Time Passes

It's always a bit disappointing on a day when you're geared up to film, and you end up doing nothing.

At the ripe old age of five days away from my fifty seventh birthday, I should know that, but it still came as an immense disappointment after a two and a half hour train journey up to Liverpool, changing into costume, popping into make up, and sitting in the green room, when second assistant director Jamie came in with that look on his face that I could read instantly that said "your scene's been pulled". The fact that the cancellation was compounded by a false alarm that the scene was actually going to be shot and which came after I got out of costume and had my hand on the door of at taxi to leave the studio didn't make things any better, but these things happen. Even on the best planned shoots, scene orders can change and you can suddenly have an awful lot of time on your hands.

It's not a skill that they teach at drama school, but making the most of that time, And yet in being ready to go and shoot at a moments notice is all part of the discipline required when filming. 

These days filling the long hours when you're not needed is somewhat easier. There are few actors you won't find poking away with a finger at an iPhone, or iPad, or curled up with a kindle in their trailer. 

It wasn't that long ago when such digital stimulation was not so easily available. This week, in my series of conversations entitled "Off the Record" at the Actor's Centre, I had the immense good fortune to interview my old friend Douglas Hodge. During the conversation we both recalled our memories of appearing in"Salome's Last Dance" for Ken Russell in the late 1980s. Doug told a very funny story involving lots of green body make up, and a leather thong. He was playing John the Baptist who occupies a reasonably key role in the story of Salome. 

The First Nazarene however, has slightly less to do, and once I had been painted from head to foot in gold, I had slightly more time on my hands to fill. A lot of this time was occupied with a game called Boxes. We were introduced to it by the star of the film, Glenda Jackson, and quite often played it in the lounge of her dressing room at Elstree. Eighteen months or so ago I found myself filming at Elstree once more on a Channel 4 sketch show, and the fact that my dressing room was on the same corridor brought back many memories of hours spent playing Boxes on cold autumn days in 1987.

Boxes consisted of drawing a square grid of five by five. Each player selects a category - Type of food, Make of car etc _ and these are written in the boxes down the left hand side of the grid. The next player then selects a five letter word which is written across the top of the grid. A time limit, usually five minutes is then allowed for everyone to fill out their boxes with an answer beginning with each letter of the word. Then when scoring, if you have written something down that no one else has in that box, you score a point.

We loved it as a game and played it for hours. Once of the great dismays of my life was then to see a game marketed in a loud red box as "Scattergories". There, but with a little forethought and planning, would have been my fortune, though I now see that the games is only available now as an antique on Ebay.

I learnt how to do crosswords while waiting for rehearsals at Chichester......and I have tried to learn knitting, and failed miserably on more occasions that I care to remember. 

Patience is a virtue, and it's certainly a tool needed by an actor working in film and tv. So be it Angry Birds, blogging, innuendo filled texts, or just an old fashioned game of Patience itself, get something to fill your time, and keep your mind alert.

You'll be the better for it, and if you then go on to market it, you could probably earn yourself more money than you'll ever do filming.

A typical Boxes grid.