Different readings

Early rehearsals on a scene give actors the opportunity to experiment freely with the way they read their lines. In the first half of a rehearsal of the transformation scene in week 3, the actors sit round a table to read through the scene several times. Each time Jasper Britton (playing Jean) returns to the line "So—our friend Boeuf's turned into a rhinoceros. He's having us on—it's just fancy dress. It's just fancy dress," he gives a slightly different reading of the line.

After the tea break, the actors try the scene out on their feet. Jasper's reading changes considerably, partly because he now starts this line 'off-stage' in the bathroom, before following the stage direction "he pokes his head through the bathroom doorway".