Polly Teale - Exploring the subtext of a work

We spend a lot of time in rehearsal investigating the subtext of the scenes. One of the exercises we use in rehearsal, described very simply, I'll clap my hands and the actors will physically express whatever they are feeling in that moment. So you know two people might be sitting drinking tea. But when I clap my hands somebody might be trying to murder somebody else, or somebody else might be so frightened that they are hiding under a table. So whatever it is that's going on at a subtextual level will be made completely visible physically. Then the actor has to cover it up when I clap my hands again and return to the scene. So they have to see what happens when that energy state has to be contained, has to be repressed and hidden. And what is very interesting about it is that you find it is still present, it's still palpable, it's kind of bubbling away underneath. And even if it only manifests itself in very small ways, in the way that you stir your tea or the way you finger the edge of your cuff, it is still palpable.