Puck/Philostrate

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In the Globe Theatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck/Philostrate was played by Simon Trinder.

About Simon Trinder

This is Simon’s first production at Shakespeare’s Globe. He trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has previously worked at the Royal Court and taken his one-man show to the Edinburgh Fringe. He has just finished a run at Chichester Festival Theatre as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

Click on the numbered links to follow Simon's journey as he creates and plays the characters of Puck/Philostrate in the Globe Theatre.

Simon Trinder - Character Notes 1

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
So far, I’m having a great time working on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a fantastic cast, and everybody in the company gets on well with everybody else, so we’re all really enjoying it.

Mike (Alfreds, Master of Play) works in a very specific way; there was no read-through, instead we went straight into movement, voice and text work based around small sections of the text. We will get up and try part of a scene with the script, then do the same thing using modern language – it’s quite nerve racking! The idea behind the exercise is that you have to understand what the text means to be able to put it into your own words. We have also done an exercise using lists of lines from the play to help us quickly get to grips with our characters.

So far, the whole rehearsal process has been aimed at encouraging us to be open, both with each other and with the Globe space. I’ve worked with Mike before at the Hampstead Theatre, and I really enjoy his way of working because it’s so detailed. His productions are very free; there is little pre-determined blocking, and he constantly encourages us to change things in every rehearsal and every performance. There will be some constants; some places we will have to stand and things we will have to do to allow the story line to work, but apart from that, we can do what we want.

Rehearsals worry me a little at the moment because there’s so much to do at once! I worry about the verse, trying to make it sound natural, and then I worry about my character’s movement. I feel I should be moving more because I’m playing Puck and he’s supposed to be energetic, but I find myself standing there doing nothing, and by the time I’ve realised it I’ve forgotten something else – it’s all a bit frightening!

I’m definitely looking forward to working on the Globe stage. I’ve worked there once before, when I was at Drama School. I took part in a stage combat day called the "Golden Swords Expedition," when students from Drama Schools all over the country came to perform on the Globe stage. The experience of working in the Globe was quite superb and of course it’s invaluable to me now that I’m about to play there.

I’ve seen the play performed loads of times since I was a kid, so I couldn’t really avoid seeing other actors’ interpretations of the character of Puck. They have all been very energetic, very mischievous and bouncy, so I have a strong image of the character already. I’m certainly going to be energetic; there’s no way of avoiding it, as the lines and their rhythm lend themselves to that kind of interpretation. I’ve also been going to some acrobatics classes, doing backflips and somersaults, which I’ll try to fit in somewhere. Beyond that, I’m not sure at the moment how my character will develop – we’ll see!

Activities

What is said about Puck?

At the beginning of the rehearsal period Simon read through the play and made lists detailing:

  • everything Puck says about himself
  • everything Puck says about other characters in the play
  • everything that other characters say about Puck

Make these three lists for Puck. What do you find out about the character by doing this? Send your lists and observations to Simon so he can compare them with his own.

Character Reactions

In the activity above you made lists of what Puck says about other characters in the play. Many of these comments are made behind that character’s back. How do you think that character might react if s/he heard what Puck said about them?

Try improvising this situation in pairs with a) as Puck and b) as one of the characters he talks about. What do you find out about Puck from this activity? Send your discoveries to Simon.

Putting Shakespeare into your own words

As individuals, or as a group, try performing one of Puck’s speeches (e.g. his dialogue with the 1st Fairy in Act 2 Scene 1, or his first speech in Act 3 Scene 2 - "My mistress with a monster is in love… Titania waked and straightway loved an ass") with the script. Now put the script down and perform the speech in your own words. How has the performance changed?

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Simon Trinder - Character Notes 2

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
At the moment, we’re going through the whole play bit by bit, working on each scene both with and without the script. We’ve also had a little bit of time to try some scenes and speeches on the stage. This is really helpful, as those members of the company who aren’t on stage at any point sit in different places all around the theatre, so wherever you look, there’s always someone to speak the lines to. Still, it’s not like playing to an audience, as we all know each other quite well now, and, chances are, whoever you are speaking to has already seen you do that speech/scene in rehearsal. Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] moves around the theatre a lot, watching what we’re doing from lots of different angles. To have him there is really helpful; he knows how the space works, and is always pointing out places on the stage, such as the corners, which are really strong places to perform in. I’m now quite confident and comfortable on that stage because wherever you stand, you have your back to somebody. Usually, an actor should never have their back to the audience, but in the Globe, the inevitability of this happening is quite liberating. What it does mean, however, is that you need to keep moving and be aware of exactly where you are in relation to both the audience and the other actors on the stage.

I have been coming in early every morning, about 8.30, and practising my voice and movement work on the stage whilst there’s no one else in the theatre. I practice speeches in different places on the stage, trying them out, and the other day I found a way to climb up the pillars. There’s a ledge around their base that is quite thin, but if you get it right, you can jump up onto it. I’ve found out that I can climb up to the very top of the pillars, although I won’t be allowed to do that in performance; if you’re going any higher than the ledge you need to wear a safety harness, and that would get in the way of what I’m doing for the rest of those scenes.

People often ask me, ‘how do you learn all your lines?’ It’s funny, but they just seem to go in during the rehearsal process. It’s all word association: one word will suddenly trigger a whole paragraph. In many ways, the lines are the least of an actor’s worries. It’s how you say them that’s the crucial thing. Occasionally, there are times when you’re just not in the mood to rehearse and you think that everything you do is rubbish, but the way to deal with this is to keep working through it, trying the lines in many different ways.

One of the exercises we’ve been doing is what Mike [Alfreds] calls “Points of Concentration.” A point of concentration is simply something for your character to bear in mind for the whole scene, or sometimes the whole play. For example, in the lovers scene, (act iii, scene 2), the mortals’ point of concentration might be that it’s night-time, and therefore very dark, whereas the fairies’ could be to remember that night-time is when they’re busy. These ideas then inform the way we do that whole scene. You can also use this exercise for the whole play; for example, Puck’s point of concentration could be a need to impress Oberon. When I worked with Mike [Alfreds] before, he would sometimes show up in the dressing room before each performance and give us a different point of concentration just for that show. It’s a good way of keeping each performance fresh.

I haven’t really had much time to consider the character of Philostrate yet, because I’ve been so involved with Puck. In many ways, the two of them are very similar; they are Theseus’/Oberon’s right hand men. I originally thought Philostrate might be a Jeeves-type character, very diffident, with a strong English accent. Unfortunately, Mike [Alfreds] ’s reaction to that idea was a simple “no”. So now, he’s more of a comedian, which is closer to Puck, but thankfully not too close. For example, if Philostrate had a day off, he’d use it to work on his jokes and his self-presentation. Puck would just spend the day messing about!

Activities

1) Simon mentions that the company have been using a new exercise called “Points of Concentration.”

In small groups, consider Puck’s speech at the beginning of Act iii scene 2:

“My mistress with a monster is in love…
… Titania wak’d and straightway loved an ass.”

Each group should choose a point of concentration for Puck in this scene. This point of concentration should be relevant to the situation Puck is in.

How does your group’s point of concentration affect the meaning of the speech?

Using your point of concentration, read the speech to the other groups. Can they guess what your point of concentration is?

As a class, write down as many points of concentration you think Simon could use when working on this speech. Send your ideas to Simon.

2) Simon hints at similarities between the characters of Puck and Philostrate.

Do you agree that there are similarities between the characters of Puck and Philostrate? What examples from the text support your ideas?

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Simon Trinder - Character Notes 3

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

We’re now starting to do runs of each half on a regular basis. We’ve done both on-stage over the last few days, but whereas the first half felt very, very good, the second felt quite the opposite. This is partially because we’ve done more work on the first half than the second, but I think it’s also because of the way they start. At the beginning of the play, the whole company is going to come on-stage and ‘go to sleep.’ Each character will then ‘wake up’ whenever their name is mentioned, or when they become involved in the action of the scene. I think that starting the production in this way will help to settle both the actors and the audience, as it will allow everyone in the building to see each other before the play starts in earnest. In contrast, the second half starts quite suddenly with Paul [Higgins, Oberon/Theseus] and I simply walking on stage as we start the scene. I think it will take much more effort to ‘kick start’ the scene and engage the audience’s attention after the interval, so I get slightly more nervous about the second half than the first.

We’re slowly starting to put everything together to create the finished production. What’s very important is the need to keep the audience involved and engaged; Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] is continually placing people in different parts of the theatre to ensure that we’ll be able to play to every member of the audience. Putting a production together is like working on a huge jigsaw puzzle; it takes a lot of patience and dedication. At the moment, we’re starting to get used to the musicians underscoring the play as we perform it. At first, it was incredibly off-putting, but I’m really starting to enjoy it now, especially in the ‘woodland’ scenes when I find myself stopping and listening to occasional sounds/effects in the same way that I would stop if I heard a sudden noise out in the woods. The music is now starting to have a real effect on the production; it’s great.

I’ve started to find out about my costume, which is really exciting. The whole company will be wearing pyjamas of some kind or other, but Jenny [Tiramani, Master of Clothing and Properties] and Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play]’s original idea for Puck was that he’d be dressed in a baby’s pyjamas; an all-in-one babygrow. I have to admit, I wasn’t that happy about the idea; although there are childlike elements to the character of Puck, I think he has more power than such a costume would suggest. I wasn’t sure how much input I would have into my costume; sometimes, you just have to wear what you’re given, but I went and spoke to Jenny about it and sure enough, they’ve changed the design. My pyjamas are now more like a toddler’s than a baby’s; they’re made up of a top and trousers. Both of these are made out of a dark blue towelling material, and the top has a starburst pattern of LED lights emblazoned across the front. LED lights are the crucial part of everyone’s costume, because each actor is ‘doubling’, i.e. playing two parts. It’s important for the audience to be able to realise which actor is playing which part at any one point in the play, and they’ll be able to do this by means of the LED lights. When we’re playing a character from the mortal world, (e.g. Philostrate), we don’t use the LED (‘fairy’) lights, but when we become a character from the fairy kingdom, we’ll somehow be able to make our costume light up.

I’ve also been talking with Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] and Glynn [MacDonald, Master of Movement] about the physicality of Puck. I’ve always thought Puck was a very energetic character who would move around a lot, but Mike is reminding me that I mustn’t move simply for the sake of movement: there must be a reason behind every movement or gesture that Puck makes. At the same time, however, there is an energy and a sense of readiness about the character that has to be constantly maintained. So, instead of running or walking everywhere, I’ve been trying to combine the two; it’s become a sort of balletic stride, like a gazelle. Glynn has been encouraging me to think about Puck’s ‘physical centre’, the one place where all of his energy is located, and where all his movement comes from. At the moment, I’m considering that Puck’s physical centre could be in his face, or in his ears, thus making me stand far more upright and alert. I don’t think about this all the time, but occasionally, it helps to root each character’s physicality and mould it to fit the space.

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Simon Trinder - Character Notes 4

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’ve just finished the final week of rehearsals, and the production opens on Sunday. The technical rehearsal itself was wonderful; it only took a day and a half! This has meant that we’ve had the rest of the week to continue running the play on the stage, which means we’re all now really used to working in the space. As in most technical rehearsals, much of the time was spent making sure the lighting and sound cues are correct, but for this production, there were some slight differences; all of the sound cues are performed by the musicians, and the only electric lights that are used are those sewn into our costumes.

The costumes are now finished, and we’re able to use them for every rehearsal. I’m thrilled with my finished costume; not too hot, not too cold. The lights are amazing; they have to be very bright so that the audience will be able to see them clearly in the daylight, which means they need a lot of power. Inside the costumes, there are wires that link the lights to two battery packs strapped to our waists. We can turn them on and off using a switch on a strap around our wrist, but it’s rather delicate, and there’s a risk that we might accidentally turn our lights on/off if our wrist knocks against someone or something. When I’m on stage as Philostrate, watching the mechanicals’ performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, I usually end up sitting against the pillar downstage left. This morning, as we rehearsed the scene, I suddenly noticed Gary [Lilburn, Egeus/Fairy] looking at me and pointing towards my chest: I’d knocked my wrist on the floor of the stage and my lights were flickering. I’ll have to be careful about that in the future, or it might get a little confusing. Still, I’m really enjoying being able to use my costume in every rehearsal; every time I put it on, I feel more in character than I did in jeans and a t-shirt.

Rehearsals have been slightly difficult recently because I hurt my back and had to have some treatment to allow it to heal.

Most actors, at some point during a rehearsal process, reach a stage when they suddenly doubt the validity of all the work they’ve been doing up till then. This seems to be especially true when it’s a long rehearsal process such as this one; I suddenly felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of possible ways to play the character. I’ve tried playing Puck as both young and old, especially in relation to Oberon. Much of Puck’s character is defined by his relationship with Oberon, and I’ve tried playing Puck as both a child and an elder statesman, and all the variations and permutations inbetween these two extremes. The next morning, just before a run of the whole play, I went to chat to Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] about it. I told him that I wasn’t sure where I was: I didn’t know what or who Puck was, whether he was an animal, a vegetable or a mineral… His reaction was simply; “that’s the point.” During the run, I played each scene in whatever way I wanted, and it felt like the action of the scenes flowed; it felt great.

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