Jaques

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In the Globe Theatre Company's production of As You Like It, Jaques was played by John McEnery.

About John McEnery

John McEnery trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has worked with numerous theatre companies, including the RSC. He has also worked at Royal Court, Royal National Theatre and both the Old and Young Vic. His most recent television work was in the BBC's Our Mutual Friend.

Click on the numbered links to follow John's journey as he creates and plays the character of Jaques in the Globe Theatre.

John McEnery - Introduction

The rehearsals for As You Like It took place in a converted warehouse in O’Meara Street, about 5 minutes walk from the Globe theatre itself. The rehearsal room is very large and has an outline of the Globe stage marked out in tape on the floor; there are also 2 pillars in the room. These arrangements help the actors to prepare for working on the Globe stage. The actors will not rehearse on the Globe stage until the technical rehearsal, although some classes are held on the stage.

Each day, the actors received their ‘call’, the time s/he is expected to report for rehearsal. During the rehearsal period an actor’s day will vary considerably, each actor may rehearse scenes, attend a class (voice, text and movement) or have a costume fitting with the wardrobe department. A typical day might begin at 10.00am and finish at 6.30pm – sometimes there are also evening calls.

During the rehearsal period (particularly at the beginning) each actor will research his/her character. To help the actors the assistant director will find relevant books, pictures etc. and bring these to rehearsal. Extracts from books and pictures are often stuck onto the rehearsal room walls. Actors will also experiment with using props in rehearsal; these will be rough versions of the final prop and will help them to build the prop into the scene. Similarly some form of rehearsal costume will be worn e.g. long skirts for the women, this will help actors to get used to moving, sitting etc. in their costume. In particular actors will use the actual shoes they will wear in performance during rehearsal. This is to wear the shoes ‘in’, as they are made using Elizabethan techniques and there is no specified ‘left’ and ‘right’ foot. Many actors also feel that wearing the correct shoes helps them to ‘get into’ character.

The companies have 6 weeks of rehearsal before the technical and dress rehearsals and this is the period covered by these comments and activities. Generally the beginning of this period is spent improvising around the text and in development of character; towards the end of these 6 weeks actors will rehearse scenes in detail and run parts of the play. The exact method of working in rehearsal is established and shaped by the director.

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John McEnery - 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 their own interpretation and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

This is John’s second season at the Globe and he is looking forward to performing at the theatre again this year. He feels that the character of Jaques should not develop too clearly in his head until he has learnt the lines and can act on the stage without being encumbered by the text. John is trying to keep the character of Jaques as close to himself as possible at the moment, in order to not obfuscate the line of the character. It is really a case of getting to grips with what the text means. Jaques is quite an obscure character, he is an outsider, a party pooper! – but the Duke likes him. John feels that the Duke likes to have Jaques there to present the counter argument to that of his other companions in exile.

By the second week of rehearsal John is moving from work based on improvisation to work which centres around exploration of a specific scene. The actors involved in that scene first discuss the scene and then on the rehearsal floor try to experiment with moves and physical relationships, exploring the best way to place that particular scene on the stage. It is very much experimental at this stage.

John feels that Jaques should make his first entrance through the groundling audience in the yard; the forest is going to extend beyond the stage – there will be trees in the yard. The notion the company is aiming for is that the forest is everywhere in the theatre, not just in the discovery space. Nobody knows where Jaques is at the beginning of the play – when Amiens finishes his song Jaques will enter clapping from the audience and at the end of the song he will return to the yard.

Activities

1. Adjectives

One way John worked on his character was to write a list of adjectives which he felt described Jaques....

Either: From what you know about Jaques write your own list of adjectives to describe him.

Or: Choose a character you have played in Drama, or know well from a book and write a list of adjectives which describe him/her.

2. What is said about Jaques?

One exercise John used early in rehearsal was to write down everything that is said about Jaques and everything that Jaques says about himself.

Try this exercise for yourself – make 2 lists, one for Jaques’ own comments and one for those of other characters. When you have finished compare each list, what are the differences and similarities?

3. Entrance from the Yard

John plans to make his first entrance as Jaques from the yard and to return there after his first scene.

What do you feel are the conceptual reasons for making this decision? Explain the possible reasons for this with reference to your knowledge of the play and the character of Jaques.

4. Authenticity?

In Shakespeare’s time it is believed that the actors would not have used the yard as an acting area. The main reason for this is that it would simply be too dangerous for the actors to move among the audience. Some scholars of the period might question whether productions at the reconstructed Globe should stage any action in the yard.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think that directors at the reconstructed Globe should aim to make their productions as authentic as possible or should they experiment with different ways of using the theatre space?

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John McEnery - 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 their own interpretation and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

Jaques could be described as cynical and judgmental, but John feels he is not a superior being in any way; he is not elevated to a higher plain of existence through his actions in the play. He is the only character who does not finish the play in a state of exaltation (as the lovers do), Duke Frederick has his conversion, while the last we hear of Jaques is that he plans to visit the Duke to hear and learn of this conversion for himself. (John feels that Jaques would be fascinated by the Duke’s conversion).

Sometimes John gets a very strong preconceived notion of what a character is like, but he is finding Jaques largely indefinable, at the moment he trying to extract as much from the text as he can – he breaks the text up into ‘thoughts’ or sequences. When the character changes the direction of his thought or motivation John marks this on the page and begins a new section. This helps him to remember the lines and to understand what the character is saying. He has divided the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech into sections according to the ‘age’ being dealt with – e.g. infant, school boy etc. This also visually helps John remember where he is in the speech and to see how much material Shakespeare has devoted to each age.

John confesses he is a ‘stickler’ for marking where the stress or meter is in his lines. He finds it very useful to work through a speech deciding where the stress lies in each word, putting a line under the relevant part. John finds that always being aware of the meter helps him to understand and to convey the sense of his lines. If meaning is alluding him he will go back to the text and look at exactly where the meter falls in each line or speech.

The fact that the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech is so well know makes it more difficult for John to perform as his performance could be cliched – but he feels that each individual actor brings their own interpretation to the speech. John does not want to indulge the speech in any way and wishes to speak the speech as ‘trippingly’ and clearly as possible.

The director is considering cutting some of Jaques’ lines in Act 2 Scene 7 in the speech that begins "Why who cries out on pride". John feels that the meaning at the beginning and end of the speech is clear to him but the middle section is more difficult. Understanding this section is one of the most challenging aspects of John’s work at this stage.

At this point in the rehearsal process the cast went on a residential weekend to an Elizabethan manor house where they improvised the scenes that were not in the play. This was useful for John as it allowed him to establish Jaques’ relationship with the other characters in the play – for example John was able to improvise the scene with Touchstone which he later refers to at the beginning of Act 2 Scene 7- "A fool, a fool! I met a fool I’ th’ forest". This process helps John as he has a visual memory of that moment when he comes to play the scene in performance.

Activities

1. What happens off stage?

Actors work to understand their character as a whole, not just what s/he does and says on stage. To help them actors use an exercise in which they decide what happens to their character in between the scenes in which s/he is featured.

What do you think happened when Jaques met Touchstone in the forest? You could improvise this scene in groups, or write down your ideas in a script format.

2. Dividing the text.

To help him understand Jaques’ motivation at each moment John divides the text into sections – each time Jaques motivation/aim changes he begins a new section. John then gives each section a title.

Look at the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech, try this exercise for yourself, Use John’s comments to help you.

3. Stress

John often goes through a speech deciding which word, or parts of words to stress (see John’s comments).

Go through the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech and try this exercise for yourself.

Experiment with speaking the lines, using your newly marked script. In what ways do exercises 5 and 6 help you in your performance and/or understanding of the role of Jaques?

4. Cuts

The director of the play would like to cut some of Jaques’ lines in Act 2 Scene 7:

What would you cut from this scene?

Imagine you are the director, write down what you would say to John when you tell him which lines you wish to cut – you will have to justify your decision.

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John McEnery - 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 their own interpretation and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

John has been in As You Like It twice before; once as Silvius, in 1967 at The Old Vic and Duke Frederick, then again at The Old Vic with Fiona Shaw playing Rosalind. Coming to the play a third time John is beginning to wish he had paid more attention to the parts that he was not playing! This would give him a better insight for the current production. Today, actors are expected to attend a range of rehearsals and to understand the play as a whole, rather than just their own parts. John does, however remember the actors who played Jaques in these productions – Robert Stephens and Karl Johnson, he has a auditory memory of these performances which will act as a kind of touchstone for John’s own performance.

During the rehearsal process the actors had workshops with Peter Dawkins, an academic, who talked about notions of thought, emotion and action in the play. John finds sessions like this useful as they give him new ways of understanding the text.

John has also been thinking about Jaques relationship to Shakespeare himself; some scholars have argued that the identity of Shakespeare is drawn in the character of Jaques. Some people believe that the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere was really the writer of the plays credited to Shakespeare, John has been researching the life of the Earl of Oxford and plans to use him as a character reference for Jaques. He now plans to play Jaques as an aristocrat in his own right, rather than simply a courtier.

John is now ready to go into the technical rehearsals and feels he will greatly benefit from his experience of playing on the Globe stage last year.

He is still finding the above mentioned speech "Why who cries out on pride", (Act 3 Scene 2) elliptical and obtuse; he cannot find a ‘through line’ in the speech.

Now his main concerns are to play Jaques in such a way that the audience are able to hear the text and to take it, or interpret it, as they like it.

Activities

1. Act 2 Scene 7 – "Why who cries out on pride".

John still finds this speech the most difficult in the play.

Look at this speech in detail. Why do you think John finds this speech difficult?

What is your interpretation of the speech? Write a letter to John giving him detailed advice on a) the meaning and purpose of this speech, and b) how the speech should be performed.

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John McEnery - 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 their own interpretation and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

Before each performance John likes to make sure he is properly prepared and warmed up. He does this by re reading parts of the text and by doing a vocal warm up to open up his voice, so that he can cope vocally with the demands of the role and the Globe space. John does not like to work in the theatre too much before the performance as he feels this may make him nervous. He does not warm up physically for the show as he feels that the process of rehearsing and performing every day is in itself a warm up.

John now feels that he is settling into the rhythm of performances. He is finding the time he spends at the beginning of the show, standing amongst the groundlings in the yard interesting and feels that they are a barometer by which it is possible to gauge the tempo, or feel, of the show.

The company have now gone into rehearsal for their second play of the season, A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton. This means that John has either rehearsals during the day and a performance in the evening or a performance in the afternoon and rehearsal in the evening. In the play John plays Harebrain, a jealous and possessive husband, the character is very different from Jaques who exists very much in isolation.

John has increasingly found Jaques to be the type of character that makes him feel isolated. In some ways John does not feel as if he is in character during the play as he has decided not used any overt characterization for Jaques. This is very different from his character in A Mad World, My Masters who John is playing as a South London ‘city yob’, - a money broker.

John sees each performance as an experiment and tries to make each one as fresh and ‘new’ as possible. He is continuing his research into the character throughout the run and constantly looks for new approaches and insights for the role.

Activities

1. Warm up

John warms up vocally before the performance, but feels he does not really need a physical warm up for this role. He also does not warm up in the theatre (many of the other actors do).

Do you agree with John’s decision to warm up in this way? Do you think he should use the theatre space and include physical exercises in his warm up? – Give reasons for your answers.

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John McEnery - Character Notes 5

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

At this point, just over half way through the run of the play, As You Like It was given a 3 week break from performance. This was to give the actors in the Red Company the opportunity to rehearse full time for their second play of the season, A Mad World My Masters and to open that production with a week of performances, before the play went into repertory with As You Like It. John and the rest of the company have been busy with rehearsal, technical rehearsal and previews and have not been thinking about As You Like It during this period. Therefore returning to the play is quite challenging.

The company were called to rehearsal before the show for a line run of the play (for which the actors just say their lines, without movement) and a speed run (for which the actors include their moves but as fast as possible). John found this very useful as it helped him to hear the words of the play again and to be reminded of the way in which the scenes fit together.

John has been enjoyed performing As You Like It again and rediscovering subtleties and key moments in the play. The company has also faced another challenge as Maggie Wells who plays Audrey was injured during a rehearsal for A Mad World My Masters and was unable to perform. This means that the company have needed to adjust the way they play their scenes with Audrey in order to respond to a different interpretation of the role.

John still feels that his portrayal of Jaques is quite close to his own character, but feels comfortable and established in his performance. The audiences seem to warm to Jaques and have been very appreciative of John’s interpretation of the ‘Seven ages of man..’ speech.

Activities

1. Characterization

John does not use an overt characterization for the character of Jaques. This is a direct contrast from his approach to Harebrain (see above).

If you were playing Jaques how would you approach the character? Are there any lines in the text which you feel give the key to the character of Jaques?

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