"Every Traitor Has The Face Of An Angel - Otherwise It Doesn't Work."

Second to last day of the workshop. Last day before showings tomorrow. So it was high demand to work onstage!

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Mike worked Prospero's final speech at the end of The Tempest.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have's mine own,

Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,

I must be here confined by you,

Or sent to Naples. Let me not,

Since I have my dukedom got

And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands

Mike sang the text like a lullaby (to be beautiful), but Philippe told him that is an exercise to open the actor, but not for performance. The text he did is "at the end of the show normally to get the audience to applaud" but they he did it "puts us to sleep."

"The actor at the end has to be charming. But charming doesn't mean Julio Iglesias necessarily."

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Charles worked on Iago again. 

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;

For I mine own gained knowledge should profane,

If I would time expend with such a snipe

But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,

And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets

H'as done my office.

At first he did it prancing around the stage, looking a bit strange - especially as he had makeup and clothes that made him look like a drag queen without a wig. Philippe said it was unclear why he was performing it in this way (even though he'd got Charles to do something similar last time he worked this monologue). Charles said for energy. "You can have energy without dancing."

Philippe then got Charles to recite a recipe in a plain, clear, business-like and emotionless way.

Polish Cocaine

You need:

1 x Bottle of ice cold Polish vodka 

1 x Small dish of coffee grains

1 x Small dish of sugar

Lemon slices cut in half

Pour the vodka in a shot glass. Dip one side of the lemon in the coffee grains, and the other side in the sugar. Drink the vodka. Then suck the lemon.

So Charles recited this recipe, then Philippe got him to say his text in the same way. This time it was much more simple, and although Charles slipped in and out of the way he'd told us the recipe, at times we saw beauty.

Afterwards Charles asked a question about rhythms - how to know which ones to play and when. Philippe spoke about how you have to find the best rhythm for each actor. "Nobody has the same rhythm." And the best combination of rhythms when there are two or more actors. This is linked to casting. e.g. These two actor's rhythms work well together. These two don't. (Opposite rhythms are often the best.)

"Buster Keaton - he has three rhythms. He does the whole universe with three."

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"You have to discover you in relation to the love of your spectators."

"When we love you, we are not embarrassed."

"If you have a great acting pleasure every character follows you."


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Franck worked on some text from Richard II.

Philippe got Franck to sit in a big relaxing chair with a turban wrapped around his head, and then to speak the text mocking English people trying to speak French. "Juh sweees Onglayz" This made him a bit weird, and so we started to dream a bit.

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BREAKING NEWS!!! RODRIGO CAN DO A CARTWHEEL! He got up as a 'performance', Philippe beat his drum, and then Rodrigo did a cartwheel. That was it. After 8 months of trying, he can finally do it! Woohoo!

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Maria did her Juliet in the style of the sword fight again. This time it wasn't the same. "I don't see you so much...I see more the fight than you."

He got her to dress in this beautiful black dress, to hold a white lace umbrella, and to walk as if she was a very important person strolling through El Retiro Park in Spain.

He also played Vivaldi's Spring Allegro whilst she walked.

The result was something slow and clear, but she could have had more fun. "Beautiful image. Beautiful music. Not too bad, but you could be better."


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Akron did the "Alas poor Yorick!" speech with skull in hand speech from Hamlet.

"You don't have fun, so it's boring."

Philippe asked Akron whether he thinks Philippe's jokes are funny. Akron said they make him smile, but "haha - no". So Philippe got Akron to say this in a private conversation with the skull. 

"We have to always see Hamlet / the actor having fun with someone."

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Steph worked on a scene in which she spoke to Anna whilst dancing with Andre. At first she spoke to fast - "voice like a washing machine." He got her to slow down and to perform with music behind her.

He also got her to do these ridiculously long silences. Long gaps between text. Really long. = A risk.

"If you take a risk a spectator is happy."


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Tom (Australia) worked on some text of Cassius in Julius Caesar:

Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as life not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.

Philippe asked "do you trust this guy?" H said we have to think Tom is a nice boy but what in the way he just did the text, he had the face of a traitor, and "every traitor has the face of an angel - otherwise it doesn't work."


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At the end of class Philippe spoke about the beauty of never quite knowing who somebody is.

‎"To be honest, I don't know who is Hamlet. I hope never I will know who is Hamlet, and I hope never I will know who I am...I prefer to stay with my ghost."