(♪ JAZZ DRUM SOLO)
MAN: So, what I'd like to do first, I think, let's do phrase one.
Let's run it first time, as slow as you want, for targets.
Yeah.
Second time for rhythm.
Then we'll actually run the whole thing a couple of times.
— OK. — Then we'll go on to the visceral bit.
Yeah? Cool.
The first thing is, obviously, the script, and in this script in particular
Shakespeare has, essentially, written the fight beats for you.
Good. Yeah, nice.
That thrust, that last thrust of yours
might need to be just a tiny bit lower than normal.
We had our first fight rehearsal about three weeks before the real rehearsals.
I think, learning it enough to make it natural
and play the intentions of each thrust, each stroke,
is what was difficult for me.
It was finding the truth of it,
beyond getting through
the 'And left, and right...'
So, say you, sir. Come on!
In many ways, it's the play in microcosm
because it's got all these formal ideas that button up the passion
and the urges,
— the appetites of the people taking part.
So, let's play it for the rhythm this time.
— So, looking for that ba-bum at the end.
Say you, sir, come on!
It's so easy to get into a very set — ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum — rhythm.
If I play a set rhythm, it says, "This isn't real."
Whereas, as soon as I'm taking things off the beat, it has much more reality to it.
— At the moment, it sort of goes, one-two.
Three-four.
I'd like to see if it could go, one-two three-and...
— One, two... — That's it. Then it goes...
Bam-bam-ba!
— Yeah! So, it's bam-bam-BA!
The rhythms of fights, I think, are really...
That's always a very interesting thing to play with,
just a slight change in tempo.
You know, it could be... As opposed to...
Or...
That's all, that's all, but as long as there's a... to the end point.
I like that. I like that side of it.
Kind of, you know, the jazz drumroll that can be slightly, slightly different.
— It's like line endings when we speak.
Push to the end of the line or the line doesn't make sense.
You need to push to the end of the attack.
— Or the attack doesn't make sense.
Up on me there. That's it.
I'm here. You knock me out the way.
Yeah. That's it.
It's brilliant when they are vocal about what they want or what they don't,
because they're the ones that have to do it every night, you know.
We talked about keeping it fresh
and one of the things is that...
..when they've helped create it, and I've sort of given structure to their ideas,
it's so much easier for them to play,
because it's their instinct rather than mine.
— One! — OK, yeah.
— That's better, isn't it? — Nice, yeah.
We know it well enough to make it look like
I'm just getting my sword there or there for a defence
and I've just decided to do that.
It's about those tiny little bits of air
that we sometimes allow within the kind of... quickness of the routine
that keep it fresh and make it look like it's the first time we've done it.
There needs to be just a little bit of forward movement
to make him...
With my job, the less you know that I'm there when you see the production,
the better job I've done.
You know, if you see two characters have a fight
and you think, 'Those two guys are really fighting,' I've done my job.
And one of the great things about this show
is that these two guys are just so phenomenal
that it's been a real joy to work with them
and to see where it's gotten to.
Great. There we go.