Rehearsal overview
Watch a video diary from One Man, Two Guvnors to see improvisation within the rehearsal room.
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Acting
Acting requires a wide range of skill, from the ability to control your voice to adopting physical attributes. A stage actor will often be required to research a period of history or particu...
Episodes
20 episodesDevising a multimedia production
What is a devised media production?
Acting In The Cherry Orchard
Director Howard Davies and actors Charity Wakefield, Mark Bonnar and Zoe Wanamaker talk about method and processes of acting for Chekhov's T...
Improvising during rehearsals
Improvisation is a useful tool in the rehearsal room. Daniel Rigby takes us into the rehearsal room for One Man Two Gunvors.
An actor’s role in a multimedia production
In one of Katie Mitchell's multimedia productions, one actor may find itself representing the voice of one character, the head of a second a...
The reinvention of the script
Each script is unique, like an Elizabethan cue script
Voice work on ‘O what a noble mind…’
Voice work on Ophelia’s speech.
Text work on blank verse from Much Ado About Nothing
Deconstructing the Friar’s speech in Much Ado About Nothing
Text work on prose from Saint Joan
Embodying prose from Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan
Voice work on ‘To be, or not to be…’
Voice coach Jeannette Nelson works on Hamlet speech with actor Ferdinand Kingsley.
Interview with Rory Kinnear about playing Hamlet
Rory Kinnear is interviewed by Matt Wolf. They discuss Kinnear's approach to playing the historic part.
Fiona Shaw prepares
What does an actor do before the curtain goes up?
The job of a stage actor
Director Nicholas Hytner and actor Lesley Manville talk about the job of the stage actor.
Acting in the Olivier
Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Manville and Roger Allam talk describe performing on the Olivier stage.
Acting in the Lyttelton
Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Manville and Roger Allam talk about acting on the Lyttelton stage - a traditional proscenium arch theatre.
Acting in the Cottesloe
Simon Russell Beale and Roger Allam talk about acting on the Cottesloe stage - small intimate theatre.
The importance of rehearsal
Simon Russell Beale talks about why actors rehearse for the length of time that they do and what happens during that process.
Working as part of a company
Simon Russell Beale talks about the benefits of working as part of a company.
Keeping a role fresh on stage every night
How do you keep a role fresh?
An actor's dressing room
Lesley Manville talks about the dressing rooms at the National.