The experience of playing multiple parts in a theatre production has been a part of my career from its very beginning.
My first professional job as an actor was with the now defunct English Shakespeare Company. When I joined them two days after graduating from drama school, they were doing a world tour of 'The wars of the Roses', the seven play history cycle going chronologically from Richard II right the way through to Richard III. My contract was a 'play as cast' contract. This essentially meant that I was obliged to play whatever they wanted me to as well as to understudy. I played a large assortment of servants, soldiers and Lords some (but not all ), with a few lines, as well as having some thirty six understudies to learn.
I loved every minute of it. Even playing these tiny parts I relished the challenge of making them all different . It made me focus on ways in which they were different from me. Their different energies, their voices, the way they moved. I loved it at the time and I've always relished it when I've had the opportunity to do so since.
