Jessica

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Pippa Nixon plays Jessica

Pippa's work in theatre includes Days of Significance at the RSC, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek in Belfast, Project D: I'm Mediocre at BAC, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Creation Theatre Company and The Method at Oval Jouse. On TV Pippa has appeared in Dream Team, Holby City, The Bill, Family Affairs and two series of 24 Seven.

Bulletin 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.

Becoming An Actor
I went to drama school in Manchester at the Metropolitan School of Theatre for three years. A casting director from Granada TV came and saw my final production and I was cast in a Kid’s TV series called 24 Seven that was on five years ago now. It was about these kids at boarding school – I played a 16 year old even though I was 21! I continued to play very young characters. At Drama School you are mainly trained in theatre. I’d done a little TV so this job was really like a forth year of training. I did it for six months so did 26 episodes and it was amazing. Then I moved to London and got an agent in and for the next three years did mainly television jobs like The Bill, Holby City and Family affairs. It was theatre that got me into acting to start with so I felt a bit of a lack of something just doing TV. TV rehearsals are very different from theatre because they are much shorter.

A casting director then recommended me to a theatre director who was casting a fringe show. I got that and it released me over the next couple of years to go into theatre. I’ve always had places I really wanted to go like the RSC, the Globe, the Royal Court and the Young Vic, but they’re very hard to break into. Just over the start of the course of the year I started to make connections with these people. The casting director who got me into this fringe show just happened to be going into the RSC. She then bought me in for a reading there of this new play by Roy Williams called Days of Significance and I ended up getting cast in it when they produced a full scale production. So from last November through to this past February I’ve been with them.

Auditioning for the Part
I then finished that job which was so brilliant and then I got an audition at the Globe. I was very. The part of Jessica felt possible – not too big – but its quite substantial – its definitely within my casting range. I had two auditions in all. At the first one I met with Dominic (Dromgoole, Artistic Director), Rebecca (Gatwood, Director of Merchant) and Mark (Rosenblatt, Director of Holding Fire!). The second audition was three weeks later on the stage which was quite nerve racking. I have performed on the Globe stage before in a series of staged-readings for Paines Plough Theatre Company. Being on stage with an audience was much easier than being there on your own with your two directors watching you! It was really intense. I actually thought that I’d really messed up the audition – but obviously not. So I’m now here and am absolutely over the moon.

Acting in Shakespeare
Professionally, I’ve been in one Shakespeare play before this. I played Hermia and Snug the Joiner in A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing for Creation - an out-door theatre company in Oxford. I spent a summer out in the open air doing that so I’m a bit prepared for the this summer – although the acoustics at the Globe are a lot better than where I was.

The First Week of Rehearsals
The ethos at the Globe is to continue to train you as an actor. To have a team concentrating on text, movement and voice is such a wonderful privilege. In the first week we had a session with Giles Block on text. We looked very closely at the verse and the prose. I had lots of sessions like this at drama school but it’s a whole different thing when you have a specialist in. The movement sessions with Glynn McDonald not only help to connect with your character but you’re also learning how to use your body and how that can enhance you to connect deeper with your emotions.

The first day we had a read-through. We have also been looking at the jig. I have also had sessions around a table on all the scenes my character in. The way we’ve been working is to read through the scene and then after paraphrasing it. We then try to work out what the relationships between the characters are like. We have been thrown-in the deep-end a little, but I really like this way of working. A lot of directors spend two weeks around the table with the whole company which can lead to lots of people’s ideas – which is great – but it can take a long amount of time.

The next time we do the scene we have to have our lines learnt, so that we’re free of the book and can then start playing. When you get on your feet you can go deeper – I don’t think it will be about performance yet but when you have a script in your hand, your muscle memory will have forgotten ‘where was I? What was I looking at?’ So once the book has gone I can start inhabiting the text and start exploring the space.

First Impressions of Jessica
I think she’s ‘the lover’ for a little bit of the play and her story is a little bit like Romeo and Juliet, but what Shakespeare’s done with Jessica and Lorenzo, especially the way that we’re exploring it, is to give them a little chink in the armour of their love. I think it’s a little bit naughtier than Romeo and Juliet and perhaps might not last. She also risks a lot which gives her a bit of feistiness. We’ve also been exploring the Jewish religion, that it’s not just a religion, it’s a race. Saying to your father, as Jessica does, ‘I am dead in your eyes and you are dead in my eyes’ is such a big thing and a big risk. There is such strength in this character which is to do with the arrogance of youth. She steals two thousand ducats - the equivalent of twenty thousand pounds which is a lot of money. So I think there’s a lot more to her than meets the eye from when you originally read it.

Performing at the Globe
With Paines Plough we did a lot of rehearsals in the rehearsal studios and then spent half an hour before on the stage before the performance. What happened, and I think all the other actors will agree, is that when we were on the stage doing the readings there is something about that space which gives you an allowance to be free. There is so much space and you’ve got to be quite big. It was easier than I thought it would be when we did the readings. For this production I feel excited because, as Dominic Dromgoole said to us, there is no other place like the Globe and so many actors have said that too. So I think I feel excited more than anything else!

Costume
Our production is going to be set in the renaissance. Liz Cooke (Designer) wants to differentiate between the Christians and the Jewish. My costume is going to be a bit more folky and the colours we are going for are quite autumnal and rustic. As she leaves the Jewish community and becomes a Christian, she wants to be accepted into her new world so then there will be a loosening of clothing and a change in the way she looks to show this.

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Bulletin 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.

Rehearsals
In the second week we are still sitting down at the table and focussing on the text. We discuss Rebecca’s (Gatwood, Director) interpretations and our own interpretations of where we think the characters are coming from. At the end of week two we did another read through but with a difference. There was a big circle of chairs where, if we wanted to, we were encouraged to stand, get up, move and talk with the people we’re talking with so we could all get a sense of what we’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks. We’re now on our feet going through the play again starting at Act 1 Scene 1 and charting it all the way through.

Music & Act 2 Scene 5
We’ve had lots of music sessions with the composer Adrian Lees. Some of the score is heavily influenced by traditional Jewish music. We’ve got a singer in the company and she is going to sing a Jewish song in my first scene (Act 2 Scene 5) when I say goodbye to Lancelot. I think Jessica has this moment thinking – ‘what am I doing? Can I really do this? What is this awful sin within me to be ashamed to be the child of my father?’ We and going to have a Jewish song in the middle of the scene to highlight and spark off that thought.

Jessica’s Mother
We have talked about Jessica’s mother Leah who does not appear, but is mentioned in the play. We’re trying to work out whether Leah died in childbirth and, if so, does Shylock blame Jessica for this? I’m not sure how much a firm back story really helps me as an actor but, in terms of our production and the interpretation, I think it might be helpful because we’re thinking that there is not that much love lost between Shylock and Jessica and this may help us to discover the reasons e.g. – why does she describe this house as ‘hellish’? Why does she steal all his jewels? Obviously she’s really shameful about running away from her father, but there’s only one scene where you see them together.

Jessica & Lorenzo
We are still getting the idea that Jessica and Lorenzo might not last the distance. Obviously they are infatuated with each other, and we are playing that strand, but in my talks with the Director, we have decided that Jessica’s first major obstacle and objective is getting out of her house. Then Lorenzo comes along and she falls in love and is infatuated with him and he becomes the answer to her problem of helping her escape from home.

Act 5 Scene 1
In this scene Jessica and Lorenzo discuss the plights of famous pairs of lovers. They are all star-crossed lovers but what is interesting is that the female lovers Jessica talks about – Thisbe and Medea – both betrayed their fathers in some way. Interestingly Lorenzo talks about Cressida and Dido who were unfaithful lovers. By using these women as examples, it’s almost as if Shakespeare is asking, is this going to work? Is this going to last?

We’ve also talked about when Lorenzo says:

In such a night
Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew

He is kind of teasing her but we think that they have consummated their marriage before they got married suggested by Jessica’s reply:

In such a night
Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well,
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,
And ne’er a true one.

I think this refers to the sex and passion that they have had and the fact that Lorenzo may be suggesting that they have not done things the way they ought to have. I think Jessica starts to see the cracks appearing in their relationship at that point - it’s a bit playful but then it gets a bit feisty – so there’s something else going on.

Jessica and Lancelot
In our production, Lancelot is in love with Jessica but he knows that he can’t have her. This may explain his charged and aggressive language towards her in Act 3 Scene 5. We are still exploring the relationship between them. Although in terms of words Jessica is not a massive part, I’m finding that the sub-stories and relationships she forms in the plot are massive – there’s a lot of avenues to explore.

Changing my Mind about Jessica
In rehearsals there have been one or two moments where I’ve discovered things that have changed my thought about my character. A good example of this is when we looked at Act 2 Scene 6 - the elopement and the capture of Jessica. The language suggests that the situation is really exciting for Lorenzo and Jessica – they are both very much in love I when I read it I thought that she would be really happy. The way we’ve started to interpret it is that Lorenzo comes on with his friends and they’re all giggling and laughing and are quite drunk. Jessica and Lorenzo can’t see each other because Jessica is quite obviously in the dark and feeling embarrassed because she’s dressed as a boy and they’ve all got masks on and I think she believes that she’s only told Lorenzo and this is a secret between the two of them. H has bought all his mates along and there is a moment for Jessica of ‘who else have you told? And actually this is quite embarrassing – I’m dressed as this boy!’

We’re also bringing in a masked dance as soon as they elope. It will portray a quite grotesque image of the elopement. I said at the end of the rehearsal that I felt quite insecure and the Director agreed and highlighted the fact that this is a massive thing for Jessica. She is no eased into the situation. If she was being romantic about the situation I think she thinks that Lorenzo would have come to her balcony and serenaded her. Instead she just becomes part of the night’s entertainment. It was nice to feel really uncomfortable to feel those impulses coming through so that was a good discovery.

Costume
I know I’m going to have a hair piece so I’ve actually dyed my hair now a little bit darker to fit in with the hair piece. It’s going to be ‘full on’ renaissance style! I’m starting with this kind of folky very Jewish influenced outfit and then when I go into the Christian community I will have a different costume which will have an open neck and be a bit more free flowing and perhaps more modern in feeling.

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Bulletin 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.

The Last Week of Rehearsals
We’ve done a run-through. What the director has done is to go through all of the scenes and get us on our feet. At the end of last week we did a run which went really well and it’s in a good shape. What we’re doing now is re-visiting each scene and putting in extra detail. So we are in a process of layering. The first time we went through the text with a fine tooth comb, getting the basic shape and working out the relationships between people. Then, every time we re-visit a scene, we add more and more layers to texture it. At the end of last week we went back over the scenes in minute detail – plotting in the music and the dances.

Yesterday, we did a run of the first half and currently we’re working on the second half. We’re running that tomorrow, and then the day after we’re planning to do a full run! So now we’re getting the flow of the show.

Running the Show
Because mine and Lorenzo’s story is a sub-plot, we don’t have that many scenes, but a lot is said about us. When you watch a run-through of the whole production, sometimes watching it and hearing it is good because it makes you think about where and what you’re character is up to when the other scenes are happening. I’m aware that my character is away spending lots of money while my father is getting more and more angry about the fact that I’ve stolen his jewels. I’m sure that this feeds his revenge for Antonio. It is only when you see the play as a whole that you really fill in the gaps for your characterisation. It is quite interesting to think that while the trial is going on we’re looking after Portia’s house, so are completely removed from it. As an actor, I guess just seeing an objective view like this is good because it makes you ask ‘what are the audience going to learn about my character before they see me again? How can I take that information into the next scene?’

Playing the Sub-text
To be honest, these last couple of weeks I’ve actually found quite difficult. It will be fine though – its part of my process as an actress. I always reach this point where I start to feel quite insecure –and that’s happening at the moment. I’m just trying to commit totally and utterly to my story and I’m not quite hitting it yet. I’m struggling with what my whole relationship with Lorenzo is. He steals me from my father – obviously I allow him to do that - and brings two friends along who I hear giggling outside making me quite insecure about going and thinking – how does he really feel about me? The text doesn’t give me enough to convey those feelings; it suggests that I’m happy to go along with all this. But when I play it, it feels very different. I start to think, as Jessica, ‘Can I trust this person?’ So the difficulty is how to show this sub-text that I’m feeling to the audience when my words are maybe doing something else.

I’m also finding Act 5 Scene 1 difficult to play. At the moment we’re playing it that we’re out on this beautiful veranda somewhere in the Belmont garden. Lorenzo is trying to get close to Jessica but I’m having none of it because I’m thinking about my father. To portray that when we’ve only got a page of text, is quite challenging. You find that things clash sometimes. So at the moment I’m feeling daunted by how to marry all the different strands of our discoveries from rehearsal together when some of the text doesn’t actually say what I’m feeling. I like that because it makes the character more 3-D, but the practicalities of it – as an artist –are quite challenging. Eventually I think it makes it much more interesting because playing your impulses as an actor, and conveying a sub-text to the audience, embraces all the conflicts. But my panic also comes from the fact that rehearsals are now coming to an end and we’re getting near to tech week. I feel I need more time!

Jewish and Christian Cultures
After our first run-through, the director felt that we needed to highlight more of the anti-Semitic elements of the play, particularly in showing how different the Jewish and Christian cultures are. That Jews were really looked down upon; they were definitely seen as lesser than the Christian community. So when I arrive in Belmont with Lorenzo (Act 3 Scene 2) I am his ‘infidel’. Because I say hardly any thing while I’m there, staging is really important to make Jessica seem isolated. When she goes into Belmont, I think she wants to be accepted into this Christian community – but the first time they see her is with the bad news about Antonio ships. People start looking to her because it’s her father that has caused this pain.

Jessica also walks in on an intensely private moment, so in some ways her entrance couldn’t be more intrusive. At this point all the other characters are kissing and running around and are totally excited because they’ve got the love of their lives. When Jessica enters no one speaks to her until she’s forced to speak:

When I was with him [Shylock], I have heard him swear
To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen,
That he would rather have Antonio’s flesh
Than twenty times the value of the sum
That he did owe him: and I know my lord,
If law, authority, and power deny not,
It will go hard with poor Antonio.

Portia’s next comment seems to totally ignore what Jessica has said because in some ways she repeats it again saying:

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond:
Double six thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this description
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s fault.

The Christians are very money driven, but for the Shylock the pound of flesh is his right.

Jessica, Portia and the role of Women in the Play
In Act 3 Scene 4 we see Jessica and Portia together. Portia is now married and there’s this exchange between them:

Jes: I wish your ladyship all heart’s content

Por: I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas’d
To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.

We’ve suggested that in this interchange Portia does note Jessica and says ‘I am including you in this’. I think it really comes from ‘because I need you to look after this house!’ So we are trying to make a little journey between them of some sort of reconciliation. It is a really interesting moment in the play. The audience want to know what they think of each other and I think myself and Michelle [Duncan, Portia] need to have more discussion about that. It’s a tricky thing to say and it needs to be placed because it is a part of the story.

I think Jessica really admires Portia because she sees this very strong woman running a household. With Bassanio, she sees a man who she hopes is going to treat Portia right because Jessica’s seen him waste lots of money and be quite hedonistic. I think Jessica compares herself a bit with Portia. I also think Jessica thinks that Lorenzo is a bit like Bassanio. It’s like the women are joining together against this set of very rowdy men.

Jessica also feels a slight sense of jealousy towards Portia because I think Lorenzo is taken with her as well. In a little interchange that they have in Act 3 Scene 5 where Lorenzo sees that Jessica isn’t that happy he says:

How cheers’t thou Jessica?

And immediately afterwards doesn’t even wait for her to reply:

And now (good sweet) say thy opinion,
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio’s wife?

So there’s something interesting to play there.

The women in the play are uniquely interesting. In some ways you have three very strong women. With Jessica it’s about finding those moments of strength.

A Happy Ending?
We’ve been looking at the very end of the play. The very last scene (Act 5 Scene 1) is very tricky. On that particular night Jessica isn’t very romantic because she’s thinking about her father and what’s happening to Antonio. She doesn’t know whether Antonio is dead or whether her father has won. If her father has won, what will happen to her? Will she get thrown out of Portia’s house? Also, if Bassanio does come back with Antonio, they’ll be celebrating and if Antonio’s won then something bad is going to happen to Shylock. There is a lot to play. She eventually gets given the deed of gift. The cost has effectively been her father’s life - he’s not dead – but he may as well be as he’s been made Christian. I think there is real sadness there on her part. There is also relief that Lorenzo and her have money to take care of themselves so I think she has mixed feelings at the end of the play. I don’t think it is happy families at all – it can’t be happy families when such serious stuff has just occurred.

Voice and Movement
We had some voice work on stage yesterday. It was great walking out there because it was less intimidating than I remembered it to be. There is the challenge of being heard out there, so we’ve just been working on the real drive of the iambic pentameter – lifting the voice a little higher because my natural resonance is quite low and breathy. I’ve also had a good movement session where we looked at the way that Jessica holds herself and we’re looking out how different her poise might be between her old life and her new life.

The Jig
The jig is a lot of fun! The girls in the company are a little bit nervous at the moment because we’re all wearing high wedge shoes and big dresses, so it’s a challenge to move in them! It’s making me laugh a lot– I love it!

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Bulletin 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.

Technical Rehearsals
It’s been a really good week. The biggest difficulty has been translating the work we’ve done in the rehearsal room on to the stage – that is quite a challenge at times. Some scenes are really easy and work well. At other times you’ve got to work really hard to be heard. In the tender and softer moments you’ve got to find a quality of voice to make those moments alive and real, and yet project it at the same time. It’s about finding the right pitch.

It hard doing intimate scenes on stage because you have to start to share them - the audience have got to be another character really. You have to learn that I think. For some people it comes very naturally, but I think I have to learn to share it and not feel intimidated by letting other people onto it.

I certainly don’t feel like I’m there yet or ready. I’m glad we’ve got ten days of previews to experiment with these things in front of an audience.

Preparing for the First Performance
I feel absolutely fine about it – but I am a bit nervous. We’ve got a dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon and I’m hoping we’ll have a few people in to see so that we have a sense of the audience. The show is sold out – I can’t believe it! It’s quite exciting! Sometimes I feel incredibly at home on the Globe stage and then I feel very daunted the next moment!

Getting Used to the Costumes
We get to act in our costumes for the first time this week. Everyone just looks amazing in their costumes and wigs. The women’s dresses have been made specifically for us so that’s just such a luxury. My costume’s got a bit of a journey because when you first see me I’m very different from the other two girls because I’m Jewish so I have a Jewish dress – then I have a very quick change into becoming a page boy. When I arrive in Belmont with this Jewish dress, I look very different from everyone else. As me and Lorenzo get more and more into Belmont life, I start to wear clothes similar to Portia and Nerissa and my hair goes up.

Wearing the costume changes the feeling of the play because you’ve got to walk differently. Glynn McDonald who is our movement advisor will tell us how to walk, how to sit and how to take each other’s hands – that’s incredibly helpful. Obviously the director is there looking at the wider picture and working on other details. Our voice directors give us individual notes which are very helpful, as wearing corseted clothes effects your breathing.

Nothing major has been re-staged. The main thing is getting to grips with all the costume changes because there are some very very quick costume changes going on which has also been very funny.

We teched a lot of stuff in the middle of the week and then had to go back over four scenes to do it with the costume changes. We had to slow some of the dialogue down a bit so that people have enough time to change for the next scene.

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Bulletin 5

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.

The first Performance
We were all quite excited and nervous. Because we’d had tech week, and the great thing about tech week is that we’d had the tour people coming in and watching, you have kind of got a little bit of an audience. There is nothing like your first performance where you literally see a sea of people around you and all these circular faces – everybody’s just looking at you! Its quite unbelievable. People really came alive and started really playing with the audience and exploring a little further what we could never do in rehearsals, because we were out on that stage. The company just bounced off the energy and it took the show to new places. The audience were just absolutely lovely; so involved and so generous.

Playing Nerissa
Unfortunately, the actress playing Portia was indisposed and left the production after the first week. Kirsty [Besterman, Nerissa] and I got asked to step in and read – this was very last minute. The show was meant to go up at 7:30pm and this was at 7:35pm - so we said yes! Its obviously been quite a sad situation, but because Kirtsy and I were both doing it we could really play off each other. Kirsty had been in the Portia scenes more than I had, so she knew how they worked. I had seen her doing them in rehearsals so it was quite funny because Kirsty was calling me Nerissa and I was thinking – no you are Nerissa! Because I was playing two characters in each performance we decided to play Nerissa with her hair up and Jessica with her hair down so that the audience got some idea who I was playing . There have been a couple of comedy moments because in Act 5 Nerissa and Jessica are on stage at the same time. When I do the scene where Jessica argues with Lancelot Gobbo, I went off as Nerissa and he called me back as Jessica and every time I would come back on looking absolutely knackered, but the audience loved it. Its been quite funny. It was quite an exciting week, doing that.

It was great to be working with Kirsty because I’ve known her now for seven or eight weeks, but have never had much of a chance to perform with her. I often found that I would be mimicking what she’d been doing which was actually very funny for both of us. The first time I played Nerissa, I had to literally go by what I’d seen rather than trying to make sense of it. We then got some help from the director and voice coach to try and make more sense of it and I found that I started inhabiting the role for myself. The gift from it was that it gave me a lot more confidence on that stage, more exposure. When I went back to playing just Jessica, I real felt that my performance had grown.

Jessica
Its good to have been reunited with, and back playing her. I really do feel that the experience of Nerissa has put Jessica back in to perspective for me and opened up lots of possibilities for playing that space and making bigger discoveries. Its good to return and I feel that I’m able to give other stuff to it. Kirsty is now playing Portia and a new actor has joined the company to play Nerissa.

The Globe Audience
They are very very reactive – obviously at the comedy bits. There is also a moment where Bassanio and Antonio have quite a long kiss and the other day an audience member cried out ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ literally so loud that people were reacting to that reaction. I’m finding them very vocal – sometimes people at the front of yard are banging on the stage because they are finding things so funny. I also find them really responsive to little detailed bits like the scene with Jessica, Lorenzo and Lancelot when she eats pork (which we’re still developing) the audience are really noticing that by laughing, but also realising that its quite a delicate moment.

Holding Fire!
We have started to rehearse another play. It’s a new play called Holding Fire! by Jack Shepherd and it’s about a nineteenth century political party called the chartists. Its quite hilarious really because Kirsty and I are both playing older women. I’m playing a character called Mrs Kettle who is a drunk and Mrs Banes who is the mother of one of the principle characters – a very poor London family – although she’s rural. Then I’m playing a young maid called Dorothy who works in this posh household up north as well as many other bits. This is the third week of rehearsal and because the press night for Merchant has been delayed, we’ve only just finished rehearsing it. Now we can just get our teeth into Holding Fire! a bit more, but its all been a bit sporadic.

Because we’ve been performing a lot, my mind has been somewhere else. The majority of the company know each other so there’s been no having to worry about getting to know each other, although there are four new actors who have come in. We’ve actually just been getting down to work. We’ve got to do a bit of our own research but there hasn’t been much sitting around the table discussing because there hasn’t been the time.

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