An audience of mixed ages sat in anticipation. An international audience even – the three young men next to me were from Iowa and on a month-long school tour of UK theatres, their visit to Stratford bookended by time in London and Edinburgh.

In the theatre’s main house, huge organ pipes – the backdrop for much of the comedy in the current run of Twelfth Night – were, on this day, the setting for an event which unwrapped the process of getting the show on stage. Drawing on the skills of Assistant Director Zoë Templeman-Young and two members of the cast, Charlotte O’Leary and Emily Benjamin, Unwrapped: Twelfth Night ran through the way in which the emotional and dramatic content of the production was developed.

Zoë, Charlotte and Emily described how RSC directors and performers work together to mine Shakespeare’s texts over the course of rehearsals, to ensure that the show the audience finally sees is as rich in meaning as possible. Whilst a director may start by sharing their personal vision of a play with cast members, the RSC’s collaborative approach means that actors also bring their interpretation of text into the rehearsal room and draw on their unique life experiences in the parts they play.

The approach was illustrated on stage as Zoë worked with Charlotte (understudy for Viola) and Emily (understudy for Olivia) to add layer upon layer to a scene from Twelfth Night. In the chosen scene, Viola (in disguise as Cesario) is tasked with declaring love for Olivia on behalf of Duke Orsino.

Running over the scene several times, and frequently stopping and restarting, the three explored new ways of understanding the motives of the characters, including both the obvious and the less obvious. Each run-through introduced slight changes in performance, and every nuance added depth to their portrayal. As they said, interpretative choices are being made all the time.

The event provided insight into the relationship between director and actors. It also spoke of the RSC’s role in developing actors: understudies play their principal roles as a matter of course during the run of a show. This is not only for their benefit, but is also a means of refreshing productions by introducing new perspectives.

And the event revealed much about the all-important role of assistant director. Not only are they responsible for much of the research that goes into a production, but they oversee the cast of understudies and maintain an overview of the show during its run. If a performance goes as little as three minutes over its scheduled playing time, it is down to the assistant director to bring it back in on time.

Unwrapped: Twelfth Night is just one of many events which the RSC is running this month alongside its staging of the play. For further information see rsc.org.uk