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Actor Shane Morgan reflects on the performer’s role in bringing a script to its feet for the first time.

As an actor, I always liken getting a new script to getting a new phone. When you first get it, it is completely alien. It’s brand new. It smells new. You don’t want to mark it; you handle it as if it’s got FRAGILE written all over it and reading it aloud for the first time is like trying out all the new ringtones – sometimes quirky, often generic but generally frustrating.

2010 was my first Script Space. The Lomax/Millingham team cast me in Andrew Scott’s Cry – a beautifully written take on two strangers’ brief but emotionally entangled cab ride over the Hammersmith flyover. Me as the cabbie, and the glorious Lucinda Holloway as a mysterious European passenger.

The FRAGILE element of the script didn’t last long. The nature of short pieces often leaves me a little cold, as I feel the journey of a character, the arc of the story or a number of other bugbears leave the audience short changed. This was not the case. As the journey of the character lasted the length of the journey of the cab ride, the conceit worked perfectly. It wasn’t a life condensed into 10 minutes, it was an episode - snapshot of an emotional powderkeg. As such, it leapt off the page. Exciting possibilities all round.

The rehearsal itself was a very informal affair. A couple of reads with Lucinda and Chris, the director. Some chair/taxi placement and steering wheel acting and we were done. The work proper takes place in between the first rehearsal and the tech. Know your script but don’t learn it – it’s a rehearsed read. Understand your character and make choices but don’t overdo it. It’s not Hamlet. All this being said, I had the easy job. London Cabbie who has a breakdown of the emotional kind; something that the RAC wouldn’t be able to help with. Lucinda had a whole new accent to learn.

The tech whizzed by in a whirlwind of efficient problem solving with an extra rehearsal for good measure. My new script was looking battered, strewn with notes and now smelt like my bag. The bonus was being able to spend the rehearsal time with the writer. For me, this is always a treat. An added insight into the world of the piece. Not just finding out why it was written but hearing anecdotes about who the character is based on, the history of the piece and the personality of the writer all just adds an extra layer to what we do.

The whole process never felt like work. It was well organised, a professional but informal set up. When I think of the evening itself I just remember laughing. A lot. We were all put at our ease by the team; we knew were in safe hands. The audience were up for an adventure and we gave it to them. And Lucinda’s accent was spot on. In phone terms, we found the perfect ringtone that people always ask you to Bluetooth to them.