 |
|
|
 |
What
a week!
Manuel Cauchi
Actor
and drama teacher Manuel Cauchi
prepares for King Lear, his toughest role yet
Interview by Zillah Bugeja
Monday
Up at 5.30am. I’m one of those strange animals, as soon as
the sun is up, so am I. But I always manage to fit in a siesta though
to compensate. I find early morning gives you time to reflect and
go over any problems. I’m quite a loner as a person so I cherish
those quiet moments on the beach.
This week I was on holiday from work. I am employed with the Drama
Unit of the Education Department, so it was the Easter holidays.
The first thing I did was to go through the whole text of King Lear,
the play I am performing in with Theatreworx in May. That took me
till about 7am. When I’m not reading a play I take the dog
for a walk down to the seaside to see the sun come up.
The dog is a cross between a put bull and a boxer. I bought him
from the Monti one Sunday, and I think I rescued him from a dog-fighting
fate. He’s so strong that I’m the only one who can walk
him – he can pull the boys along when they’re on their
rollerblades. Although tough, he’s a softy at heart.
I finalised a couple of blurbs for the papers and went straight
to the printers, having a snack while I was there. We had someone
drop out of the cast, so we had to make desperate last-minute changes
before going to print.
By five I was at the theatre, the MITP, part of the old university
buildings. By 11pm we had wrapped up, everyone was exhausted so
we went to Café Jubilee for a few drinks and to get a chance
to chat.
Tuesday
In the morning Stephanie and I went round the booking outlets, namely
Sapienza’s, the KKU Precincts Office at university and Agenda
Bookshop in Sliema. Had a nice lunch at La Sicilia bar in Valletta,
a good plate of pasta, indoors because it was too sunny. You see,
in King Lear I’ll be 80 with white hair, and it wouldn’t
look right if I had very dark skin too, too much of a contrast.
The role is a particularly tough one, for several reasons. First
of all no 80-year-old actor would have the stamina to play the part,
it’s highly demanding physically, and also because I will have
to portray the whole gamut of human emotions. The role is crueller
than the norm because you have to be 100% in the emotion, living
it.
I go over my part while in my studio at home. I’m lucky that
I have my den in the basement – I believe that it’s crucial
to any man’s life to have a sanctum sanctorum, not even to
have the wife come in and sweep the floor. My wife once decided
to arrange my books by size, I was livid! I even went to the expense
of getting my own computer.
Rehearsals at 5pm, had Renzo Spiteri the percussionist in and I
strained my voice over the storm. Basically I need to rest my voice
now for two weeks… yeah, right!
Wednesday
Around the shops asking them to display our poster. We distributed
about 200 of them. What we’d like to spread the news about,
is that the Thursday performance is especially for students, with
a reduced ticket price for them. We did this because King Lear is
the study text for English A level. We were asked if we were giving
reductions for those who hold the Karta Anzjan, but regretfully
we couldn’t.
Went to a couple of hotels to leave flyers at their reception desks,
and at schools of English. Missed lunch, the only thing I had was
a stir-fried chicken at Jubilee after 11pm. I’m normally a
one-meal a day man.
Thursday
Finished work on some adverts on my computer, graphics and all.
I was in charge of the poster and programme design. All the while
I was listening to my own voice saying lines. I do it while I sleep
too. I recorded the play months before. The important thing is not
to use any interpretation, because once it’s in your memory
you’ve lost the chance of re-interpreting. And you don’t
actually listen, just let it waft over you. You just need to know
that that word is going to follow the other word. I’ve been
using this method for years of learning lines. During Art, our last
production, I was already listening to my King Learlines –
there’s no way you can learn one-and-a-half hours of script
in a short time.
It took till about 3pm to erect 27 enormous mirrors on stage.
My son walked through a glass door and needed to have 10 stitches
– and my wife and I lost 10 years from our lives with the shock!
Took him to Capua, dashed home, quick shower, half an hour’s
siesta and back to the theatre.
Friday
The morning was spent with the wardrobe mistress May, seeing what
was needed – whether the colours matched, which trousers needed
taking up or letting down, and the ladies complained about what
they were going to wear. As in all tragedies lots of people die,
others get eyes gouged out (you do it with the thumbs) and the many
stabbings, so we had the make-up artist there too for the special
effects. With the audience so close, 15 feet maximum, the effects
will need to be good.
I checked on the bookings, which had opened two days previously,
and at home started phoning up the media as part of the marketing
process. Apart from the Lm500 spent on adverts in newspapers, it
is so costly to put up a production, so we have to do all the marketing
we can. We stand a good chance of losing a fortune if people don’t
turn up. You take the chance because you believe in something. For
the sheer beauty of classical literature you’re ready to risk
it. But you also depend heavily on sponsors. You’ve got to
get help just to break even.
I apologised to my son for not being there for his birthday and
rushed out to rehearsals.
For actors, the adrenalin builds up so much when things go well,
that’s why they tend to drink a lot! there’s no way you
can just finish rehearsal and go straight home and expect to switch
off. So I was off to Café Jubilee again to wind down a bit.
Saturday
By 9am I was up on scaffolding, putting up the cables for lights.
At this theatre, being that it’s a multi-function hall, all
wiring goes down after each event. That took me up till 1pm and
I managed to get to the national tourist office to hand out some
flyers. In the afternoon I went off to a hairdresser’s, because
the make-up woman asked me to see if I could get my hair bleached
white. In the tempest scene, there’ll be so much water on me
that the white ‘old man’ make up will come off. Anyway,
I learned that if I get my hair bleached, it will only go yellow.
Now if I’d been Scandinavian…
I prepared my CV for Norman Hamilton’s TV show Bla Agenda and
took along some photos of past productions. I don’t mind doing
TV slots, as long as the cameras have those indicator lights working
so that you know you’re looking at the right camera.
Sunday
Morning, had the first run of the play, starting at 9am. It was
pelting with rain and even hailstoned in Valletta for about 10 minutes.
The run through took till about 1pm and we went to Eddies for lunch.
Their ravioli are delicious, the sauce has tons of garlic and I
just love it. The place was packed. There aren’t too many eateries
in Valletta unless you want to spend loads of money.
Instead of my usual siesta, I slept for three hours. The rehearsal
had gone as well as expected: the not-so-evident problems become
evident and you find there are holes to be filled.
We finally decided how to split up the play, into three parts. We’ve
chopped off a good 30% of the play. Remember that in Shakespeare’s
time people went to the theatre for the whole day. it was originally
five acts with four intervals, and we’ve brought that down
to three acts. You can’t expect anyone to stay seated for hours
unless you rivet them… that’s what we aim to do.
Then it was time for the delayed birthday celebration for my son.
It was at TGI’s, his favourite place. That reminds me, many
people have been asking whether the play will be in Maltese. No,
it will be in English. I don’t believe that you can translate
the poetry of Shakespeare’s English into Maltese.
photo
by pippa zammit cutajar
|
|
|
