These are a few of the things that came up during the Meet the Festival session. They are pretty much in the order the questions came up in and do not include the whole session; there were some more comments about the play, motivation of the characters, I think. These are just a few things I jotted down (since they won't let us record or take photos during these). And there were people there who didn't know him except as the character. I think it may have been the very first questioner who addressed the question to Al Waxman and "Biff -- whatever your name is". :( And this is after the lady in charge of the sessions has run down many of his credits and used his name several times. (But then, Al referred to him as Biff a couple of times, including one where he said "Biff's character" instead of Geordie's character.) And I think it's interesting, particularly at the intermission during DEATH, at how many folks, who apparently are not aware of GJ from anywhere else, comment on his performance in a very positive way.

Anyway, getting down to the info...
--There was a question of getting ready for each night's performance. They are not miked for the show, altho they did work with mics in the bedrooms in early rehearsals, but they didn't think the feel was 'right'. AW said he had a voice coach he worked with. Geordie talked about the 'vocalizing' he (and most of the other actors, I guess) does before each show. He says he has to do it to get the mucus out and open everything up since he has a smoking role this season. He mentioned that he'd smoked until the end of last season, then quit. I don't know if it was a long time habit, something he just picked up because of the role or what. Nor did he say if he's smoking off-stage again this year. (Someone asked what was meant by 'vocalizing', and he gave a demo, but I can't reproduce it here. :) )

--They rehearsed over a 5 week period, working 3 or 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, but not every day. Since they are doing a number of shows, the rehearsal process apparently gets complicated. (According to the actors who did the post performance discussion after Romeo & Juliet, they started rehearsals in mid-March.) Asked how soon they put the scripts down, GJ & AW decided it was probably about 3 weeks into the rehearsal period (and they said that was fairly early)

--I'll group together some of his thoughts about the play:
Someone asked what Biff would be doing in 20 years. Geordie said he thinks Biff will be doing OK. He'll still be doing the kind of work he enjoys and will be as content as most people are. He'll have a lot to put behind him, but once he does, he'll be fine.

Later someone asked why Biff didn't every tell Hap or his mother about what happened in Boston. The consensus was, that even tho he knew the image the family had and presented was false, he was trying to preserve that for them.

What's Biff's real name? Assumed it's William. Not sure where the Biff came from, maybe that's what Hap called him when he was learning to talk.

--When asked how much of the character they bring to the role when they start rehearsals, and how much of it is developed during rehearsals, GJ said it varies from role to role. He had played Biff in England 4 years ago, and he had to put it all aside when they started working on this production. (I imagine, in addition to the director's vision, you also have to adjust to what the other cast members find in their roles?)

--Asked if he preferred classical or contemporary plays, he said he likes both, and I think he agreed with Al Waxman's comment that it's the actual role, rather than the type of the play that he's drawn to.

--RE: preferring film or theater, GJ said he's done lots of TV, enjoys it immensely, but about 2 years ago, he started seeing the same lines over & over. A sort of "I think I've played this character before" feeling.

--Asked about the chemistry between him and Martha Henry, he said he's worked with her several times before, and she's directed 3 plays he's done.

--someone asked who he played in The English Patient, and he talked a bit about that. Sounded like he enjoyed filming for three weeks in Tuscany. Someone else said they'd have to go see it again and look for him and he told them they'd only have to stay for the first 6 minutes.

Geordie Johnson signing autographs at Stratford May 1997

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