Right, first things first, my name is Ed and I’m… an actor? I am now, anyway… at least for the time being. Truth is, I was perfectly happy to work behind the scenes on such things and have done for ten years. I trained and working in the film industry for a decade and worked as an Assistant Director and Producer, having only dreams of finding a job as a writer and/or director.
Then I discover impro, (improv to Americans and improvised comedy to people that don’t worry about abbreviating so much) and everything changed. I went from an Assistant Director trying to learn how better to write with other people to a property developer that was trying to fund his increasing impro habit.
You might notice I talk about it as if it is an addiction. It kind of is. From the first exercise or game that we played in the Beginner’s Class at Hoopla Impro, the first laugh we got was 1) a huge relief, because I was terrified and 2) a huge adrenaline rush. By the end of the beginner’s course, I had done what I set out to achieve. But it was so much fun! It always looked like fun when I watched Whose Line is it Anyway as a child, but I had no idea it was so much fun! Relentless fun. I looked forward to it all week and my face ached from laughter at the end of the night.
18 months, two more Hoopla courses, several weekend workshops and even a couple of courses with Second City and Upright Citizen’s Brigade, and I’m in a comedy group. It’s called Giggle Loop. We perform improv, showcase improv and even do things like podcasts and YouTube videos (www.giggleloop.co.uk plug plug).
Now… this doesn’t necessarily make me an actor. I did a bit of acting at school and university, and there is acting involved in improv comedy, but there is a vast difference between making things up on the spot and learning lines, crafting someone else’s character, and the painstaking (I assume) rehearsal process of theatrical acting.
But Steve Roe, founder of Hoopla Impro, will occasionally post acting opportunities on his Facebook community group. He’s done it before, and I thought, “that might be fun”, but I never had the guts to audition, really. I have just always considered myself a member of the crew, rather than the cast. That was the role I played for a decade. I just always had these pegged as “not for me, that’s for people who can actually act.”
Then Steve Roe posted this little beauty, William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead by John Heimbuch, a play that portrays William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I and Francis Bacon facing a zombie apocalypse at the Globe. A friend of Steve’s, called Steve Tanner confusingly, is part of an amateur dramatic society called the Southside Players, (which has done everything from All My Sons to ‘Allo ‘Allo) and they were putting on this play and were looking for actors.
I thought to myself, this sounds like fun! And for once my anxiety was not huge. I thought to myself, “when do you get two chances to be in a play like this?” Zombies and Shakespeare? Chances are, you don’t. So I thought something that I have thought a lot since I took up impro. “Screw it. Why not? Let’s do it!” So I emailed Steve and auditioned.
I received sides in my email (that’s what we call individual pages or scenes for audition purposes, by the way) and I did my best to prepare for them. I had no idea which characters I would be auditioning for, so I tried to learn what I could and make a few rudimentary choices for some of the dialogue. And I tried to make the similar choices that help me when I’m on stage in an impro scene. Things like, “react here, come in with an emotion there. Higher status here, lower status there.” And so I auditioned… And to my great surprise, given the fact that I haven’t been in a scripted play since I played the Ghost in my school production of Hamlet, I got the lead! I was cast as William Shakespeare!
Truth be told, I have never been cast as the lead in ANYTHING on stage! I would always be cast as a character role, or a supporting character (usually the one with the strongest moral compass for some reason), so I was absolutely thrilled! I thought I would be cast as Shakespeare’s Friend 2 if I was lucky, not the bloody lead!
And I always wanted to be the lead, just once, especially in a Shakespeare play. It’s a bucket list thing, and it can’t be just mine. And then I read the script, and it is essentially a Shakespeare in Love-style comedic imagining of the Globe’s workings behind the scenes where Shakespeare’s surroundings inspire his later works, but with additional zombies. But what this means is that the script is almost a greatest hits compilation of some of Shakespeare’s greatest speeches! Ever wanted to say “goodnight, sweet prince” on stage? It’s there! In a way… That’s enough for me! More bucket list stuff.
And what’s more, the script is actually really good. The roles are meaty and, to my slight relief, it’s really an ensemble piece. Every character gets their moment, so its going to be really fun to play foil to some other actors. I just cannot wait.
I’m so frigging excited! I can’t wait to get started. But it’s going to be something incredibly new to me. It is not something I am used to at all, and my frame of reference for creating characters is totally different to how an actor is meant to prepare. So that’s what this blog is going to be about. An Improviser Prepares… I’m not sure if I’ll go with that title but it kind of sums up how it feels. I’ll chart the process that we are going through, the process I will go through. And maybe even try to keep the view from an improviser’s perspective. It is my greatest source of experience for this, after all, and already slightly at odds with the idea of learning a script.
I’ve been an improviser for almost two years and a filmmaker for ten, to a certain extent, I’m not sure what I’m doing but at the same time I have never felt more ready. I’ve only met one or two people involved in the production so far, but I’ll meet the cast at our first read-through on Sunday! Let’s do this!
William Shakespeare’s Land Of The Dead is being performed at The Bedford in Balham from 28th-31st October. Tickets available now!
I Am Zombie Shakespeare 