In the world of the play for MSND, we were trying to find specific movement languages to distinguish the mechanicals, the fairies and the Athenians. Here, the actor playing Peter Quince began to explore how a ‘bad actor’ might move. Notice his stiff limbs, awkward turns, overly resonant voice and unnatural leg stances. They are reminiscent of the pictures of eighteenth and nineteenth century actors. These had been researched and gathered by the ensemble and were displayed on the rehearsal room walls as we built the world of the play.

In the rehearsal room, it is important that your actors feel very comfortable to be silly, try things out and make the necessary mistakes that lead to important findings. Here, the director and cast worked with the idea of supporting the actor through playful ‘bravo’ and ‘boo’ when he displayed something that suited the character’s ‘bad acting’ choices. In this kind of playful setting, it can be useful to give quick, direct, doable physical and vocal directions in order to help the actor stay in ‘character’. This helps them go further in their playing and to remember what it ‘feels’ like physically to be in that character.