Brother Vs. Brother

Another combat rehearsal tonight. Andrew was a real trooper, working hard on several fights in spite of lot of exhaustion and stress. The Oswald/Kent fights were tightened up, and then much time was spent expanding the climactic fight between Edgar and Edmund. This is going to be a real roller-coaster: a prim and proper fencing match which quickly deteriorates into a knock-down, drag-out brawl. Nothing quite like the sight of two "brothers" rolling around on the floor together for 45 minutes.

Amidst such distractions, we also managed to do some monologue work, focusing mostly on Edmund's opening speech and Edgar's transformation into Poor Tom. Edmund, as I suggested earlier, is all about sex. It's his weapon, his privilege, his Goddess. Edgar is trickier; I told Max he has to decide whether Edgar is merely putting on a disguise, to be discarded later (once he regains his status), or whether he actually believes that this is his new life: a barking mad naked beggar. Is it a tactic, or a surrender? It's too early to say.

Finally, I had a great, wide-ranging chat with Helen (SM) and Keiran (Kent) about Shakespearean acting techniques, the Globe theatre, and why the Queen of England is so bloody hard to spot.