Welcome back to our interviews with cast and crew! Opening night is only two days away, so check back tomorrow for one last behind-the-scenes look at Romeo and Juliet and Mercutio and his Brother Valentine (RJMV)!

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Who are you? – My name is Signy Lynch, and I am a third-year Queen’s Drama and Psychology student. I am from Kingston, and I’m playing Rosaline in Mercutio and his Brother Valentine.

What’s your theatre background? – I did drama camp when I was little, so I’ve been doing it for a while. I really like all forms of theatre, but especially plays, and particularly Shakespeare, and I’ve been doing a lot of that stuff in KIngston. I’m also Co-Artistic Director of Vagabond Theatre right now, which is great. Vagabond is the Queen’s campus Shakespeare company – it’s a little more campus-specific than Impromptu.

How and why did you get involved with Impromptu Productions? – Well, I was finishing up a production of Macbeth with Vagabond, and I thought I should do some acting again because I’ve been more involved with production for the past little while. I saw a poster for the RJMV auditions, and I’d enjoyed some of Impromptu’s summer productions in the past, so I auditioned and got in, which is wonderful!

What has been the best part of Romeo and Juliet/Mercutio and his Brother Valentine so far? – That’s tough, because it’s all been great, but probably the cast and crew. It’s a really, really great group, and we have a lot of fun in rehearsals – and work hard too – and hopefully that translates into the finished product.

What has it been like learning about Rosaline as a character? Have there been any epiphanies? – It’s been really interesting because you hear her talked about in Romeo and Juliet, but you don’t get to see her until Mercutio and his Brother Valentine. You take some of what Mercutio and Romeo say about her, but then there’s also a lot about the character that you get from her interactions with other characters, so in that way, she’s a really fun character to play. If you’re playing Hamlet, everybody’s done it before, and already been written and you have everything there, whereas I get to experiment a little bit more. I am the first person who gets to play Rosaline, and tell her side of the story.

What is the funniest thing that’s happened in rehearsal? – Well, our brilliant stage management team started a new system to keep the cast in line. We have an ‘inappropriate behaviour jar’ where it’s 50 cents for swear words and $2 for inappropriate references., and I think they’ve raised about $20 so far, so that gives you a picture of our rehearsal process. But it’s been great – rehearsal is always fun, and it’s always funny, which is wonderful, because I’ve been in shows where it wasn’t as fun.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? – There are so many people that I’d like to meet, but I’d probably want to meet Dwight Frye. He’s a horror movie actor from the 1930s, and he originated all the creepy assistant roles, like Igor in Frankenstein and Renfield in Dracula, so he’s a pioneer in the field, if you will. I really enjoy playing creepy roles – in high school, I played a stalker in one play and a necrophiliac in the next – so it’d be fun to have a chat with him about that.

Are you a big Shakespeare fan? What’s your favourite Shakespearean play? – It changes, depending on which one I’ve had the most contact with recently. This week, it’s Measure for Measure – it’s hilarious, but also intensely problematic, and I really like that. It explores conflicts of the human soul, and it’s very relevant to now, so you should all go read it.

What does your future hold? ­– More theatre! I have another year of university ahead of me, and then potentially grad school, but there will definitely be more theatre.

Why should people come and see RJMV? – It’s a really great experiment, I think, because you have two shows about the same characters and the same places, but they offer different perspectives. When Stratford did Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Hamlet in repertory in the ‘80s, that was a new sort of experiment, and this is a similar sort of thing. You can’t get that if you just see one, so come and see both! Also, see both if you’re curious about who Rosaline is!