There in The Speech Room at Harrow I found myself working through the lines of Marc Antony in 3.1 of Caesar. Tomorrow morning this’ll be 3.2. Honestly they are some of the most evocative lines in Shakespeare. Trying to find a truthful build through the prophecy that lets him cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war? That’s the sort of thing that requires life behind it. I’m up for it now. But it isn’t going to be a free lunch. Antony does bollocks all in the first half. He doesn’t need to, his friend who he adores is running the show. He only clicks into gear when those idiots do him in. But when he clicks in he clicks in hard. And for a period in the middle of the play his heart is exposed by the shock of losing his best friend, and simultaneously his ambition is exposed knowing that he could lose everything he’s built if he doesn’t act smartly and decisively. 3.1 and 3.2 you see conflicting sides of a true statesman, coming to terms with a personal loss while establishing how to exploit things to his advantage.
I’ve only got a few weeks to learn this and learn it well. There’s only a few sessions to stage it. Some of the Old Harrovian Players are still actors, others have never been and never would be. There are at least two octogenarians in this show. One of them is in the House of Lords and asked if he could play the Soothsayer. He won’t have any rehearsal, but I’m sure we will all beware the ides of march.
I’m here as one of the actual practitioners. There are always a few of us. I thought I’d walked away for good but I’m sad and want something to focus on and I’ve always wanted an excuse to learn Marc Antony as those speeches always get me – the structure of the funeral oration with the mix of rhetoric and heart, no surprises it’s famous, it is made up of heart. But therefore it needs to be known by heart. So there’s an end to my spare time for a few weeks and that’s probably for the best as I’m not sure I’d be able to look at myself if I finished Skyrim by the end of the summer.
It’s going to be a nice bunch. Caesar is a Guildhall lad which helps with the easy love.
I’m home. Early in tomorrow. Weird but delightful. Onwards.
AlBarclay 