Adriana

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In the Globe Theatre Company's production of Comedy of Errors, Adriana was played by Yolanda Vasquez.

About Yolanda Vasquez

Yolanda has appeared in productions at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, RSC, Garrick Theatre, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and the Contact Theatre, Manchester. TV work includes roles in Peak Practice and A Touch of Frost.
Click on the numbered links to follow Yolanda's journey as she creates and plays the character of Adriana in the Globe Theatre.

Yolanda Vasquez - Introduction

The rehearsals take place in rehearsal rooms about 5 minutes walk from the Globe theatre itself. Each rehearsal room is very large and has an outline of the Globe stage marked out in tape on the floor. This helps the actors to prepare for working on the Globe stage. The actors will have very few rehearsals on the Globe stage before production week.

Each day your actor will receive his/her ‘call’ which is the time s/he is expected to report for rehearsal. During the rehearsal period, an actor’s day will vary considerably. Your actor may rehearse scenes, attend a class (voice and/or 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) your 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 the actors 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 most pairs have no specified ‘left’ and ‘right’ foot. Many actors also feel that wearing the correct shoes helps them to ‘get into’ character.

The companies have 5 weeks of rehearsal before the technical and dress rehearsals. Generally, the beginning of this period is spent improvising around the text and in development of character; towards the end of these 5 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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Yolanda Vasquez - Character Notes and Activities 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 interpretation and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

Yolanda will play Adriana, the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus. Yolanda had read The Comedy of Errors before her audition and then reread it after getting the part. One of the things that really struck her from the beginning was how the idea of mistaken identities was central to the comedy of the play. For the Globe’s production, one actor will be playing both Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus. Yolanda has been reading the play with this casting in mind as it will have clear implications for her portrayal of Adriana. She has also been considering how her character will be influenced by the physical environment in which she lives i.e. the imaginary world of Ephesus which is created in the play.

Yolanda is finding the experience of working at the Globe very liberating. At this early stage of rehearsal the company’s emphasis is simply on making discoveries about the play together. Normally, Yolanda finds that there can be a lot of pressure in rehearsal to work with the text immediately – this sometimes makes her feel self-conscious about performing in front of the other actors in the company. At the Globe, however, she feels the process is much more about exploring the play as a company: everyone recognises that all ideas are relevant and because of that, the atmosphere is more relaxed and allows for elaborate discoveries. Yolanda feels that it is very easy to get caught up in and intimidated by the text, to the point where the focus of the performance becomes unbalanced.

Before starting rehearsals for the play, Yolanda took great care not to form any preconceptions about her character. She knew that the company would work on the physical aspect of the play first and then work outwards from there – it is important to Yolanda to remain open to any ideas which may arise in rehearsal. She likes her performance to evolve as a result of the rehearsal process and the ideas she is exposed to during that time. Yolanda’s performance must also develop in conjunction with those of the other actors in the company. The only idea Yolanda does have about Adriana at present is that she is a passionately jealous or possessive person. Yolanda is unsure, as of yet, to what degree she will play out this jealousy in the production – it may be an idea that she discards as the rehearsal process progresses. Besides this initial judgement, Yolanda went into rehearsals knowing no more than just enough information about Adriana to be able to work with the company on the play as a whole.

Yolanda doesn’t like to watch or read about past productions of the play, but does research its historical background. She uses these findings to help her build her own research - seeking out historical facts and using these ideas to build the character in her own imagination. Before the beginning of rehearsal period, Kathryn Hunter, the director, gave each performer an envelope containing relevant information about the play with a note attached saying, essentially, that enclosed was information that she had found, but that the actors could decide whether or not they wanted to read it. Yolanda found this to be very useful as it allowed the actors freedom to choose their approach to the text while ensuring they all shared a common starting point.

Yolanda chose to read the first two pages of this information - which contained material relevant to The Comedy of Errors. She left the rest because it pertained mostly to Augustine’s Oak (which is the second production the white company will be working on this season). Yolanda decided that it was best to set that information aside and look at it when rehearsals began for Augustine’s Oak.

The first week of rehearsal time for the white company consisted of workshops for Augustine’s Oak. The play is the first new play to be written for the Globe and the company worked with the director and playwright to explore the text. As a result of this process the playwright, Peter Oswald, will now redraft certain parts of the play. Yolanda found it strange to make the transition between the workshop period for Augustine’s Oak and the beginning of the rehearsal period for The Comedy of Errors. She had begun to feel immersed in the character she plays in Augustine’s Oak, then had to break from this work to begin rehearsals for The Comedy of Errors.

When starting work on The Comedy of Errors one of the company’s first tasks was to focus on relationships - initially the relationship between twins. They did this by finding a ‘twin’ in the company and then exploring the rehearsal space as twins - holding hands and making joint decisions. Yolanda found this activity useful as she was able to explore the effect of being closely linked, physically and psychologically, to another person. The company also used an exercise which focused on master-servant relationships and explored the comic situations that can come out of such a relationship. The company also focused on developing a strong feeling of ensemble playing and began to explore the patterns and rhythms within the verse. The actors used various exercises - from beating out the rhythms on a tabletop to moving and jumping in order to get the feel of the motion of the text. Yolanda stresses that actors need to work very hard to master the importance of the rhythms and changes in the verse - it is never easy. One activity that helps Yolanda is to read the text and then walk around the rehearsal room to the beat of the verse - physically moving is much more helpful to her than sitting and staring at a piece of text, pencil in hand.

Yolanda is really looking forward to playing Adriana on stage and is very excited about all the discoveries she is starting to make in rehearsal. She is curious to see how far the company can develop the comedy of the play when they perform in the Globe.

Activities

These activities are based on the notes above. They are suggestions only; please feel free to devise your own. Please select the activities which are relevant to your group. You can send students’ work and suggestions from any of these activities to GlobeLink and we will be delighted to forward them to Yolanda.

The activities have been devised assuming the students know the story of the play.

What is said about Adriana?

At the beginning of the rehearsal period actors read through the play and list:

a) everything that is said about his/her character
b) everything that character says about him/her self

Look at the character of Adriana and make these two lists. What do you find out about her character by doing this? Send your lists and observations to Yolanda so she can compare them with her own.

Adriana, the jealous woman

The only preconception Yolanda has about Adriana is that she is a jealous and passionate woman. She is not sure how much she will use this idea in her portrayal of Adriana.

Look again at Act 2 Scene 1. Which words or lines make Adriana seem a jealous character?

Do you think Yolanda should develop this initial idea of Adriana as a jealous woman? How much do you think it should influence her interpretation of the role? Post your ideas on Yolanda’s online discussion board.

Who is Adriana’s ‘twin’

As part of their work, the company have been looking at the idea of twins. They are exploring the notion that each character has a ‘twin’ in the play – someone that is in the same situation as them and shares certain character traits.

Which character do you think is most like Adriana? It can be any character in the play, not necessarily one she shares scenes with. Post your ideas on Yolanda’s online discussion board.

Working with the verse

At the moment Yolanda is concentrating on finding the rhythm in the verse. She finds it useful to beat out the rhythm on a table top!

Look at Adriana’s speech in Act 2 Scene 2. As a class or in small groups try this exercise for yourself. Concentrate particularly on the part of the speech you find most difficult.

Rehearsal Calls

Look at the copy of the call sheet for the first week of rehearsal. Work out what Yolanda would be doing on each day.

Either write a day or days in the life of your actor OR choose one scene Yolanda has worked on during the week and try out ways of playing it for yourselves.

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Yolanda Vasquez - Character Notes and Activities 2

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process and begins to perform the play for an audience. They are simply his own interpretations and reflections on the process of bringing a role to life. These ideas continue to change and evolve as the play is in performance.

As rehearsals progressed Yolanda spent more time working on individual scenes. She approaches the text by working through each scene line by line ensuring she understands what it means and how Adriana relates to the other characters in that scene. She then decides Adriana’s ‘wants’ for the scene – her reasons for being there and what she hopes to achieve. Much of this is achieved through group discussion. The end result is a joint decision between the actors and director. Yolanda has to bear in mind that the way she says a line has a direct effect on other characters. The actors try to be flexible and not to fix the way a moment is played, so that each performance will be spontaneous. However, this is only possible if the actors are clear about their character’s motivation and relationship to the other characters in the scene.

Yolanda likes to explore the emotion behind the lines and then work on the metre. She has worked with the Master of Verse, Tim Carroll, on speaking the lines. Tim has even done sessions that have involved, breaking down the verse into sections on a blackboard! Yolanda has found this very helpful as it has enabled her to examine the verse afresh. Everything to inform the performance comes from the verse, it is not necessary for Yolanda to look outside of the text itself for information as it is all contained in the play. It is important for all of the actors to look at the stressed and unstressed syllables of the iambic pentameter and decide which words they should emphasise. The company has experimented with different ways of saying the verse. In one exercise they worked to speak the verse in different styles or tempos e.g. as rock song or as a rap.

One of Yolanda’s biggest challenges has been to combine all her discoveries from rehearsal into her performance. Sometimes discoveries from earlier in the rehearsal process have been abandoned as Yolanda’s understanding of the play and her character develops. However this does not mean that this work has been a waste of time as everything Yolanda has done in the rehearsal room will make a contribution to her final performance.

Towards the end of the rehearsal process the company begin to run the play which Yolanda finds useful as it can help her place Adriana within the context of the play as a whole. Yolanda had been playing Adriana’s first scene almost as a ‘rant’, but running the play has helped her to find her character’s quieter moments and the times when Adriana feels sorry for herself and turns inward, rather than projecting outward anger. Yolanda feels that Adriana is very much in love with Antipholus of Ephesus and wants her marriage to be perfect, she fluctuates quickly between anger and an extreme longing for Antipholus to love her.

None of Adriana’s lines have been cut which is unusual for productions of Shakespeare’s plays. In fact some have been re-instated. At the end of Act 2 Scene 1 Adriana’s speech that begins, "Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense" is often subject to cuts, usually from "I see the jewel best enamelled.." onwards. Generally it is felt that it is very difficult to make sense of these lines in performance. However Yolanda felt that she had discovered an interpretation that would be clearly understandable within the context of the production, and so the lines were reinstated.

It takes less than two months from the time the actors first meet together with the director to read through the script, until the opening performance. Yolanda and her fellow cast members rehearsed in a rehearsal room for six weeks. After six weeks the cast moved to the Globe for a week of technical rehearsals. During tech rehearsals the actors rehearse (in costume) their entrances, exits and the use of any special effects (like scenery changes or use of trap doors). Following the tech rehearsals are the dress rehearsals, during which the actors run the play exactly as they would during a performance.

Before the play opens officially there are several preview performances. No reporters from the press are allowed to attend the preview performances. During the previews the director still takes notes and makes sure the play works with the audience. The director will also return periodically throughout the performance period to monitor the production, giving notes to the actors when necessary.

Even in the days leading up to the technical rehearsals Yolanda discovered new elements for her portrayal of Adriana. This is challenging but also very stimulating. After weeks of rehearsal the company look forward to putting the play on the stage in front of an audience. The first performance of The Comedy of Errors was extraordinary for the actors, they had no idea whether the audience would laugh at the comedy, or listen to the story of the play. As soon as Yolanda saw the audience she felt all her nerves disappear. She found the audience to be incredibly supportive and compares the experience to being a ‘rock star’ on stage. This is in direct contrast to a dark auditorium in which the actors cannot see, or communicate with, the audience.

Yolanda can now feel confident to develop moments or elements of her performance, knowing that they work for an audience. In the Globe Yolanda’s performance has to be bigger than it would be in the rehearsal room, otherwise she would feel dwarfed by the whole building. Adriana’s impatience works well on stage as it allows Yolanda to pace over a wide space while watching the doors on opposite sides of the stage, to ensure Antipholus does not return home unnoticed. Yolanda has also found that all of the lines that refer to the role of women receive a strong response from the audience – who generally take Adriana’s side of the argument! Some decisions that Yolanda took in rehearsal have only really begun to work in performance on the Globe stage. For example at one point Adriana wraps herself around Antipholus’ leg, clinging to him like a vine. Yolanda knew she wanted Enzo (who plays Antipholus) to walk around the stage, dragging her behind him, but this didn’t really work in rehearsal. On the Globe stage, however, the size of the stage and the reaction of the audience, means that the moment works in the way that Yolanda had visualised and becomes part of the scene.

Activities

These activities are based on the notes above. They are suggestions only; please feel free to devise your own. Please select the activities that are relevant to your group. You can send students’ work and suggestions from any of these activities to GlobeLink and we will be delighted to forward them to Yolanda.

These activities have been devised assuming the students know the story of the play.

Frozen Pictures

Kathryn Hunter gave the company a picture of a Turkish market place and asked the actors to recreate it in the rehearsal room.

Break into small groups. Look through a magazine with pictures of foreign places. Choose a picture of an exotic setting with people in it, maybe one that you would like to travel to. Work together to recreate the photograph in a frozen picture. Look especially at people’s faces and how they interact with each other and their surroundings, including the climate. Ask someone outside the group to give you feed- back on how well you captured the mood of the picture.

Interior Monologue

In the scenes in which Adriana does not have many lines, Yolanda imagines the thoughts that might be going through Adriana’s mind. This enables her to react to the action of the play.

Choose a moment from the last scene in which the misunderstandings about the twins are resolved. Write down all the thoughts you think Adriana might have during that moment.

Try to write for at least one minute. When the minute is up, break into groups with other people in the class and compare your ideas. You could also send them to Yolanda.

Imaginary Stick

Kathryn Hunter asked the actors to pretend there was an imaginary stick between them in order to help them visualise how space and relationships work on the Globe Stage.

Try this exercise in pairs.

Stand about five feet away from each other and imagine that your are each supporting the end of an imaginary stick with your finger. Pick one person to lead. That person moves their finger and the other person follows, making sure the distance is maintained so that the stick doesn’t drop. Change leaders. Experiment with small and large movements. Was it easy or difficult? Why?

Your World

Yolanda and the cast went to a Turkish restaurant to get the feeling of the setting for the play and to understand the kind of world her character lives in.

Imagine that Shakespeare just wrote a play about you and Yolanda is going to play your part and visit your school to learn about your life. What favourite places would you take her to so she could understand your world? What are the most important things you would tell her about you?

Different Emotions

In rehearsal Yolanda experimented with saying her lines using different tempos and emotions. This was particularly true of Adriana’s scenes with Luciana. The two actresses experimented, first speaking their lines using the same emotion and tempo and then with Luciana in a calmer emotional state than Adriana. This helped Jules (Luciana) and Yolanda bring to life their characters’ conflicts with each other.

Think about a time when you had an argument with a friend, brother, or sister. What did you disagree about? Improvise a short scene with a partner in which you argue because you both see an issue very differently (i.e. who gets to sit in the front of the car, or decides which film/TV programme to watch). The first time play the scene with both people very excited. Now try the same scene again, but pick one person to remain calm and patient. How was the first improvisation different from the second?
Try the following extract from Act 4, Scene 2, lines 12-18, in the same way. In this scene the sisters think that Adriana’s husband has fallen in love with Luciana.
Read the scene. The first time read it as if both sisters are very passionate and frustrated (with each other and with Antipholus).

The second time, the person playing Luciana should remain peaceful and try to make Adriana calm down.

"Adr. And what said he?

Luc. That love I begged for you, he begg’d of me.

Adr. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?

Luc. With words that in an honest suit might move:
First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.

Adr. Did’st speak him fair?

Luc. Have patience, I beseech.

Adr. I cannot, nor will I hold me still."

How were the readings different? Which did you prefer?

Re-instating lines

Look again at Yolanda’s comments on Act 2 Scene 1. Some of her lines in Adriana’s final speech in this scene, (beginning "Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense"), were cut then re-instated.

Would you cut any lines in this speech? If so which ones?

Yolanda believes she has found away to make these lines clear for an audience. Try acting these lines for yourself. What would be your interpretation? Send your ideas to Yolanda.

Music

Kathryn Hunter developed pieces of music or songs to act as a signature tune for each character.

Using your own interpretations of the play and Yolanda’s notes compose a piece of music that could be used as a signature tune for Adriana. Alternatively find existing songs, or pieces of music, which remind you of Adriana.

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Yolanda Vasquez - Character Notes 3

These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about performing at The Globe – they are simply reflections on his/her own continuing discoveries, challenges, and goals for the remainder of performances.

During July, and then again in August, the White Company had a two week break from performing The Comedy of Errors while they prepared to open Augustine’s Oak. This production of The Comedy of Errors requires a great deal of physical and emotional energy from the performers. In the same way that an athlete might feel out of shape after not competing for two weeks, Yolanda and the cast felt little out of practice during the first performance after the break.

After the break, the cast gathered together for a ‘run-through’ with the director, Kathryn Hunter. After running their lines the cast ‘warmed-up and played around to get back into the spirit of the show’. Kathryn also shared some thoughts with the actors, and gave them specific notes. The cast then rehearsed their Turkish Dances and songs with the musicians.

In addition to playing Adriana in The Comedy of Errors, Yolanda also plays Bertha in Augustine’s Oak. Augustine’s Oak is the first new play to be commissioned for The Globe Theatre. The plot revolves around the story of St. Augustine and his mission to forge a peaceful union between the Christians of the Celtic Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Peter Oswald, the playwright, wrote the play in verse, although the verse reflects a contemporary style of speech.

For example in Act 1 scene 2 of Augustine’s Oak, Yolanda’s character Bertha delivers this speech to her daughter, Tata:

"You should begin to worry slightly now
So as to keep from having to be worried
A great deal later. You are nearly twenty;
None of the princes in this land is Christian.
I was a prize beyond your father’s dreams –
To get the daughter of the King of Paris,
Was, for the King of Kent quite fortunate;
You are the daughter of the King of Kent,
Therefore, not worth much on the continent.
So think how you, a Christian from the womb,
Will cope with being married to a pagan,
As I have had to. Watch your mother now,
In case she dies or goes insane tomorrow.

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Yolanda finds that Augustine’s Oak is ‘a very different play from The Comedy of Errors’. Kathryn Hunter, the director of The Comedy of Errors, focused a great deal on movement in rehearsals, while because of the nature of the play, Tim Carroll, the director of Augustine’s Oak, concentrated largely on the text, using occasional improvisation.

The week before a play opens officially and reviewed by the press, there are a series of preview performances. During this period the director still gives notes and has time to make any last minute changes after seeing the play performed before an audience. Yolanda discovered that ‘the early previews of Augustine’s Oak gave me an understanding of the play as a whole, as well as allowing me the time to play about with Bertha, my character’.

Just before opening Augustine’s Oak, Yolanda said that she ‘really wanted an audience!’ to push her performance to the next level. As Augustine’s Oak is a new play, the playwright, Peter Oswald, was able to develop his play with the actors during the rehearsal process. According to Yolanda ‘the play changed considerably during the previews, pieces were shortened or cut, and scenes were swapped about, etc.’.

For the rest of the season, Yolanda’s main goal is to maintain her ‘energy and concentration’ now that the company is no longer rehearsing during the day. Yolanda adds that ‘this period in the season is always exciting as there are the possibilities of other projects to consider, but it is also sad because we’re coming to the end of a long period of collaboration’.

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