stage and the central fixed piece. Then there are arcs that come out and join onto the stage. You can do a full circle. You can come in through the courtyard and you come up some steps onto this raised part. I think Chris’s idea was that, rather than have actors in the courtyard at the same height as the groundlings, we should always keep ourselves visible by being however high the walkway is, about five feet. I don’t have strong feelings about original practices, but I suppose there will be some people who will be upset.
Of course, we don’t have the walkway in the rehearsal room, we just have the floor. So we’ve marked it out with tape. All you can’t see is the hole to your left and right. But you know that you have to keep it in that perimeter.
We haven’t blocked the interior of Ford’s house yet. I know there is a staircase on stage left, obviously we will be using that when we go to search the house for Falstaff and presumably also using the gallery as the upstairs of the house.
Jigs and Costumes
There’s always a jig and I think this play is very celebratory so it is even more appropriate. But I’m certainly not a dancer. I think I might struggle!
We haven’t had any costume fittings yet. Although we’ve spoken about them and seen drawings. My character is a clergyman so will be dressed in black. Except at the end, when they all come on in disguise to taunt Falstaff; he gets dressed up as a satyr wearing a fawn-like costume, like Mr Tumnus from Narnia. He has those sort of home-made trousers and a mask. He’s the one who brings the children on to pinch Falstaff as part of his punishment for trying to seduce the mistresses.
Language: prose
Giles [Block, text expert] came in and gave us a talk about the language in the play, the prose and verse. Giles is great; I keep grabbing him and asking him questions. He doesn’t seem to mind. Ninety percent of the language in The Merry Wives of Windsor is prose. That’s unique: the most prose in a Shakespeare play. Apparently Twelfth Night is sixty percent prose. It’s funny because I don’t think of Twelfth Night as a prose-y play at all. The bits one remembers are the memorable verse I suppose. He has those stats at his fingertips; it’s all very interesting.
I find prose much less accessible than verse. I can always unravel verse. Somehow there’s a key to verse but there isn’t always a key to prose. At least I haven’t found it. I look forward to talking more to Giles [Block, text expert] about that. It’s the verse that attracts me to Shakespeare, and Evans doesn’t have a single line of verse. There’s a little ditty I sing in the middle of the play, a little song that’s in nonsense verse, but the rest of it’s in prose. I liken it to having a wonderful meal, but minus the glass of wine. You don’t get the chance to speak the language, which is the thing that makes it really worthwhile. Also I find verse much easier to learn because of the rhythm and the occasional rhyme.
I do remember some prose speeches though, for example Shylock’s ‘I am a Jew’ speech. Interestingly, at one of our first meetings Giles asked us if we knew why some things are written in prose and some are in verse and we came up with the usual answers: verse is for noble characters or lovers, not comedy. Giles cited Shylock’s speech, and talked about how Shylock is mad at that point, and prose being the language of the mind. I thought that was really interesting. I played Prospero not that long ago and I found his verse incredibly hard to learn. In Shakespeare’s earlier stuff the writing is so much more regular, and as Giles was saying, the thought starts at the beginning and ends at the end of the line, whereas in the later plays the thought finishes in the middle of the line. That makes it much tougher to learn.
The running time of the play
I’ve no idea about the running time of the play, but it’ll be short. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was two hours. We’re still cutting and of course pleading to have scenes back. You have a totally different perspective of a play when you’re directing from when you are acting. You just want to get on with it. If you’re acting in it you think, hey, why has that scene gone, why have they cut that scene? Two of my subplots have gone and Evans is not a big part anyway. There’s a schoolroom scene between Mistress Quickly and a little boy, where we meet Hugh Evans as a teacher rather than a preacher. He would have been the schoolmaster in Windsor as well as the preacher, because all teachers were in orders, I think. He didn’t go back to the monastery, he clearly likes being part of town life, he loves eating and drinking and going out to dinner and all that sort of thing. I wasn’t that bothered about the schoolroom scene because it doesn’t do anything for the plot and the jokes are pretty lame and very difficult to understand, dated and mostly in Latin! Then there’s another scene, which again is pretty incomprehensible. It’s about Germans and it’s all based on something that’s happened at the time. Maybe even in Windsor. Some cheating Germans trying to get horses off the host. It’s so memorable I can’t even put it into words! Nobody has missed that scene.
Bulletin 3
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
The director
Chris [Luscombe, director] has a broad idea of where he wants us. He is wonderfully mercurial, because he is a comic actor as well as a director, so he thinks on his feet, nothing is set. The process has been very democratic because people can come in and say “Wouldn’t it be better if...” or “Couldn’t I come in on...” and we’ll try it, to see if it works; so it’s very fluid. Part of me thinks we should be a bit further on in rehearsals than we are. But there’s never an actor who doesn’t think that, at any stage!
Music
There is an awful lot of incidental music in the show – a lot of it is underscored, there is on-track accuracy, pre-show, five live musicians. It is very complicated musically. So we had a whole day of music, with Nigel Hess [composer]. The music picks up a lot of cues at the end of scenes, so it gives the play fluidity. Both the way the stage is built out and the action are very complex, so the music will knit it together.
We’ve talked about audibility, we don’t have microphones so you can’t turn sound down, we’re all aware of that. The musical underscoring for the speeches is particularly loud, so it might well be that the musicians will have to be hiding behind those doors.
The first tavern scene has a song, which involves nearly everyone. There are two verses of the song, there is one to establish the tavern, then I come on with Simple for a little scene that we got reinstated, we go back to the tavern, there is music, a little bit of dialogue and then more music. This song was inserted to establish the tone and give more time to bring on all the furniture, so that the scene can start quickly then, with everything there. Anyway, even the people who aren’t officially in the tavern, they are bringing on chairs, and singing, of course to boost the sound, so that’s good. And there is a song at the end, which is in the play, not the jig. It is fine and simple fantasy, terrific music. I actually have a little song, but it’s unaccompanied, so he’s given me a tune for that. I told him that I’m tone deaf and he said, “You don’t have to be a good singer but here is the tune. Sing it and mess it up, why not?” So that’s let me off the hook which is a relief!
We haven’t done the jig yet but it will be a reprise of the tavern song, which we’ll all sing. Very jolly and very upbeat.
Movement
The movement is choreography rather than dancing. We had a session with Glynn [McDonald, Movement]and my main concern was whether, as the vicar, I was allowed to make contact with people; we went through bows and curtseys, physical acknowledgments. Glynn seemed to think I shouldn’t touch anyone as the vicar but I’m afraid we’re ignoring her; we’ve discovered a way I can greet people and it looks like a blessing, so they hold out both their hands, and I put my hand on top and shake it. So it is hand-shaking but it is in a sort of priestly way.
My character is a big stereotype, a comic stereotype too. So in terms of standing and moving, you could do funny walks, but it's about finding something appropriate.
Working with experts
I’ve requested a session with Giles [Block, Text] and another session with Glynn [McDonald, Movement]. I think if you’re in a building like this, with access to expertise, it’s a shame not to take advantage of it! There isn’t anything in particular to do with the play that I need to talk about, but these are things I didn’t do as a younger actor when I had the opportunity and I regret it. Like using the library, it’s wonderful to just pop in; I’ve got a little shelf in the library.
We had a lecture recently too and at the end we were allowed to request more info. My character is Welsh, and a priest; he is an outsider and he is a cleric. I wanted to know about the relationship between education, class and profession. Whether I would have had to come from a ‘good’ Welsh family to be educated, or, did they have scholarships? It is all very interesting.
Bulletin 4
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
Rehearsals
Rehearsal pace is incredibly relaxed. It’s disciplined though, everyone is on time, everyone is quiet in the rehearsal room, but the actual process is very democratic.
Chris [Luscombe, the director] has a sort of infallible instinct about what is funny. I’ve got a little scene by myself, so I said “Chris, I’d like 20 minutes alone with you.” I don’t mind making a fool of myself in front of any number of people, but if it’s just the two of us I know I will find something better, a bit bolder and more daring. So we don’t skate over it. I am nervous about skating over the bits that don’t look as if they need a lot of work.
Also, there are some scenes that need a lot more attention, because they are very complex physically. We spent the whole morning on the buck basket scene - when Falstaff is put into the washing baskets and carried out. Just the physical logistics of that are very complicated, and you have to be funny as well, so you’ve got to get the job done and be funny, so we spent a lot of time on that. You’re orchestrating the lines, you’re choreographing the moves – it’s like everything about rehearsing a scene but multiplied by five.
Cutting the play
It’s a very short show and very broad, comically. It’ll be surprisingly short. There are some cuts I regret and some re-attributions which I’m not totally convinced about.
To be perfectly honest I don’t have a huge investment in this text, I don’t think it’s a particularly good play - we wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t by Shakespeare - so I’m not possessive about it. Although I always get nervous about cuts, it’s a cliché, but if you cut a line it’s like a stone in a pond; there are always ripples, repercussions. If you cut that one line in an early act, that other line won’t make any sense, or have an echo or a pre-echo. Now, this play deserves cutting and it deserves re-writing in lots of ways, because it’s quite incomprehensible, so I worry more about the reattribution. It makes me nervous giving lines from one character to another in order to make the scene faster or funnier, it makes whatever purist there is in me nervous. It is radical in terms of cuts but those who don’t know the play wouldn’t even notice.
From page to stage
We go on stage tomorrow for the first time … well, not for the first time – we’ve had a tour – but acting for the first time. The transition will be interesting. We’ve been working on dynamics like sound and volume in theory but not in practice. In our cast, a few have been on that stage before: Sarah Woodward [Mistress Ford]; Andrew Havill [Ford]; Phillip Bird [Dr Caius]; and Ellie Piercy [Anne Page] although only once. There are some people like Phillip who know the stage terribly well, and have very definite views about it. I’ll be keeping an eye on him and asking him; they’re here to help.