ation

Educ

The Royal Hunt of the Sun

OPENING: Olivier Theatre 12 April 2006

Background Pack

The cast
Peter Shaffer
Synopsis
Themes
Francisco Pizarro
Atahuallpa
Conquest of the Incas
Rehearsal Diaries:
Christopher Rolls, Staff Director
Israel Aduramo, Actor
Amit Shah, Actor
Interviews:
Anthony Van Laast, Choreographer
Reuben Hart, Costume props maker
Sources and links

The Royal Hunt of the Sun script (priced

£6.95) and a programme for the production
(priced £3) can be purchased from the National’s
Bookshop. A mail order service is available.
T: 020 7452 3456 F: 020 7452 3457
E: bookshop@nationaltheatre.org.uk
W: nationaltheatre.org.uk

photo: Stephen Cummiskey

The Royal Hunt This workpack is published by Director NT Education Workpack

of the Sun
by Peter Shaffer
Further production details:
nationaltheatre.org.uk
and copyright The Royal Trevor Nunn National Theatre © Christopher Rolls,
National Theatre Board South Bank Staff Director
Reg. No. 1247285 London SE1 9PX Editor
Registered Charity No. T 020 7452 3388 Emma Thirlwell
224223 F 020 7452 3380 Design
E educationenquiries@ Patrick Eley
Views expressed in this
nationaltheatre.org.uk Lisa Johnson
workpack are not necessarily
those of the National Theatre
Cast
THE SPANIARDS Manco, a messenger
MICAH BALFOUR
The Officers Inti Coussi, step-sister of Atahuallpa
Francisco Pizarro, Commander of the Expedition NATASHA BAIN
ALUN ARMSTRONG Oello, a wife of Atahuallpa
Hernando de Soto, Second in Command NATAYLIA RONI
DARRELL D’SILVA
Miguel Estete, Royal Overseer Other parts played by
PHILIP VOSS DWAYNE BARNABY, MARTIN CARROLL,
Pedro de Candia, Commander of Artillery DOUGLAS SCOTT FRANKLIN,
RICHARD LINTERN DANIEL LINDQUIST,
Diego de Trujillo, Master of Horse GEORGE DANIEL LONG,
GARY OLIVER ANDREW McDONALD, TEREL NUGENT,
MICHAEL TAIBI, OLIVER TOMPSETT
The Men
Old Martin Music played live by
MALCOLM STORRY Martin Allen (music director/percussion),
Young Martin Pizarro’s page: Old Martin as a boy Alan Brown (percussion),
TRISTAN BEINT Magnus Mehta (percussion),
Salinas, a blacksmith Rowland Sutherland (wind instruments),
BRADLEY FREEGARD Steven Edis (keyboards)
Rodas, a tailor
ANDREW FRAME PLACE: Apart from two early scenes in
Vasca Spain and Panama, the play is set in the
BRANWELL DONAGHY Upper Province of the Inca Empire: what is
Domingo now South Ecuador and North Western
JIM CREIGHTON Peru. The whole of Act Two takes place in
Juan Chavez the town of Cajamarca
TAM MUTU TIME: June 1529 – August 1533
Pedro Chavez
OWEN OAKESHOTT
Director
The Priests TREVOR NUNN
Fray Vincente de Valverde, Designer
Dominican Chaplain to the Expedition ANTHONY WARD
OLIVER COTTON Lighting Designer
Fray Marcos de Nizza, Franciscan Friar HUGH VANSTONE
PAUL RITTER Choreographer
ANTHONY VAN LAAST
THE INDIANS Music
MARC WILKINSON
Atahuallpa, Sovereign Inca of Peru Arrangements and additional music
PATERSON JOSEPH STEVEN EDIS
Villac Umu, High Priest of Peru Sound Designer
EWART JAMES WALTERS PAUL GROOTHUIS
Challcuchima, an Inca general Dialect Coach
ISRAEL ADURAMO PENNY DYER
Chieftain Company Voice Work
RALPH BIRTWELL PATSY RODENBURG
Headman of a thousand families Chorus Master
BHASKER PATEL DEREK BARNES
Felipillo, an Indian boy employed as interpreter Staff Director
to Pizarro CHRISTOPHER ROLLS
AMIT SHAH

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 Peter Shaffer
Peter Shaffer was born in 1926, one of twins,
in Liverpool, where he later attended prep
school. In 1936 his family moved to London
where Shaffer attended Hall School and St.
Paul’s School. From 1944 to ’47, he worked in
the Chislet coal mine, having been conscripted
as a ‘Bevin Boy’. Bevin Boys, organised by
Ernest Bevin, Churchill’s Minister of Labour,
were essential workers in service to the
country.
1947 to 1951
At Trinity College, Cambridge, Peter co-edited
with his brother, Anthony, the influential
student magazine, Granta. In 1950, he was
awarded a BA in History. During the following
year, Shaffer wrote the first of three detective
novels, The Woman in the Wardrobe, under
the pseudonym Peter Antony. He co-authored
the second and third of these with Anthony,
who went on to write the stage and
screenplay, Sleuth and became a successful
stage and screen writer.
1951 to 1955
Shaffer lived in New York and worked in a
variety of jobs, including a bookshop, an
airport, Grand Central Station, Lord and
Taylors department store, and the New York
Public Library. Shaffer has said in interviews
Peter Shaffer and Christopher Rolls
that he believed for a long time that his
photo by Catherine Ashmore
passion for creative writing could only ever be
a pastime, and that his daily profession had to
be something respectable. It was not until
after he had moved to London and worked at
Boosey and Hawkes music publishers that
Shaffer finally devoted himself to playwriting.
He completed his television play, The Salt
Land, in 1955.
1956 to 1960
From 1956-’57 Shaffer worked as a literary
critic for the weekly review, Truth, during which
time his screenplay Balance of Terror
appeared on television, and The Prodigal
Father was broadcast on radio. In 1958 he
wrote his first stage play, Five Finger Exercise,
which was directed by John Gielgud in very
successful runs in the West End and on
Broadway. The play won the New York Drama
Critics’ Circle Award for the best foreign play
of the ’59-’60 season.
The Sixties
From 1961 to ’62 Shaffer incorporated his love
for music into a stint as music critic for
London’s ‘Time and Tide’, and in 1962 a
double-bill of his comedies The Private Ear
and The Public Eye were staged in London.
The following year he wrote a screenplay for
William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies in
collaboration with the director Peter Brook.
The Royal Hunt of the Sun premiered at
Chichester Festival Theatre for the National in
1964, directed by John Dexter, before moving
to where the National was then based, the Old
Vic Theatre. Artistic Director, Sir Laurence
Olivier, commissioned Shaffer’s Black Comedy
for the NT’s 1965 repertoire. Shaffer now
divided his time between Manhattan and
London. In 1967 White Lies and Black Comedy
premiered in New York.
The Seventies to today
In the 1970s Shaffer wrote three major plays
for the stage: The Battle of Shrivings (1970),
Equus (1973), and Amadeus (1979), the last
two both for the National. Throughout his
career, Peter Shaffer has won many awards.
These include, in 1975, a Tony Award, and the
New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best
Play for Equus, as well as the 1981 Tony and
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Peter Shaffer
’81 Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play
for Amadeus. For his film adaptation of
Amadeus, Shaffer won the 1985 Oscar for
Best Screenplay. Following the success of
Amadeus, Shaffer’s biblical epic Yonadab
premiered at the National Theatre in 1985. In
1987 he was honoured with the title of Order
of the British Empire. The same year, Shaffer
wrote the comedy Lettice and Lovage for the
actress Maggie Smith. In 1989 Shaffer
returned to the radio with the BBC play Whom
Do I Have the Honour of Addressing? Since
then, Shaffer’s The Gift of the Gorgon has
been produced in London in 1992. Peter
Shaffer was knighted in 2001.

Peter Shaffer’s dramatic works:

The Salt Land 1954

Balance of Terror 1957
The Prodigal Father 1957
Five Finger Exercise 1958
The Private Ear and The Public Eye 1962 Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage
The Establishment 1963 Photo: Conrad Blakemore
The Merry Roosters Panto 1963
The Royal Hunt of the Sun 1964
Black Comedy 1965
White Liars 1967
The Battle of Shrivings 1970
Equus 1973
Amadeus 1979
Black Mischief 1983
Yonadab 1985
Lettice and Lovage 1987
This Savage Parade 1987
Whom Do I Have the Honour
of Addressing? 1990
The Gift of the Gorgon 1992
Footfalls 1993

Biographies / studies of Peter Shaffer:

Files on Shaffer (Writer Files)

Peter Shaffer
Peter Shaffer: Theatre and Drama

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 Synopsis of The Royal Hunt of the Sun
Act One: The Hunt
Having returned to Spain from the New World,
Francisco Pizarro and his company of soldiers,
priests and his second-in-command,
Hernando de Soto, arrive in Pizarro’s
birthplace, Trujillo, looking for new recruits to
take back to Peru in search of the fabled Inca
city of gold. The Spanish townsmen have
mixed feelings about this opportunity: whilst
some are keen to leave their poorly-paid jobs
and provincial poverty, others, like Rodas the
tailor, sense the dangers and hardship ahead.
Most are won over, however, by Valverde the
priest’s promise of absolution for all sins past
and to come, and the allure of the captured
Inca Felipillo’s gold adornments. Young Martin
Ruiz, whose head is full of romantic dreams
and codes of chivalry, is eager to enlist.
Discovering that Martin can read and write,
General Pizarro makes him his page.
Throughout the play, Martin’s older self acts as
our narrator.
Nine months later, on the day of Saint John the
Alun Armstrong as
Francisco Pizarro
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Evangelist, the company arrive in Panama and
find themselves in the cathedral having their
weapons consecrated for the campaign ahead.
The service is interrupted by Miguel Estete,
Royal Overseer, who has come along to keep
an eye on the project in the name of King Carlos
the Fifth. Pizarro, annoyed by this new
interference, suddenly has one of his recurrent
attacks caused by an old wound. Young Martin,
distressed at his master’s pain, rushes to his
aid. Pizarro warns the boy against clinging to
romantic ideals and tries to prepare him for the
coming hardships.
In the Inca court, Manco, a messenger, brings
news to the Sun God, Atahuallpa, of the arrival
of the Spanish. Challcuchima, Inca General,
and Villac Umu, High Priest, warn their god of
the foreigners’ intentions, describing with awe
their horses – an animal never before witnessed
by Incas. The counsellors warn him of bad
omens and portents seen throughout the
kingdom, and advise Atahuallpa to kill the
invaders. However, remembering a legend
about the coming of a White God, Atahuallpa
believes Pizarro to be a deity who must be
unharmed and welcomed by the Incas.
Penetrating further into the Inca Empire, in
Tumbes Province, the Spaniards capture a
Chieftain who reveals that all Inca gold is now
owned by Atahuallpa, son of the sun, after he
took it during a great war with his brother,
Huascar. Amazed and horrified by the idea of
god on earth, the Spanish priests try to
indoctrinate the Incas with Christianity. News
of this reaches Atahuallpa and further
convinces him that Pizarro is a god who
teaches the Incas to praise him. For six weeks
the Spaniards push through the great forest.
Some have their faith in the project severely
shaken, and Estete and the Venetian artillery
man, De Candia, question Pizarro’s
competence and sanity. Pizarro, meanwhile,
swears to find Atahuallpa and take his gold.
Escaping from the forest, the Spaniards
witness the first signs of Inca civilisation and
are amazed by the sight of workers toiling
harmoniously in the fields. They travel along
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Tristan Beint as Young Martin and
Darrell D’Silva as Hernando de Soto
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Synopsis
one of the great Inca roads, and en route a
Headman tells them about the collectivised
structure of Inca society. Challcuchima and
Manco confront the Spanish to deliver
Atahuallpa’s blessing and order to them to visit
him in Cajamarca, behind the Andes
mountains. When Pizarro learns that this is one
month’s march away, he vows his men will
make the journey. Estete advises Pizarro to
wait for reinforcements before embarking, but
the General ignores him, commanding Estete
to stay put and form a garrison with those
unwilling to continue. Pizarro and his followers
then begin the awesome feat of crossing the
Andes in full armour.
When they finally arrive in the eerily deserted
Cajamarca, Villac Umu appears before the
regiment. Pizarro tells Villac he is a god, come
to give Atahuallpa his blessing. Villac Umu
warns the soldiers to stay within the town as
tomorrow Atahuallpa will visit them.
Suspecting a trap, the Spanish begin to plan
their own military ambush. That night, they
make confessions to the priests. The following
day, after a long wait, the royal Inca procession,
unarmed, and with great ceremony, arrives.
With all other Spaniards in hiding, only the
priests and Felipillo greet Atahuallpa – handing
him a Bible. Not understanding ‘the Word of
God’, and angry that the god Pizarro himself
has not greeted him, Atahuallpa throws the
Bible to the ground. Outraged by this
blasphemy, Valverde calls on Pizarro’s aid and
Pizarro gives his men the signal to attack. The
Spanish proceed to massacre the Incas en
masse. During this, Felipillo assaults one of the
Inca’s wives, Oello. Atahuallpa is captured by
the soldiers and taken prisoner.
Act Two: The Kill
Young Martin is distraught at the sight of the
massacre. De Soto tries to explain to him how,
sometimes, it is necessary to kill in the name of
Christ, but the boy is not convinced. Pizarro
arrives and announces that he has sent De
Candia back to the garrison for reinforcements.
The three Spaniards, along with Felipillo as
translator, meet with the captured king for the
first time. But Felipillo wilfully mistranslates
Pizarro’s and Atahuallpa’s words, stirring up
anger between the two men. Young Martin has
been studying a little of the Inca tongue and
understands enough to inform his general what
is going on. When Pizarro further learns that
Felipillo intends to take one of the Inca’s wives,
he throws him out of court with a severe
warning and instates Martin as translator.
Young Martin tries to teach Atahuallpa how to
play cards. When the king learns that the lower
ranking cards represent the poor, and
comprehends the European idea of poverty, he
realises what the Spaniards have come for. He
bargains with Pizarro, “make me free, I would
fill this room with gold,” claiming that this can
be achieved in two months. De Soto warns
Pizarro not to accept the bargain, alerting him
to its consequences. However, the general
accepts, swearing to release Atahuallpa on
receipt of a room-full of gold. Young Martin
records the deal in writing. Atahuallpa sends
out a command across his empire for Inca gold
to be brought to Cajamarca.
Encouraged by his pledge, the Spanish grant
Atahuallpa more freedom in his palace,
allowing him to audience his nobles and wear
his splendid royal robes once more. The priests
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 Synopsis
Valverde and De Nizza continue with their
attempts to convert the pagan. In a theological
discussion, they try to explain the Christian
values of human suffering, with Friar De Nizza
declaring that, because the Inca kingdom is
free from want, its people have nothing to strive
for and therefore they are ruled by the Anti-
Christ. Atahuallpa dismisses this by asserting
the supreme power of the Sun God.
A month after the deal, closely guarded by
Spanish soldiers, Inca porters bring the first
beautiful gold objects with which to fill the
room. Pizarro tells Atahuallpa that the gold is
not arriving fast enough, and that the Spanish
fear a rising. Atahuallpa responds that not a
leaf stirs in his kingdom without his command.
De Soto is despatched to the capital, Cuzco, to
check all really is calm.
Pizarro and Atahuallpa, meanwhile, spend
more time together. When Pizarro accuses the
king of ignoring the priests, Atahuallpa accuses
Pizarro of also not believing their faith. When he
Paterson Joseph as the Sun God,
Atahuallpa, with the company
photo by Catherine Ashmore
proceeds to call Pizarro ‘robber bird’, Pizarro
reminds him how Atahuallpa killed his brother
to get the throne. Finally, as they realise that
they were both born illegitimate, a bond grows
between the two leaders. Atahuallpa honours
Pizarro by giving him one of his gold earrings
and teaching him the sacred dance of the aylu.
After another month has passed, De Soto
returns from Cuzco with more gold. He
describes the awesome sight of the Garden of
the Sun there, once full of the fantastic gold art
works which have now been taken as a king’s
ransom. Made greedy by the sight of a room full
of gold, the Spanish soldiers try to help
themselves before the official share-out. De
Soto barely manages to restore order. Whilst
celebrating the completion of the bargain with
Atahuallpa, Pizarro instructs De Soto to melt all
the gold down for transportation. De Soto
protests at the loss of art but Pizarro insists.
When Pizarro asks Atahuallpa to promise not to
hurt his men once he is released, Atahuallpa
refuses, saying that he will kill every man.
Alarmed, Pizarro decides to go back on his
word and keep the king prisoner. Shocked by
his hero’s lack of honour, Young Martin loses all
faith in Pizarro, who, gripped with the horror of
his own mortality, suffers a collapse.
Nine forges are kept alight for three weeks to
melt down all the Inca gold into bars. The
share-out between the Spaniards begins at
once. De Candia and Estete return to announce
that no reinforcements are on their way, and
demand to know when Pizarro plans to kill
Atahuallpa. Rodas, who has also returned, is
told that he will receive no part of the treasure
because he chose to stay behind with the
garrison. Morale amongst the soldiers begins
to deteriorate quickly, and they are soon
fighting each other. The officers round on
Pizarro, demanding he kill the Sun God as their
only means of escaping Peru alive. Pizarro
refuses, roping himself to Atahuallpa and
threatening death to anyone who comes
between them. Atahuallpa, however, dismisses
the officers and convinces Pizarro to let him be
killed and resurrected by his father, the Sun. He
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Synopsis
asks that a desperate Pizarro believe in him, as
a god, to accept this course of action. “Take my
word. Take my peace.” He then confesses
Pizarro in the Inca manner.

Atahuallpa is swiftly tried by a court of the

Spanish officers and found guilty of usurping
the throne, killing his brother, idolatry, and of
having more than one wife. His sentence is
death by burning. When Pizarro pleads that this
will leave no body for the sun to resurrect, the
sentence is commuted to strangulation on the
condition that the prisoner is baptised a
Christian. Atahuallpa, forced to accept, is
baptised by De Nizza. The Inca king is then
garrotted and his lifeless body placed at the
feet of Pizarro. A great Inca lament and the
prayers of the Spanish general fail to bring
Atahuallpa back to life. Pizarro laments his
own fate, the fate of mankind and the pain of
life as he cradles the cold dead body of the God
of the Sun in his arms.

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Tristan Beint (Young Martin)
and Alun Armstrong (Pizarro)
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Themes
PERU AND TODAY
Although the exploits of Francisco Pizarro and
his mercenary band of conquistadors have
become the stuff of legend for their daring and
brutality, The Royal Hunt of the Sun suggests it
would be a mistake to see them as fiction. In
different ways, the particular social and
political processes which set the conquest in
motion prevail today. Whilst on the one hand
Pizarro’s quest for gold can be seen as a
ruthless renegade’s grab for riches, it can also
be viewed as a symptom of an empire’s
aggressive foreign policy; an empire greedy for
foreign wealth and advantageous overseas
trade routes. Are we seeing a similar chain of
events unfold in the world today?
CHIVALRY AND ROMANCE: MEN WITH
MISSIONS
Shaffer indicates that history has the
dangerous habit of putting a romantic sheen
on ugly reality. He explores this through
contrasting the “little lord of hope”, Young
Martin, and the “old slogger’”Pizarro. The
general is brutally frank about his greedy
intentions as far as his expeditions go, and
when recruiting in his home town of Trujillo he’s
at pains to make clear the hideous “darkness
and screaming” which must be endured for the
prize of “uncountable wealth”.
For Young Martin, however, the power of
romantic dreams is too strong to deter him. The
boy is steeped in the European romance
literature and chivalric tales of sixteenth
century writers such as Don Cristobal. These
embodied the values of a feudal society which
had flourished and was dying out as social
classes became less rigidly fixed and society
as a whole more mercantile. These knightly
values and codes of conduct would later be
satirised in the first modern novel, Cervantes’
Don Quixote. In this story, when there are no
longer any dragons to kill, an old knight is left
pathetically tilting at windmills.
Throughout history, leaders have sold military
aggression to the people with the promise of
honour and glory. One could argue that with
phrases like ‘collateral damage’ there exists in
today’s language of liberation the ghost of
chivalry. We went to war with Iraq, for example,
to ‘liberate the Iraqi people’ from a barbaric
regime. Whatever the outcome and real
intentions of our leaders, the rhetoric of
nobility, chivalry and honour, as well as the
supposed threat of the ‘enemy’ was what sold
the campaign to the nation. The state’s
celebration of the military by rewarding brave
soldiers with ribbons and medals hasbeen
increasingly overshadowed by the stark fact of
body bags secretively returned home, of
prisoner abuses by coalition forces, of soldiers
shooting innocent civilians.
The play demonstrates that the problem with
fighting for causes is that as soon as you spill
blood in their name, they have the mysterious
tendency to evaporate. It shows the noble
people fighting those causes to be flawed
humans after all. And that after the brave fight
there comes the inevitable dirty share-out.
FREE TRADE
It is not glory, of course, but gold that Pizarro
and his men are really after. For the Inca god in
Royal Hunt, gold is “the sweat of the sun” used
in a purely decorative way and is of value
primarily in terms of glorifying the Sun God, Inti
Cori. There was no monetary system in Peru,
but rather a system of exchange of goods
organised regionally among interlocking
groups of large families. The Inca Empire
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Darrell D’Silva and
Bhasker Patel in rehearsals
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Themes
therefore was organised along proto-
communistic lines whereby, from birth, an Inca
was required to be productive by performing
specific agricultural and social functions.
Diego exclaims how he’s never seen a people
“so happy to be working”; Felipillo comments
that they are stupid, “not different”, “all same”,
and the Headman describes to the astonished
foreigners how in old age each Inca’s needs are
provided for.
By comparison, the Spaniards have a very
individualistic greed for riches. It’s this that
drives them to such lengths. In Europe gold
was, as now, highly prized as a precious metal
for its aesthetic qualities but also in proportion
to its scarcity. As a material, gold’s intrinsic
value can be relied upon, relatively speaking,
compared to other commodities which are
subject to demand. Gold routes sprang up
across the world from old Europe to the New
World, as goods which were plundered or
bought cheap were shipped back for sale at
great profit at home. Needless to say these
trade routes were fiercely protected by their
owners against the intense ravages of foreign
competition and piracy. The English in the
sixteenth century, for example, fiercely
coveted Spain’s hold over the ‘Spanish main’
in the Caribbean: a channel of vast wealth back
home.
As soon as a commodity like gold enters a
market its value fluctuates according to need
or desire for that commodity and the amount
that is available. As Spanish and European
hunger for gold grew, the greater the pressure,
of course, for increased quantities to be
shipped back. A modern analogy might be the
‘black gold’ or oil desperately needed to power
our western industrial economies. The need for
cheap oil has fuelled US intervention in the
Middle East as it requires direct access to this
precious resource. It is important to remember
that whilst Pizarro’s plans were motivated by
personal greed and a desire to overcome his
poverty-stricken origins, he was responsible
for establishing Lima, a port which enabled the
export of wealth from the New World.
Communist, or closed economies, have always
been the enemies of western free trade as
markets are not available there to be exploited.
The twentieth century was full of instances of
the world’s super-power, the US, forcing
socialist or communist regimes to collapse in
order for ‘free trade’ or open market economies
to exist and be exploited.
RELIGION
“This is a heathen,” says Valverde, the
Dominican priest, to the sceptical Spanish, “A
being condemned to eternal flame unless you
help him. Don’t think we’re merely going to
destroy his people and lift their wealth. We are
going to take from them what they don’t value,
and give them instead the priceless mercy of
heaven.”
The Catholic church in sixteenth-century Spain
was an omnipotent force which intervened in all
matters of the crown, and was also an
organisation with vast assets; one that, by
various means, collected money from people
through taxes, indulgences and tithes, to keep
the clergy in the manner to which they had
become, aggressively, accustomed. As is the
case today in certain countries, church and
crown were intimately linked, so that, as De
Soto states, the entire mission was executed
under the banner of ‘Spain/Christ.’ For Young
Martin these ‘gods’ too are blended. Old Martin
calls him ‘Bodyguard of Christ’. One of the
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 Themes
themes of The Royal Hunt of the Sun is the
Alun Armstrong (Pizarro) and
shattering of this illusion.
Oliver Cotton (Valverde)
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Today, as in the sixteenth century, the language
of religion reduces phenomena to polarities:
Good and Evil. This binary opposition, of
course, is a closed system of thought. To
Valverde and De Nizza, steeped as they are in
the dogma of damnation and salvation,
anything that is not Christian – and more
specifically Catholic – cannot be, by definition,
good, and therefore must be evil. The
questioning of Catholic doctrine was leading to
the challenging of its tenets in Europe and
would result in Luther and the Protestant
Church which, in turn, would go on to cause
dispute and civil war in many nations by
aligning itself with secular, political tensions
(Northern Ireland, for example).

The number of disputes motivated by religious

belief in the world today appears to be growing.
The reasons for this must be many and
complex. Whilst some claim that religious
organisations bring financial and spiritual aid to
others through acts of charity (as witnessed in
the aftermath of the tsunami, or in Rwanda, for
example), others believe the rise of religion, as
opposed to spirituality, to be a bad influence,
claiming that it forecloses the freedom of
rational thought. By stepping outside the
closed loop of seeing things in terms of good
and evil, in The Royal Hunt of the Sun Shaffer
seems to be saying that Pizarro saves his own
soul by experiencing a secular, humanitarian
redemption with Atahuallpa, but therefore
sacrifices himself to the Spanish beliefs which
damn him to hell. At the end of his journey,
therefore, he is finally free, but also in deep
mourning.

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 Francisco Pizarro (c1425–1541)
Francisco Pizarro
image sourced from
www.peruembassy-uk.com
With breathtaking ruthlessness, guts and luck,
the Spanish explorer and conqueror Francisco
Pizarro defeated the Inca Empire and claimed
most of South America for Spain. Pizarro also
went on to establish Peru’s capital city of Lima
as a gateway for the export of the country’s
riches, and paved the way for Spanish culture
and religion to dominate South America. In so
doing, Pizarro conquered the largest amount of
territory of any military leader and delivered the
most riches to King and country with the
smallest expenditure of men and resources.
Pizarro was born the illegitimate son of a
professional Spanish soldier. According to
anecdote, he worked as a pig farmer before
joining up with the military in his early teens.
There is no evidence that he received formal
academic or military training, and it’s most
likely he was illiterate. The few rare documents
that survive in his hand are badly composed
and spelled. It is also likely that Pizarro had
very little soldiering experience before setting
sail for Hispaniola in 1502. Upon his arrival in
the New World, he served as a member of the
Governor’s military detachment on the island,
and in 1513 took part in the Vasco Núñez de
Balboa expedition to Panama which
‘discovered’ the Pacific Ocean.
Pizarro remained in Panama as a coloniser, and
from 1519 to 1523 served as the Mayor and
Magistrate of Panama City. During this period,
he amassed a small fortune, but the reports of
the vast riches captured by Hernando Cortés in
Mexico encouraged Pizarro to seek further
wealth. In 1524 – 25 and again in 1526 – 28,
Pizarro sailed south along the Pacific coast of
Colombia, following the rumour of a huge
Indian civilisation that possessed
unimaginable treasures.
Both journeys entailed extreme hardship for all
those involved. When Pizarro despatched a
subordinate back to Panama for
reinforcements late in the second expedition,
the Governor refused to continue support of
the costly venture and ordered Pizarro to return
home. According to legend, however, Pizarro
drew a line in the sand with his sword and
invited those who desired “wealth or glory” to
step across and join him in the continuing
quest. Thirteen adventurers did so, and after
the rest sailed back to Panama, Pizarro and his
small band continued south to find the Inca
Empire.
Pizarro returned triumphant to Panama with
gold, llamas, and a few Incas to confirm his
discovery. Despite such evidence, the
Governor decided that another expedition
would be too costly and refused to support
Pizarro’s plans. Pizarro immediately sailed for
Spain, where he convinced Emperor Carlos V
to finance the project. He returned to Panama
with an authorised coat of arms, the new rank
of Captain General, and the governorship of all
lands more than 600 miles south of Panama.
In January 1531, Pizarro set sail for Peru with
almost 200 dollars and around 65 horses. Most
of the soldiers carried spears or swords. Three
carried primitive firearms known as
arquebuses, and another 20 carried
crossbows. Four of Pizarro’s brothers joined
national theatre education workpack 12
 Pizarro
November 1533 Pizarro marched unopposed
into the Inca capital of Cuzco, and the Inca
Empire never regained its power.

The Spanish conquerors, especially the

original 13, greatly profited from their victory,
as did Spain. With fewer than 200 men, Pizarro
acquired most of present-day Peru and
Ecuador as well as the northern half of Chile
and part of Bolivia – more territory than all the
rest of South America combined. Within the
borders of the new territory there were 6 million
Incas and other native people – the majority of
South America’s population.

After his great victory Pizarro returned to the

An gold Inca mask coast and established the port city of Lima
photo © Bridgman Art Library
the expedition, as did his original 13
from which to export his gains. It was here that
supporters, including fellow soldier Diego de
Pizarro, now in his sixties, met his death not
Almagro and a priest, Hernando de Luque.
from the Indians but from within his own ranks.
In 1537 his former partner Diego de Almagro
By June 1532, Pizarro had established a base
believed he was not receiving his rightful share
of operations at San Miguel de Pirua, on the
of the Inca riches and turned against Pizarro,
plain south of Tumbes, when he learned that
who captured and killed his adversary. In
the Incas now had a 30,000 man army under
retaliation, on 26 June, 1541, Almagro’s
the leadership of Atahuallpa. Undaunted by
followers broke into Pizarro’s palace and
these overwhelming numbers, Pizarro and his
executed him.
few followers pushed inland and crossed the
Andes mountains, a mighty feat in itself.
Pizarro’s amazing accomplishments
Pizarro’s small army occupied Cajamarca and
established Spanish control over most of
invited Atahuallpa to a meeting. The Inca
South America. It would remain that way for
leader, who believed the invading general was
more than three centuries, until the liberation
a semi-deity, arrived with three or four
movement of Jose de San Martin and Simon
thousand lightly-armed bodyguards, little
Bolivar. Spanish customs, language and
impressed with or concerned about a Spanish
customs prevail to this day throughout most of
threat.
the continent.
Not bothering to talk, Pizarro attacked. Using
Audacious, ruthless, cruel and unscrupulous
arquebuses and leading with the cavalry, in less
are a few of the words that describe Francisco
than half an hour the Spaniards slaughtered the
Pizarro. Luck, too, proved a decisive factor in
Inca warriors and took Atahuallpa prisoner.
his success, because the Incas made no
attempt to destroy his army during their
Ironically, the only Spanish casualty was
crossing of the Andes, nor made any specific
Pizarro himself, who was slightly wounded
military effort to defend their Empire. Pizarro
while personally capturing the Inca chieftain.
had the advantage of a few firearms,
Pizarro demanded a ransom for the Inca King
crossbows and horses, but logically his 200
and received gold and silver worth, at that time,
men should not have been able to defeat an
millions of dollars. Nevertheless the newly rich
army of more than 30,000. However, they did.
conqueror did not release Atahuallpa; he chose
And Pizarro joins the few whose military
to execute him and instal his own puppet
influence literally changed the course of history
leader Manco II as chief of the Incas. In

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Pizarro
and the future of a continent and its peoples.

PIZARRO’S LEGACY
Historians have often compared Pizarro and
Cortés’ conquests in South and Central
America as similar in style and career. Pizarro,
however, faced the Incas with a far smaller
army and fewer resources than Cortés, who
operated from the greater distance of the
Spanish Caribbean outposts that could easily
support him. This has led some to rank Pizarro
ahead of Cortés in the battles for conquest.
Although Pizarro is known in Peru as the leader
behind the Spanish conquest of the Inca
Empire, a great number of Peruvians regard
him as an historical criminal: someone vilified
for going back on his word and for his ruthless,
inhumane tactics.

In the early 1930s, the sculptor Ramsey

MacDonald created three copies of an
anonymous European foot soldier resembling a
conquistador on horseback with helmet and
sword. The first copy, which was offered to
Mexico as a representation of Hernándo
Cortés, was rejected. Since Pizarro was similar
in appearance, with helmet and beard, the
statue was taken to Lima in 1934. The other
copies of the statue reside in Wisconsin, USA,
and in Trujillo, Spain. In 2003, after years of
lobbying by indigenous and mixed-race
peoples requesting the statue of Pizarro to be
removed, the Mayor of Lima approved that the
statue be removed to another place: a square
adjacent to the Government Palace. Since
2004, however, the statue has been placed in a
rehabilitated park surrounded by recently
restored 17th century pre-Hispanic murals in
the Rimac District.

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 Atahuallpa Sapa Inca (reigned 1532–1533)
By the 16th century the Inca Empire had seen
years of strong leadership. Huayana Capac,
the Inca in power when the Europeans began to
arrive in South America, was respected and
admired throughout his empire. Both Huayana
and his designated heir most likely died of
smallpox introduced by the colonisers. The
ensuing war of succession took place between
the two main pretenders to the throne,
Huayana’s sons Huascar and Atahuallpa.
Huascar may have been named the new
emperor, but no records remain to confirm he
was the intended heir. Regarded as ugly, bad-
mannered and half-mad, Huascar was known
for his cruelty, and came close to murdering his
sisters and mother. Nonetheless, he was well-
liked in the southern regions of the empire.
Atahuallpa, on the other hand, was chosen to
govern the northern territory known as the
Kingdom of Quito which was located in
modern-day Ecuador and southern Colombia.
After a few years of relative peace, war broke
out between the two brothers. It is estimated
that 100,000 people were killed in their
Atahuallpa, played by Paterson Joseph
Photo © Catherine Ashmore
bloodthirsty dispute which was known as the
‘War of the Two Brothers’. After many struggles
Atahuallpa finally defeated Huascar. In fact,
Atahuallpa teetered towards insanity and
treated his victims terribly. Under his rule, Incas
were known to have stones dropped on their
backs to cripple them, foetuses were ripped
from wombs, and bodies stuck on spikes for
display. Nearly 1,500 members of the royal
family were cut up in front of Huascar, including
his own children.
After sending Huascar to prison, Atahuallpa
took the throne, but he paid a terrible price for
his cruelty as it contributed to a great
weakening of the empire. It was precisely at
this crucial moment in the empire’s history that
the Spanish conquistadors under Pizarro
arrived, and after three long expeditions, had
already established the first Spanish
settlement in north Peru, calling it San Miguel
de Piura in July, 1532. Pizarro sent his fellow
conquistador Hernando De Soto to explore the
land and soon returned with an envoy from the
emperor Atahuallpa, bringing presents and an
invitation for a meeting with the Spanish.
FACT AND FICTION
An important part of Shaffer’s plot for The Royal
Hunt of the Sun revolves around Atahuallpa’s
belief in Pizarro as ‘The White God’, a semi-
deity who, according to Inca legend, would
arrive in peace and blessing. “If the White God
comes to bless me, all must see him.” It is this
belief that enables Shaffer to develop much of
the theological discussion in the play.
However many historians believe that the Inca
Atahuallpa was only ever planning a meeting
with the Spaniards order to destroy them and
keep only those who would be of benefit to his
armies: the horse breakers, blacksmiths,
gunsmiths, and even the expedition’s barber
who, according to his spy, had the magic
power to make people feel better.
Unlike his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma II,
Atahuallpa knew that these men were not gods
or divine representatives. After all, their actions
were not what one would expect of such
national theatre education workpack 15
Atahuallpa
presences. His complacency, perhaps drawn Huallpa (1533), Manco Inca Yupanqui (1533-
from the fact that there were fewer than 200 45), Sayri Tupaq (1545-60), Titu Cusi (1560-71),
Spanish as opposed to his 80,000 soldiers, and Tupac Amarú.
was what sealed his fate. According to a
leading Peruvian historian as reported to INCA BELIEF AND MYTHOLOGY
Michael Wood in the PBS documentary ‘The Inca mythology includes a number of stories
Conquistadors’, “Atahuallpa was planning to and legends that help explain or symbolize Inca
have Pizarro for lunch, but Pizarro had him for beliefs. The Christian priests that followed the
breakfast.” Spanish conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro
burned the records of the Inca culture, which
SAPA INCA had been kept on knotted cords called Khipus.
The rulers of the Inca Empire (Quechua: One current theory is that the Khipus
Qhuapaq Inca) used the title of Sapa (‘the only represented a binary system capable of
one’) and Apu (‘divinity’). Leadership systems recording phonological or logographic data. All
in the Inca Empire were structured in two tiers information we have about Khipus, however, is
entitled the hanan (upper), and the urin (lower), based on what was recorded by priests; the
in keeping with the ideal of duality. The leaders iconography on Incan pottery and architecture;
of the two moieties ruled together and were and the myths and legends which survived
ranked equally, even though the hanan leader amongst the native peoples.
had greater prestige and therefore dominance.
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, INCA FOUNDATION LEGENDS
the supreme leader of the empire of the hanan Manco Capac was the legendary founder of the
half was called the Sapa Inca. This concept of Incan Dynasty in Peru, and the Cuzco Dynasty
duality was incomprehensible to the Spanish, at Cuzco. The legends and history surrounding
whose post-war chronicles only recorded the this mythical figure are very jumbled, especially
name of the Sapa Inca and his ‘queens’. They those concerning his rule at Cuzco and his birth
ignored the urin. and rising. According to one legend, he was the
son of Tici Viracocha. In another, he was
Urin dynasty brought up from the depths of Lake Titicaca by
the sun god Inti. However, commoners were
• Manco Capac c1200 not allowed to speak the name of Viracocha,
• Sinchi Roca c1230
which possibly explains the need for the two
• Lloque Yupanqui c1260
foundation legends.
• Mayta Capac c1290
• Capac Yupanqui c1320
There were several myths about Manco Capac
and his coming to power. In one myth, Manco
Hanan dynasty
Capac and his brother Pachacamac were sons
• Inca Roca c1350 of the sun god Inti. Manco Capac, himself, was
• Yahuar Huacac c1380 worshipped as a fire and sun god. According to
• Viracocha c1410 this Inti legend, Manco Capac and his siblings
• Pachacuti 1438 – 1471 were sent up to the earth by the sun god and
• Tupac Inca Yupanqui 1471 – 1493 emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo
• Huayna Capac 1493 – 1527 carrying a golden staff called ‘tapac-yauri’.
• Ninan Cuyochi 1527 They were instructed to create a Temple of the
• Huascar 1527 – 1532 Sun in the spot where the staff sank into the
• Atahuallpa 1532 – 1533 earth to honour the sun god Inti, their father. To
get to Cuzco, where they built the temple, they
After the Spanish conquest there were several travelled via underground caves. During the
more Sapa Incas before the Inca leadership journey, one of Manco’s brothers, and possibly
system dissolved completely. They were Tupac a sister, were turned to stone.

national theatre education workpack 16

Conquest of the Incas: a timeline
PERU

1000 – 1200 AD Manco Capac founds Cuzco

and the Inca kingdom

1438 Pachacuti begins major conquests

1471 Tapac Yupanqui conquers most of

modern Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, half of Chile
and parts of Argentina and Columbia

1493 Huayna Capac becomes the eleventh

Inca

Macchu Picchu in the Andes

1521 Portuguese adventurer Aleixo de Garcia
photo James Sparshatt
is the first European to set foot in the Inca
Empire 1535 Lima, Peru is founded by Pizarro

1522 Spanish begin exploration of the Peruvian
coast
Nov. 1524 – 25 Pizarro’s first voyage to river
San Juan
March 1526 Contract between Pizarro,
Almagro and Luque
1526 – 27 Pizarro’s second voyage
1535 – 37 Almagro’s expedition south to Chile
April 1536 Great Inca revolt: Manco rebels
against the Spanish
1537 Manco establishes new Inca state in
Vilcabamba
1538 Almagro is captured and executed by
Pizarro faction

1527 Smallpox enters Peru
April 1528 Francisco Pizarro lands at Tumbes.
Epidemic kills 200,000 people, including
Huayana Capac
July 26, 1541 Pizarro is murdered by followers
of Almagro’s son
1544 Murder of Manco II by Spanish
renegades; new leader is Sayri Tupac

1528 – 32 Civil war between sons of Huayana:
Huascar and Atahuallpa. Atahuallpa wins
May 16, 1532 Pizarro marches into Inca Empire
Nov. 16, 1532 Pizarro ambushes and captures
Atahuallpa. Atahuallpa offers ransom of gold
July 26, 1533 Spanish execute Atahuallpa
Nov. 15, 1533 Spanish enter Inca capital of
Cuzco
March 1534 Pizarro crowns Manco II as
puppet Sapa Inca
1558 Sayri Tupac joins the Spanish
1558 – 71 Titu Cusi rules in Vilcabamba
1571 Tupac Amaru succeeds Titu Cusi
1572 Spanish conquer Vilcabamba. Tupac
Amaru, the last Inca, is captured and beheaded
1780 Revolt of Tupac Amaru II
July 28, 1821 Declaration of Independence
from Spain
1824 Peru gains independence from Spain

national theatre education workpack 17

 Rehearsal Diary
by Christopher Rolls, Staff Director
WEEK ONE
We start rehearsals with the full company of 33
performers who will be playing the Spanish
conquerors and the Inca conquered. Trevor
Nunn introduces Peter Shaffer, who talks about
how he came to write the play: how he got ill
and was confined to bed for a spell and wanted
to read a good, long historical biography. He
happened to choose one about Francisco
Pizarro, and the seed of a play was planted.
Peter also talks about the organisation of the
Inca society and its communistic principles,
and compares the Spaniards’ Catholicism with
the Incas’ Sun worship.
The actors read through the play, and as they
do so, begin to formulate many questions
about how they will realise the now famous
stage directions, including: ‘They cross the
Andes,’ and ‘The Spanish massacre wave after
wave of Incas.’ The play demands a particular
performance style to reproduce this epic
journey into the heart of the Inca Empire; a
journey that is both metaphorical into the
unknown and the unconscious, as well as a
geographical journey of physical trials. Trevor
introduces the performance style that will
represent these different levels: ‘poor’ theatre
of simple but magical effects in the style of the
Peking Opera, with references to the circus.
Fight rehearsals
Without more ado, the designer Anthony Ward
photo by Christopher Rolls
introduces his model of the set, a circular
wooden playing area surrounded by benches –
a robust storytelling arena which will enable us
to shift between Royal Hunt’s various locations
at speed. Trevor points out that the large
upstage gold chamber, which is an integral part
of the action’s architecture, resonates with the
Elizabethan playhouse with its multiple
entrances and tiring house. Anthony Ward also
presents the company with his wonderfully-
flamboyant and detailed costume designs: the
soldiers admire the rakish cut of their 16th
century uniforms, and the Incas goggle at their
vivid feathers, masks and loincloths.
WEEK TWO
Research. Trevor and the choreographer,
Anthony van Laast, look for movement made
by the actors and dancers with which to create
a performance language. Through
improvisations and exercises they amass
material that they will later mould into key
moments of the action. This requires a great
deal of open-mindedness and creativity from
the actors. The exercises are partly designed to
create a close bond between the performers,
who need to work very closely as an ensemble
if they are to achieve the required techniques to
tell this epic adventure story. Small groups of
actors are asked to imagine that they are
crossing a rope bridge, scaling a mountain,
traversing a ravine, toiling in a field, fighting
their way through dense forest, and so on.
Anthony van Laast begins work in earnest on
the dance and movement sequences. These
include Atahuallpa’s first royal procession to
meet the Spanish in Cajamarca, the dance of
the workers in the fields, the Spanish massacre
of the Incas, and the two processions of gold
(the Inca king’s ransom). Anthony explores
contrasting movement styles, the Incas
expressing themselves through
synchronisation and unison, whilst the
Spaniards execute highly individualised
movements. Each morning, he leads gruelling
half-hour warm-ups with the company,
promising ‘flat bellies’ and ‘match fit’
performances from everyone by Press Night.
Initial groans and aches give way to healthy
competition. Everyone realises that climbing
national theatre education workpack 18
Rehearsal Diary
the Andes is not for the faint-hearted.
We begin to work through the play from the first
scene, analysing the text closely and figuring
out how the scenes move from one to the next
on stage. The play demands that we move
quickly between very different locations, such
as Trujillo, Panama, Tumbes, Cajamarca,
without confusing our audience. Trevor brings
to hand his experience of directing
Shakespeare plays which have an equally epic
scope and fluidity of action. The actor Malcolm
Storry begins to sense how his narration of Old
Martin fits into the overall sweep of Royal Hunt,
and how his character threads the scenes
together – a role of no small responsibility.
WEEK THREE
Trevor describes in more detail the historical
and cultural background of the play. In
particular, he outlines how the Conquistador
expeditions to the Americas were motivated by
evangelical Catholicism on the one hand (the
zealous desire to “alter the heathen” as
Valverde states), and the mercenary hunt for
treasure on the other. In reality, these two
seemingly contradictory missions were inter-
locked in the Spaniards’ minds. Every gold bar,
hectare of land, and life taken by the
conquerors was done in the names of Christ
and Spain.
In the 16th century, King Charles V’s empire
was a polyglot place made up of various
conflicting races and religions trying to assert
their supremacy. Not vastly different, in fact,
from the state of the Middle East today. It is
important for the actors playing the Spanish
characters to remember this evangelising
mission as the justification for their actions
abroad. They slay in the name of faith and to
liberate the Incas from their dark pagan
idolatry.
Further into the play, we explore how its
structure dictates the choices we make in
terms of staging. Some scenes – those with a
ritual importance, for example – require a large-
scale ceremonial staging, employing the full
resources of the company in the space; whilst
other more intimate scenes, such as the
confessional exchanges between Pizarro and
De Soto, require a downstage, ‘close-up’
focus. The director has a lot of experience of
working on the Olivier stage and knows its
rules. This affects many of his decisions
regarding the placing of actors.
WEEK FOUR
We begin to work on the scenes which use one
of several large silk cloths which create effects.
One cloth will be pulled over the stage at the
end of Act One to chillingly represent the blood
shed in the massacre of three thousand Incas
by the invaders; another gold cloth will be
pulled down from the sun chamber to show the
finely crafted Inca gold being melted down into
ingots, in preparation for shipment back to
Spain. The mountainous range of the Andes
will be represented by a cunningly-twisted silk
cloth, and there are experiments with ways the
fabric can be held aloft on poles to create the
awesome scale of what the script describes as
“a curtain of stone”.
Trevor Nunn and Alun Armstrong begin to look
in detail at and unpick the image sequences in
Pizarro’s more poetic speeches. In each Act,
there are two key scenes in which Pizarro
opens his heart to his second-in-command:
the night before the ambush of Atahuallpa in
Cajamarca, and Pizarro’s final scenes. Actor
and director discuss Shaffer’s famous use of
language in lines like “The sky sees nothing,
but you saw.” As long as the actors are alive to
the poetic meanings they will transmit them to
the audience. Another point for discussion is
the antitheses in the language and how they
must be stated with urgency as fact and not
opinion. For example, when De Soto says “Well
if he [Atahuallpa] does [return to his people]
they’ll be fighters again. And we’re for the
limepit”, the audience must hear this, not as
one man’s opinion, but as an important point of
plot that motivates the Spaniards’ actions.
Other issues of language are confronted in
rehearsals. We discuss the convention that
Shaffer has given the soliders for swear-words,
saying “pissing” instead of anything more
national theatre education workpack 19
 Rehearsal Diary
vulgar. The author tells us that this was
intentional, at the time of writing, for getting
around the censor, the Lord Chamberlain. He
turned the swear-words into a single stylisation
which is used throughout. The other theatrical
convention we have to face is the issue of
translation in the scenes between the Spanish
and Incas. In the early scenes, before he is
replaced by Young Martin, this role is filled by
Felipillo who begins by talking in Quechua,
then in English, and then with stylised hand
gestures. The challenge is to show that the
scenes are being translated without
foregrounding the fact in a distracting way.
Amit Shah, playing Felipillo, and Tristan Beint,
playing Young Martin, try various degrees and
styles of translation to discover the best.
WEEK FIVE
As usual at the National, each principal role has
an understudy who is cast from within the
production’s own company. When time
permits, therefore, I take understudy rehearsals
in parallel with the main rehearsals to get the
actors up to speed for an understudy run which
will happen 10 days after opening night, and to
prepare them for the eventuality that they may,
if required, go on. This proves to be an
interesting exercise as the actors must fit into
The musicians the overall production in the style of the
photo: Christopher Rolls principal actors on the one hand, but also
discover their own particular interpretations of
the characters.
Terry King, Fight Director, joins us to work on
two important sequences which require his
expertise. The first is the sword fight between
Atahuallpa and Pizarro in Act Two – a fight
which is friendly but energetic and will use the
full stage. The performers are also required to
negotiate the tricky drum lift in the centre of the
stage which will tilt forwards whilst the actors
are fighting. A strictly worked-out pattern of
thrusts and parries is co-ordinated so that the
fight looks convincing but is absolutely safe.
The second fight sequence takes place
between all the soldiers over the gold. This is
more of a riot, really, a brawl that has to be
broken up swiftly by De Soto.
WEEK SIX
Finally, at a point during week six, we start
running longer sequences of scenes together,
and, towards the end of the week, whole acts.
At last we begin to see how the scenes move
into each other and how this affects entrances
and exits; where some places need tightening;
and how scene changes, where there are any,
work practically. The lighting and sound
designers are involved in this process, as now
is the time they get a sense of the production’s
shape and what cues will be required. Other
members of the National Theatre’s
departments, such as costume, wigs, prop
makers, music and education also arrive to
watch the fruits of our labours so that they can
see the practical requirements in performance
of their own efforts.
An important part of the overall production of
course is both the live on-stage and off-stage
(recorded) music that will help take us on this
epic journey. Dressed as Incas, the on-stage
musicians underscore much of what we see.
During these final sessions in rehearsal, they
begin to add more music cues, written by Marc
Wilkinson, who composed the original score,
and Steven Edis, as well as sound effects such
as bird calls and forest sounds. This requires a
lot of patience from everyone as we edit the
action and music together with much fine-
tuning.
Likewise, the actual costumes and props,
nnational theatre education workpack 20
 Rehearsal diary
another key element in this production, start to
arrive and replace the makeshift versions
we’ve been getting accustomed to in
rehearsals. The Spaniards have to get used to
their swords and armour, which is no small feat
considering the physical exertions they will be
required to perform regularly over the course of
three hours. Before we move into the actual
theatre, it feels as if many individual pieces of a
giant jigsaw puzzle which have been finely
crafted are carefully being slotted into place.
PRODUCTION WEEK
Arriving, finally, in the theatre can feel like a
welcome gasp of fresh air after the creative
hothouse of the rehearsal space, but it is
always a little odd for the actors, even though
they saw the detailed model of the set in the
first week, to transfer their moves into the ‘real’.
Generally speaking, however, the activities of
the last eight weeks begin to make a lot more
sense to the actors as distances and heights
take on their actual dimensions. Inevitably
there are gasps of comprehension as we
realise just how vast the Olivier is, and how
demanding, both vocally and physically. All the
important voice work that Patsy Rodenburg
and Derek Barnes, Chorus Master, have
conducted is suddenly of extra special use.
Technical Despite the best laid plans in Rehearsal Room
rehearsals
photo: Christopher Rolls
1 at the National, the theatre also demands
some adjustment of staging so that the
sightlines are clear. The Olivier is particularly
demanding in this respect, requiring an
inversion of the principle one would usually
apply in an end-on proscenium-arch theatre.
Instead of placing the key speaker in a scene
up-stage of his or her listeners, on the Olivier
you have to place them down-stage. This
means they will be seen by those sitting in the
side sections of the auditorium, and also forces
the actor to sweep in a greater arc when turning
from one side to another, thus making their face
visible to the majority of the house.
As expected with such a technically-audacious
show, the production week (‘technical week’)
for The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a very detailed
and rigorous process, running on two parallel
lines of work. The actors rehearse the play in
their actual circumstances and, crucially, the
designers adjust lights, sounds, costumes and
set at the same time.
PREVIEW WEEKS
At last the play is on its feet, and we now have
public reaction to tell us how sturdily our show
is pitched and paced. What we suspected in
rehearsals – that the Second Act is in danger of
feeling marginally different from the First due to
the more intimate nature of its scenes – has
indeed been palpable through varying levels of
audience attention.
Trevor suggests different possibilities for giving
the second act more energy and drive. He feels
it’s important that we, the audience, feel the
Inca king’s incarceration more fully. In the first
three previews, whilst Atahuallpa is confined by
manacles, he remains in a very open space.
Before the fourth preview, therefore, we
experiment in rehearsal with having Spanish
soldiers on stage during these early scenes.
Atahuallpa’s ‘cell’ will be skirted by an armed
guard which will remain in place until the gold
bargain is struck with Pizarro and he is granted
greater freedom.
This is a prime example of how a production
grows and evolves throughout the preview
performance period. What subjective opinion
tells you in the rehearsal room is often affected
national theatre education workpack 21
 Rehearsal diary
by the heat of the audience’s objective scrutiny.
In places you least expect it, there might be a
tangible slackening of spectator attention;
whilst moments you might consider relatively
uneventful are given a whole new lease of life
by a certain laugh or gasp. An audience
teaches creative team and cast alike things
about a play as nothing else can.

We’re reminded, therefore, that a theatre piece

is never a fixed thing, and nor should it be.
Perhaps, for those involved, it is a comforting
idea that it should be; after all, it’s important for
an actor to be sure that night after night the
lines, cues, sets and costumes will be
consistent. The truth, however, is that live
performance, by its nature, carries with it a
degree of risk. Something takes place in time
between three elements: the actors, the
audience, and the space. As we head towards
opening night, Pizarro’s words about the “trap
of Time” ring in our ears. What’s true for him is
true, also, of the theatre. For each and every
performance, an ensemble of actors will
recreate the conquest of Peru.

PatersonJoseph
and Alun Armstrong
photo by Catherine Ashmore

national theatre education workpack 22


Israel Aduramo
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Actor rehearsal diary - Israel Aduramo
Israel Aduramo is the actor playing
Challcuchima, Inca General.
WEEK ONE: GETTING TO KNOW THE TEAM
AND THE PLAY
“How can I speak now and hope to be
believed?”
On arriving at the National on 6 February 2006,
a career ambition was being realised in more
ways than one: being an NT actor, acting on the
Olivier stage, being directed by Trevor Nunn.
When I entered rehearsal room 1 (the only room
in the theatre that comes close to the size of the
Olivier stage), it was packed with actors and
staff welcoming Trevor back to the NT after
some three years’ absence. I began to realise
the significance of this production and this
particular play, especially when Peter Shaffer
arrived. All of a sudden I was in the presence of
theatre greats.
Introductions over, we started to talk about the
world of the play and Inca history. This lost and
destroyed civilisation, this structured world,
was more noble and advanced than its
conquerors. The Incas were at peace with
themselves – more than can be said for Europe,
or more particularly Spain. Europe: a continent
of avarice, lust and rebellion, which thought it
noble to tame the “Inca savages”. The question
we were about to have answered was, Who
was taming who?
As the week progressed we found that we
would need to make creative choices regarding
accent, posture and movement, because most
of the references would have been destroyed.
In the world of dance and musical theatre,
Anthony van Laast is a significant name. As
choreographer for this production, he started
some of the company on a rigorous exercise
regime, to prepare them for the energy levels
needed to pull off this production. We part-
improvised various stages of the play and from
there, found a stylised medium of theatrical
communication. We also looked into the Inca
centre of gravity – we all have different centres.
Because the Incas lived at high altitude in the
Andes, we knew they would be very capable of
running long distances and scaling mountains
quite quickly.
WEEK TWO
We sat down to read the play and heard why it
had stood the test of time. We discussed the
genesis of the Inca civilisation. Amazingly, it is
not too dissimilar to our own.
We also started exploring Inca dialect with
Penny Dyer (dialect coach). One feature that
developed was that the Incas are all the same,
there is no individualism, apart from with
Atahuallpa the Sun God, and maybe his high-
ranking court officials, Villac Umu (high priest),
Challcuchima (general), and his wives. We all
wanted to be on the same sound board
regarding our accents and again, as with the
physicality, the geography of the Incas dictated
the musicality of the accent. Features include a
boundless energy on the upper range, great
muscularity, space and width, a lofty openness
to the face, expression from the eyes,
lengthening of vowels and plosive consonants,
lightness of vocal tone and range, and alert
senses. Discoveries like these would continue
for the next five weeks.
The Inca language is Quechua. When spoken
quickly it sounds like the chattering of birds.
The tone and accent are that of the Amerind
(south and central American Indian). Our
accent also has a slight Peruvian element to it.
national theatre education workpack 23
Actor rehearsal diary - Israel Aduramo
WEEK THREE
By the time we reached the third week, we were
still experimenting with dialects and
movement, but little by little Trevor began
moulding and shaping position, and cutting out
a shape and a language that would make a
great story even better.
We were introduced to the Inca laments and
the chants to the Sun God, which involved
intense rehearsals and a good understanding
of how they used drums. We didn’t want to
sound European at all, so we had to learn to
use a different vocal resonance and sound. It
took some getting used to: this work would
also continue up to previews.
The question I was asking myself was, How do
you take an intelligent NT audience and
transport them from the South Bank back to
north-west Peru in the early 1500s? I think the
answer is to find authentic Inca sounds,
musical and vocal, that have not been heard
very often – or ever before.
WEEK FOUR
We were now in full swing. Costume fittings
had started and they were truly amazing to see,
again another layer to inform us of this opulent
civilisation. Anthony Ward talked to us at length
about the reasons for what we were wearing,
and after great research and analysis, he
presented his drawings, which brought huge
smiles to all our faces. Well, I was most
definitely pleased!
Challcuchima means general in Quechuan. It is
a position of status and stature. An Inca
general would be the ear of the Sun God
Atahuallpa, with messengers and heads of
families all over the Inca empire reporting back
to him. A general was part of the royal court,
which was a position of great honour. Above all,
he would prove to be a fearless warrior chosen
by Atahuallpa himself. However disloyalty
would result in death. My job was to assimilate
all the information and research I had into the
character and make him a real life figure. So
began the work of memorising lines and freeing
myself of the script.
WEEK FIVE
Understudy rehearsals began. Being cast as
Challcuchima was already a great honour. Also
understudying Atahuallpa was a major
challenge, yet very exciting. I started watching
Paterson Joseph (Atahuallpa), not to copy his
work, but to understand his mental objectives.
After all, being a nunderstudy does not mean
that you are a robot simply following move
upon move. You are an actor giving your
rendition of a role, therefore bringing your own
heartbeat to the character, albeit within the
same directorial parameters.
WEEK SIX
We were now getting into the finer details of the
play. Our Inca speech rhythm was now setting
in. From here on, we would begin really
clarifying the story and filling the dramatic
beats with energy. I was now starting to see my
Inca General take a strong and vibrant shape.
Coupled with my costume and long black Inca
hair, Challcuchima became an imposing
character and understandably a General of
note.
WEEK SEVEN
We looked deeper and deeper into the play and
characters as we did run-through upon run-
through of the play.
TECH WEEK: Week Eight
We would now see how the play looked under
lights, with costume and make-up and music.
An epic play in an epic theatre. ‘Techs’ are for
all departments to plot the FX, sound, lights; for
Costume to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’; for Trevor to say
‘cut that, add this...’ and for the cast to feel
secure on stage in that space. Before we know
it we are into previews – what will the public
think? Will they cry, laugh? This is the mystery
of theatre and I would not have it any other way.
I love being a story-teller, affecting people's
emotions and giving them food for thought.
This is already an experience I will never forget.
national theatre education workpack 24
 Actor rehearsal diary - Amit Shah
Amit Shah plays Felipillo
“You’re auditioning for the character of Felipillo
in The Royal Hunt Of The Sun”, my agent said.
“He’s an ‘interesting’ character; in some ways
he reminds me of Gollum from The Lord of the
Rings!” When I was eventually offered the role
four days before rehearsals commenced, I
could not believe my luck in landing such an
opportunity. Come Monday morning I was at
the National, surrounded by an amazing cast
and creative team, being directed by Trevor
Nunn and knowing I was going to perform on
the Olivier stage.
On top of all this, we had the honour of going
through the whole process with the support
and guidance of the playwright, Peter Shaffer.
After our first read-through, the whole
company sat in complete silence, listening to
why he began writing about this period in
history and how such an innovative production
was received when first performed in 1964. I
vividly remember being taken aback when he
used the term ‘rape’ to describe the way in
which the Incas were treated by the Spaniards:
a powerful word to sum up the injustices that
the ‘wonderfully sophisticated and intriguing’
culture experienced during the invasion.
I had read in an article that when the play was
Amit Shah in rehearsal
originally staged in 1964, the Spaniards and
photo: Catherine Ashmore
Incas were initially rehearsed separately,
perhaps to achieve a sense of division between
the two groups. There was an element of this in
our initial rehearsal period, which I think helped
us as performers to understand the huge
difference between the two cultures. However,
our first week saw us work together as a whole
company in exploring ways of telling the story
physically with the creative guidance of
Anthony van Laast, our choreographer. We
explored scenes through improvisation, mime,
music, dance, rhythm and sound – elements
that make up what we now call ‘total theatre’.
Most of our work and discoveries made in this
first week were eventually used and
incorporated into the final production.
As we moved on to the text in the second week
I joined the Incas in exploring a dialect for such
a group of people. With our dialect coach,
Penny Dyer, the challenge was to find a way to
apply the Peruvian Indian accent to our
dialogue in the play, the majority of which was
in English. The studies and recordings
available of ‘Quechua’, the language used by
the Incas, are limited. So we looked at how
certain aspects like the environment and
surroundings affected dialect, in particular the
mountains and the quality of air.
Language played a vital role with my character.
As stated in the play, Felipillo “adopts a set of
stylised gestures for his interpreting, in the
manner of sign language”. My character is
unique in that he is connected to both the
Spanish Army as an interpreter and the Inca
society where his origins lie. Therefore he is the
link in terms of language when the two cultures
meet. Through rehearsal I experimented with
different styles of sign language. I did not want
it to be as sophisticated as sign language used
today for the deaf. I wanted it to be appropriate
to my character within the play, therefore I
decided to make it cruder and in a sense, larger
than life; perhaps as something that Felipillo
could have invented himself. Through the
rehearsal period and previews I began to see it
as a form of story-telling through use of hands,
facial expression and indeed the body as a
whole.
As we worked through the play over the next
few weeks, the whole process was a bit like
national theatre education workpack 25
 Actor rehearsal diary - Amit Shah
painting a picture. We started off with a basic
outline of staging, entrances and exits and then
added layer upon layer of different elements
that made the scenes visually and emotionally
engaging. As we began to link scenes together
and run the play in its entirety, I began to make
useful discoveries about my character. When
my agent had mentioned Gollum, I think she
was referring to Felipillo’s ‘hysterical nature’.
Through playing the scenes, Felipillo seemed
increasingly like a character who was not
emotionally stable. His frustration at being
enslaved and viewed as an outsider to both
cultures reaches a climax in the second act. I
found that this affected his inner tempo and his
physical presence. As he loses his connection
to the Inca culture and experiences his
downfall, he loses all control, reverence and
dignity in his physicality.
In week seven, we reached a point at which we
had the advantage of running the play three
times before our dress rehearsal. For each run-
through Trevor asked us to place a different
focus on our performance. Our first attempt
was an opportunity to work with the musicians
and to get a sense of the play as a whole. For
the second run, Trevor encouraged us to ‘take
more risks’ in our performances, with particular
Tristan Beint,
reference to pace and energy. In our final run
Alun Armstrong and
Paterson Joseph we had an opportunity to concentrate on the
in rehearsals ‘acting’, our individual intentions and character
photo Catherine Ashmore relationships.
In the eighth week of our rehearsal period we
moved into the Olivier Theatre. The set was no
longer a scaled-down model that was shown to
us in rehearsal room and the costumes were no
longer sketches on A3 sheets of paper. The
designer, Anthony Ward, and his team had
made these aspects a reality. It was a great
feeling to finally be in the space and it was our
job to become accustomed to the realities of
our performance space, in particular regarding
being heard and understood by the audience.
We were able to work on this with the National’s
resident voice-coach, Patsy Rodenburg.
Our technical rehearsal period was a lengthy
but nevertheless essential process to make us
aware of the practicalities of working with the
set, wigs, costumes, swords and other props
and, of course, lighting and sound cues. These
were all aspects that added to the production’s
visual quality. During the technical rehearsal, I
learnt more than ever to trust the director.
Trevor had a very definite awareness of the
whole production, and in particular how it
looked. Even though the process at first may
have been slow and seeming not to take shape,
all of a sudden it did.
Throughout the rehearsal period and previews I
was discovering the play and, specifically,
certain lines, on new levels each time we
performed. Each night I was going home with a
different line resonating in my head. I
remember one day being in absolute awe of the
simplicity of one of Pizarro’s speeches:
“What else is God but what we know we can’t
do without? The sun is the only God I know. We
eat you to walk. We drink you to sing.”
I found myself asking the same questions that
Pizarro does. The play as a piece of writing and
the ideas it deals with, I think, are timeless. The
relevance of the piece became very clear to me
when Atahuallpa is killed at the end of the play
for being identified by the Spaniards as the
‘Anti-Christ’. At that moment this play may be
set in the 16th century, yet in 2006, claiming the
justification of killing another human in the
name of God is not such an unknown subject to
us.
national theatre education workpack 26
 Interview - Anthony van Laast
How did you get involved in the project?
Trevor phoned me up and started telling me
about the project. I’d seen The Royal Hunt of
the Sun because we’d done a school
performance of it in the sixties and I’d still
remembered the show very clearly and what it
did to me, how it had affected me at the time. I
was looking back at my school days and what
plays I could remember and actually this is
probably the only one I did remember. It had a
really serious effect on me then. Trevor started
to explain to me what he was going to do with it
and I said, ‘Trevor, you don’t have to explain
anything. I think it’s a fantastic project. If you
want me to do it: I’m there.’
Can you remember some of the reactions
you had when you first saw it? You must
have been quite young?
Yes, I was about 14 or 15. I can’t remember
anything other than that they’d turned the
school theatre the wrong way round and
performed it on two different levels. I can
remember the look of the stage now and I can
just remember being deeply moved by the
evening. More than that I can’t tell you but I
remember that feeling very clearly. At that point
I wasn’t involved with theatre at all.
When you reread the play recently did it
Anthony van Laast
in rehearsal
surprise you at all?
photo Catherine Ashmore
I recalled the ‘primary colours’ of it – the simple
journey of the play and its visual impact. I
remember the end and I remember the
massacre especially. Certain moments stood
out. At that time, of course, I didn’t really follow
the political or theological arguments threading
through the play.
What is it like working on a project with
dancers and non-dancer actors?
Well it’s something I’m used to. I’ve directed
straight plays with actors but I came out of a
dance company and I used only ever to work
with dancers. You tell them ‘move left!’ and
they do. In a way dancers are mirrors to your
imagination as a choreographer. With actors,
the process is different. I can get a lot of
material out of the actors by working through
improvisation, for example. You’d never
normally do that with a dance company.
Improvisation with actors can be hugely
exciting if they’re fed the correct information
and they’re controlled. For me, it’s a very
rewarding experience. The director’s own
imagination couples with the actors’ to create a
third imagination. Suddenly something is born
that you could never have thought of before
you entered the rehearsal room. I see my work
with actors therefore as editing their
improvisations. You change or streamline the
material they produce and perhaps add your
own stuff too.
Have you been impressed by this specific
cast and the level of their inventiveness?
I have. The first week of rehearsals, which was
really a research week, was all about trying to
find a vocabulary for the show; I was impressed
by their open-mindedness and creative input.
You used an interesting word there:
‘vocabulary’. How has a movement
vocabulary developed for Royal Hunt of the
Sun?
We wanted to find ways for the Incas to move.
Before we went to into rehearsal, Trevor and I
were talking about how, in a way, Inca society
resembles a communist society. In movement
terms I was reminded of Chinese operas and
ballets in which hundreds of people often move
in sync at the same time. When you think about
the workers in the fields, they’re always
national theatre education workpack 27
Interview - Anthony van Laast
working in groups in unison. The Toil Song in
the play, for example, Trevor originally
discussed having the workers performing
different activities but we eventually decided
that the right language would be everyone
performing the same movements because that
best expresses the ethos of that society. With
the Spanish, on the other hand, what’s
interesting is that they’re all represented by
Shaffer as individualised characters; each rides
his own horse differently for example, walks or
runs differently. Broadly speaking, therefore, I
am interested in exploring the individuality of
the Spaniards but the group dynamic of the
Incas.
I’d observe that performing movements in
unison has a great theatricality about it. Why
do you think that is?
I remember something that Robert Cohan said
to me; he worked at London Contemporary
Dance Theatre. He said that unison is the
greatest theatrical weapon but should only be
used in moderation. You can have a group of
people all doing their own thing and then, BAM,
you can have the archetypal chorus line which
produces an enormous surge of pleasure. But
you should never have everything in unison. It’s
like shouting all the time, it means nothing in
the end. It’s one of the great theatrical weapons
though.
As a process, has working on this play been
something you’re used to or is it unique?
It’s a different process for me. I’m not really
interested in choreographing a dance to take
place in the corner of a straight play. This is
different however. There isn’t a large amount of
dance but there is a lot of ‘movement’ and I do
think I am bringing something to the whole
production. I hope that by the time the
production goes on it will have a strong sense
of its own style. Trevor will always bring style to
a show but I hope I can add to that.
Is the aim for dance and movement to be
organic to the action in this then?
If someone ever said, ‘oh, now here’s a dance’,
that would be catastrophic. It should all blend
in with the story as a whole. With something
like Mamma Mia! which took me five weeks to
choreograph, people came to see the play and
didn’t notice ‘dance’. If people come and see
Royal Hunt and think the dance elements are
an integral part of the story then I’ll have done
my job correctly.
One of the things you’ve been saying in
rehearsals is that the movement should stay
on the side of ritual rather than
choreography.
Well again that’s because the Inca society is
heavily ritualised. It has a lot to do with prayer
or obeiances. When the Incas are talking to
their god, Atahuallpa, there should always be a
sense of ritual. When you look at early
civilisations you see that all activities are tied to
prayer in some way – there’s a lack of
distinction. Working in the fields you would
pray for the rain to come, or do a dance for the
rain to come and you danced when you
harvested too.
We don’t know of course how the Incas
moved or danced. How do you start
therefore when you’re developing your
dance language? Do you research or do you
rely on intuition?
I looked at lot at the designer Anthony Ward’s
research pictures. But of course there are very
few pictures and what there are are primitive
and stylised. You have to create something
from these influences therefore. We don’t know
anything really; we don’t know how they spoke
but we have certain principles to work with.
Will you continue to work on plays?
I will as long as there’s a challenge in it for me
and it’s something I’m interested in. Physical
theatre is something I’m very intrigued by and if
done well it’s a phenomenal form of theatre.
Having done years of musicals I’m very used to
collaborating, it’s second nature to me. For
many choreographers in the dance world
collaborating is difficult because you solve
your own problems when you’re making a
piece. If you’ve come up with a solution and
then someone comes along and changes it all
you can think, ‘Hang on! That’s a solution to a
different problem!’ From my point of view,
whatever I’ve worked on, it’s all about team
work.
national theatre education workpack 28
 Making the costume props
Reuben Hart, NT costume-props maker,
interviewed by Christopher Rolls
Could you tell us about what you do here at
the National?
I make costume props, which essentially
encompasses accessories – anything from
millinery to jewellery to armour. Costume props
are basically things that are worn but aren’t
traditional costume.
Would they include things that people carry,
or are those technically props?
If they are part of a costume, yes, they’re
costume props. Sometimes I make masks or,
for instance, a cherub costume, comedy body
padding, which is coming up in a production
soon.
In your eight months at the National, how
many productions have you worked on?
Quite a few - five or six. Once in a Lifetime was
pretty big but I think The Royal Hunt of the Sun
is the biggest so far.
Much of this production of The Royal Hunt
of the Sun centres on the brilliance of the
Reuben Hart inhis workshop
photo by Lisa Johnson
costumes. Was that clear from the outset,
when Anthony [Ward, the designer]
discussed his concept with you?
Yes, absolutely. At our first meeting we looked
at the set, which is actually quite plain and
basic. Then we looked at the costume designs,
and again, the traditional aspects were quite
basic. But then you add the elaborate stuff, all
the gold, the headdresses and jewellery...
What immediately runs through your head
when you see the costume design? Do you
think, How am I going to do that?
That’s my job! Costume props is not an area
that many people have expertise in.
Sometimes a designer has an idea of the
costume props they want but often it’s not a
specific idea, nor will they necessarily know
how to make it, what the construction methods
should be. The designer will know that it has to
look like gold, for example. They’ll throw the
ball over to me and say, What do you suggest?
For Royal Hunt, Anthony and I talked, he said
what he wanted and what the feel would be. I
took the designs, came up with ideas and then
presented him with a selection of options so he
could see what suited. I do have quite a bit of
input in that respect. One of the big challenges
in this production was Atahuallpa’s big sun god
costume. Because of the sheer size of it and
the fact that the actor stands in it for quite a
while, we had to come up with solutions to
make it wearable, as well as fill the original
brief. Paterson [Joseph, playing Atahuallpa] is
quite static in that costume, he rarely moves.
We didn’t want it to be a supported thing that
he just stepped into: we definitely wanted him
to wear it. When he moves his head, the whole
thing has to move with him.
The moment when Atahuallpa is revealed is
fantastic. There’s obviously a huge amount
of gold in this production. Did you have to
think much about the materials you’d use?
I knew what I wanted to use – which is
eventually what we did use. Gold vac form
plastic. It’s actually very difficult to find, and
isn’t something you can buy in small amounts.
But we found it, thanks to the Royal Opera
House. They helped us out a lot with that.
national theatre education workpack 29
Making the costume props
Are you often in dialogue with other
companies or people in terms of ‘beg,
borrowing or stealing’ things?
I’m actually quite self-sufficient. I’ve been
doing this work for over eight years. You do
build up a sort back catalogue in your brain of
materials you’ve used or have seen used.
Actors need to feel that they can move
comfortably in their costumes. Interestingly
I had a conversation recently with the actor
understudying Atahuallpa [Israel Aduramo],
who wondered whether the mask would fit
him properly or whether he’d have his own.
The actors do like to feel in control. Is there
a lot of negotiation with them?
Yes, it’s one thing to make things look lovely,
but it’s another thing if someone can’t use it for
however many months the production runs. It’s
not an option to make something that doesn’t
work for them.
It must be tempting to go all out for big
costume effects and then realise the actors
need to act in them!
That’s the challenge and that’s what I love
about this job. I’ve made what you might call
‘inanimate’ props before, but this is far more
rewarding. The costume prop has to move. It
serves a purpose that is much more than just a
table, which you could shore up with steel
underneath to make sure it stands up on stage.
A costume prop has to move and work with the
body.
I’m sure there’s always a compromise
between the look that you want to get and
what you can actually use to make it. From
Anthony’s descriptions, what sort of
textures and materials were you inspired to
think about using?
Beaten metal, essentially. Anthony had some
reference to graves that had been found with
artefacts inside. These were things we could
look at and he liked the feel of. It’s always
easier when a designer asks for a prop ‘along
the lines of’ something else.
Gold is so shiny it already catches the light.
From the distance we have from the stage to
the audience, it will look like something, even if
it may not even ‘be’ that something. I used a lot
of string with which to make moulds for
Atahuallpa’s feathers, for instance.
Inca art has a naivety with a sophisticated
finished effect. That’s exactly what we tried to
do. We used very basic and low-tech materials
to create a quite spectacular look.
There’s also a time and budget aspect to the
work. We could have sculpted things in detail,
but the audience would never know that had
happened. We had to focus our efforts.
Did you have more to do for the Incas than
the Spaniards? Did you make the masks?
I didn’t make the masks. I opted only to work
on Atahuallpa and the principal Incas, because
of the size and the amount of costumes. It
wouldn’t have been possible to do the
Spaniards as well. At the beginning we didn’t
know how much armour we could hire, or how
much we could find. The principals’ armour is
made, the rest is hired or comes from the
National’s Props store.
The armour looks heavy, but is it plastic?
Yes, but it was worked on and brought
together with paint finishes so it all looks like
it’s from the same time and place.
Inca style was extravagant, and gold, to
them, was decorative with no intrinsic value.
You mentioned beaten metal, which has an
earthier lustre. I’m looking at an object with
a lovely beaten down finish. Was there a
worry that the gold could look quite cheap?
That comes down to the last process, which is
the ‘breaking down’, the painting, which takes
some of the shine off. It gives it a bit of age, a bit
of depth. This object, Atahuallpa’s gold cuff,
can look quite dirty, but you don’t see that once
it’s onstage. Most of these costume props are
broken down to some degree like that. Take the
cuffs, for instance. Breaking down brings out
the detail. This prototype version looks a bit
dirty and scruffy as we look at it here. But you
don’t see that from the auditorium: all you see
is an intricate object on stage.
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Making the costume props
Do you have a special breaking-down
procedure?
I send the items to the Dye Room, here at the
National. The team do most of the painting and
finishing. They have various magic tricks for
breaking down fabric, costume and metal.
What other departments do you work
closely with? Are you halfway between
Costume and Props?
Yes – I do consider this to be costume-making.
But it’s very different from what they do in the
workroom, the sewing area. I liaise with the
props department a lot – mainly to steal
materials and tools!
Royal Hunt is so physical, the actors put
their costumes through their paces. Does
this require constant maintenance? I’m
surrounded here by objects from the
production, are you working on them?
Yes. There’s wear and tear. And obviously
because they’re all plastic, they won’t last for
ages. But so far, they’re holding up pretty well.
Were there any unexpected challenges?
Not really. The costume designs were pretty
comprehensive for this production, although
not down to minute detail. On some
productions you might come up with
something with unexpected results, which
actually changes plans. On those occasions
you end up doing quite a different thing to what
you started off doing.
Are you working on the National’s
production The Voysey Inheritance?
I’ve done a few things for it. On Royal Hunt, the
items have been huge; on The Voysey
Inheritance, they’ve been quite small: earrings
and necklaces. It’s quite a jump in scale. I find
that here all the time. Before this, I was working
on Southwark Fair in the Cottesloe. I went from
making prosthetic hands to Inca gold!
What was the most bizarre thing you’ve
been asked to make?
The prosthetic hand. We bought a real medical
prosthetic glove, made of vinyl. It’s incredibly
lifelike, veins and everything. We had to come
up with a system to fit the actor’s hand inside it
– heating and stretching the glove. If the actor
used her own hand instead of a prosthetic,
you’d lose the sense of her hand being
unnaturally rigid. The skin tone also needs to
look different.
If there’s anything of a design you don’t like,
do you find a way to be stimulated?
At the end of the day, you look at a design on
paper (hopefully), and you should always look
at it from a technical point of view. You may not
like the aesthetic, but it might turn out to be
challenging or fun to make.
Do you find yourself looking at people’s
clothes in the street, and how they’re made?
I do. Mainly at hats. I’m currently getting
training in millinery. I’ve made hats and lots of
headdresses in the past, but I didn’t have
formal millinery training until I started here. I’m
learning at Morley College.
What skills do you need for your job?
Lateral thinking. It’s all about invention.
Did you study prop- or costume-making?
I actually did Foundation Arts: I was going to be
a painter, and do fine arts, sculpture. But I’d
always made things when I was young;
costume-type stuff, more often than not.
Where can one train in costume prop-
making?
There are quite a few courses at drama schools
now. Also at London College of Fashion and
Wimbledon School of Art. Most big arts
colleges have a costume props module, if not a
fulltime course. Part of their costume course
will be devoted to costume props.
Who or what inspires you?
Busby Berkeley-type films. Hollywood, in its
heyday, used to make amazing things. Totally
unknown people made some beautiful things.
What next?
I’m about to start on Market Boy. I’ll make a
cherub first, that somebody will be flying in. It’s
a whole body suit, with wings!
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Sources and links
Bibliography and references Internet

The History of the Conquest of Peru PBS Special: Conquistadors – Pizarro and the
William H Prescott conquest of the Incas, Michael Wood’s
ISBN 076076137X historical documentary. The site contains a
mine of well-presented information about the
Conquest of the Incas Inca Empire, the Spanish Conquest and other
John Hemming, 1973 links.
ISBN 0156028263 www.pbs.org/conquistadors/pizarro

History of the Inca Empire Thorough and useful introduction to the

Father Bernabe Cobo Spanish conquest of Peru:
ISBN 029273025X dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/road/hc09/incas/
conquest
Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca
Gina DeAngelis, 2000 Breathtaking views of Inca civilisation,
ISBN 0613325842 including Macchu Picchu:
www.destination360.com/peru.htm
The Last Conquistador
Stuart Stirling, 1999 Photos of Inca civilisation
ISBN 075092246X www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Sout
hAmerica/Peru/IncaTrail.html
The Discovery and Conquest of Peru
Pedro De Cieza De Leon, 1999 More useful stuff from the Michael Wood
ISBN 0822321467 documentary
www.bbc.co.uk/history/discovery/exploration/
Narrative of the Incas conquistadors
Juan de Betanzos, 1996
ISBN 0292755597 Francisco Pizarro, Catholic Encyclopedia
www.newadvent.org/cathen/12140a.htm
Inca-Kola
Matthew Parris, 1993
ISBN 1857990765 Costume courses

Wimbledon School of Art:

www.wimbledon.ac.uk

London College of Fashion:

www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/courses/costume.htm

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