It’s officially week three of rehearsals for our latest Christmas creation, The Light Princess, so we asked Rew Lowe, to tell us all about the characters he plays and how things have been going.
I play Humdrum, a philosopher and gravity expert who trained at Moscow University, Beijing School of Science and Sao Paolo Dance Academy (the latter was just for fun). I also play a Doctor. And a fairly chipper Horse.
It’s a delight to have, both from the script and the direction, so much license to be daft. And daft it will be, this show. The cast are kooky, the music is leftfield and the design depicts a kingdom wonderfully wonky.
And so it is that, as we work our way through the script, ‘putting the story on its feet’, there are constant interruptions from an eager cast: ‘Can I have stirrups?’ ‘Can I have a bit?’ ‘Yes, you can only talk when the Prince takes the bit out of your mouth, Horse!’ ‘Can the Horse do a poo on stage?’ The director considers each suggestion, batting the bonkers ones out of the park, employing the goodies. The general rule in this type of rehearsal room is: ‘Keep offering ideas… Keep suggesting… Keep playing. Don’t let ‘Nos’ deter you.’
Gradually things start to settle and patterns start to emerge. You might try a character in a variety of accents before coming back to your original, instinctive choice. You start to get a sense of how elements of your performance interact with those of the other actors and what approaches and interpretations seem to work best. How do you know? If you’re doing something good, the other people in the room are smiling, leaning in and listening: we’re our own trial audience every day. It’s an intrinsically rewarding way of working. I’m thrilled to be on board.
Rew x
You can find out more about The Light Princess and book tickets on the show page here.
Posted on 03 November 2015
