I also had a general admission ticket to the lecture/demonstration by OSC's prime mover and shaker, Patrick Tucker, scheduled for earlier in the day at the Globe. In a wonderfully witty performance of his own, Tucker set forth the conditions facing Elizabethan actors:

1. With a new and different play scheduled for every day of the theatre season, actors had no time to rehearse as a troupe. They learned their lines in the morning and performed them the same afternoon -- with a "prompter" sitting on stage to keep things moving. The actors prior to performance had never seen the play nor heard lines other than their own being spoken. Every show was "revelation" to the actors as well as to the audience.

2. Each actor was given a "cue script" which included only his own lines plus the three words preceding his lines or appearance on stage for some sort of activity. These lines (in a Shakespeare play) were printed exactly as they appeared in the First Folio Edition, which Tucker maintained gave actors the information necessary to play the part as Shakespeare intended. For example: when Rosalind falls in love with Orlando her "cue script" switches from prose to poetry. Words to be emphasized are capitalized. Punctuation in the First Folio edition is extremely important and revealing.

3. Each actor received a "platt" (or one was posted at various stage entrances) which indicated who was involved in each scene of the play and the outcomes of certain activities. Here, for example, are the platt directions for Act 1, Scene 2: "Enter Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke, and Celia, daughter of Duke Frederick. Enter the Clowne, Touchstone. Enter le Beau: Flourish. Enter Duke Frederick, Lords: Orlando, Charles, and Attendants with the Mat: Charles and Orlando wrestle. CHarles is thrown and defeated. Shout. Exeunt all but Celia, Rosalind and Orlando, Charles being carried out. Rosalind gives Orlando a chain from around her neck. Exit Rosalind and Celia. Enter Le Beau. Exit Orlando and Le Beau."

4. Lines were to be clearly declaimed by all actors because audiences came to HEAR the play primarily. The obstructing pillars on stage and the arrangement of the audience on all sides made "blocking" and groupings of actors pretty much an act of utter futility. Why worry about "upstaging" a fellow actor when a significant chunk of the audience can't see YOU at all! Realistic acting with "throw away" lines had not been invented. There were many other fascinating details in Tucker's lecture, but the proof was in the demonstrations which followed. For example: three professional actresses had been given their cue scripts for the witches in "Macbeth." Their interactions on stage were entirely different from any stageing I had ever seen. Lacking were a steaming cauldron and dramatic lighting effects. Lacking were exotic makeup and clever choreography. But very much in evidence was an electricity of awareness among the three of them -- and later to the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo. I'm not prepared to say that artistically it was the BEST performance I had ever seen. I will admit that it forced me to attend to the play in a way I never had before. Patrick Tucker and his company of talented professionals and recruited amateurs from the audience made their points brilliantly in one of the most interesting afternoons I have ever spent in a theatre!

The evening performance of "As You Like It" was a success in many ways. The performance was sold out -- including standing room for the "groundlings." The audience was psyched for the event even before madrigal singers appeared in various parts of the theatre to compete with the roar of the crowd. I had a hard time convincing myself that professional actors really existed who had never seen "As You Like It" at least a dozen times and who therefore came to their roles with no knowledge of what other characters might say or do during the course of the play. However, the total lack of "blocking" and the cavalier pace of the performance soon convinced me that there had been no director (Shakespeare excepted!) and no planned group business (other than the music). That was probably the LONGEST "As You Like It" on record. I had to leave to catch the last train after three and a half hours!

Nevertheless, there were some marvelous, unforgettable moments in the performances. Philip Bird was a thoroughly charming Orlando and there was never any doubt in my mind who would win the wrestling match or who deserved the winning of the fair Rosalind. Sonia Ritter played Rosalind with all the sparkle and pizzaz of a teen-ager from the American musical "Grease." I haven't heard Rosalind's advice to Phebe ("Sell while you can. You are not for all markets!") timed as skillfully since Katherine Hepburn stopped the show with it on Broadway in the early 1950's. Miss Ritter didn't even TRY to look or act like a boy, which I personally appreciated. When you are that lovely, why hide it? Touchstone (Callum Coates) made the most of his burlesques of the Rosalind verses and had the audience eating out of his hand whenever he did his turn. Poor Jacques (Gregory de Polnay) bravely tackled the "All the world's a stage" speech while competing with at least a thousand people in the audience who recited the famous lines along with him.

The foresters were wonderfully individualized as only the British seem capable of achieving both on stage and in their films. I've seen better Awdrie's than the one played by Kerry Owen, but Silvius and Phebe (Jonathan Roby and Sarah Finch) were a delight! Daniel Hopkins as Amyens stopped the show with his fine singing voice and his wildly funny "schtick" with a bunch of grapes. The costumes were great -- especially the foresters -- and the lighting was...flood. It was nighttime, remember? One suspects that Patrick Tucker and Christine Ozanne spent many hours with individual actors helping them to realize their parts and cope with the playing space unique to the Globe. Their time and talents were well spent.

I saw three other productions at Shakespeare's Globe along with six shows in the West End during this London visit. I wasn't disappointed with any of the Globe productions. I loved the Masque scene in "Maid's Tragedy." I thought that "A Chaste Maid At Cheapside" was a brilliant clarification of a play that I found virtually impossible to comprehend from the printed page. I found it genuinely funny and not at all vulgar. Try reading it sometime! For me "A Winter's Tale" was a beautifully done mood piece. When I used to teach the play in a college Shakespeare course many years ago I didn't really appreciate it. I do now, thanks to the Globe production. But..."As You Like It" as performed by the Original Shakespeare Company on Sept. 1, 1997, was a unique triumph. Part of the thrill was the realization that no one would ever see THAT production again. But, to a lesser degree, that is probably what has made live theatre special since the beginning of time?
(Dr. Walter J. Beaupre)
(Sadly, Walter passed away in April 1998)