With auditions for Two Gents just around the corner — less than a week away — it might be a good time to absorb some found advice from just-beknighted Sir Patrick Stewart. In a Backstage.com interview from April, Sir Patrick told a story about seeking work with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

They came to see me in “Twelfth Night” in Manchester, and they took someone else. And then the following year I was in Liverpool, and I did “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and they took someone else. And at that point I thought, “I’m not RSC material. Clearly. What I do isn’t what they’re looking for.” And so I went off to [the Bristol Old Vic Theatre]. Tyrone Guthrie was to come and direct “Hamlet.” And I really wanted to be in it. And he didn’t cast me. And in a fit of pique, I resigned from the company and wrote a letter—a sort of begging letter—to the RSC, saying, “Please see me.” And they did, on this Sunday night in November. Cold and miserable and wet. And in the darkened, empty theater. And I did some Henry V, which I had just played, and I did something else, I don’t know what the other thing was. And John Barton and Peter Hall got up on the stage, and they directed me for half an hour. And I quite quickly realized, “They’re not trying to find out if I can act. They want to know, Am I flexible? Can I take direction? Can I change my ideas and thoughts about the thing?” And luckily I stumbled to that and so did the best I could.

The whole interview is full of wonderful insights, so give it a read. Give Two Gentlemen of Verona a read as well, then come and see us on Monday. Or Tuesday.