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the Minotaur, Royal Opera House 2013
Dense and complex... John Tomlinson as Harrison Birtwistle's Minotaur on stage at the Royal Opera House in January 2013. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Dense and complex... John Tomlinson as Harrison Birtwistle's Minotaur on stage at the Royal Opera House in January 2013. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Understudying: the waiting game

This article is more than 11 years old
Don't feel sorry for understudy Richard Scott. Waiting, listening, and watching in the wings every night means he gets to know and love the best of contemporary opera

The life of an understudy can be a thankless one. Some companies treat you like a lesser being, and have you sit silently in a room for weeks on end, watching, while you are simply ignored, or if you are spoken to, it's usually by the name of the person you're covering for. I'm currently working at the Royal Opera House, understudying one of the roles in Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur. I'm the 4th Innocent. You know - the guy who sails from Athens to Crete in a pastel vest and then despite his best efforts, gets fed to the Minotaur and has his heart ripped out and devoured by a feathered female death spirit known as a Keres. But understudying here is far from a thankless experience (not least because the wonderful ROH staff have actually learnt my name!), in fact it's been one of the most musically rewarding of my life. When you watch a Baroque opera on repeat, it's utterly lovely but somehow doesn't quite stand up to day in day out scrutiny. Birtwistle's dense and complex score does. It reveals itself slowly like a labyrinth of leitmotifs and vivid orchestration. Each day I hear something new which intensifies my love for contemporary opera.

In an opera such as The Minotaur every single role must be covered by an understudy because if a singer were to fall suddenly ill there would be little chance of flying someone else in to perform his or her role, as although The Minotaur is destined to become part of the repertory in opera houses around the world, this is its second only outing at the Royal Opera House and so not many singers know the roles yet. I and my fellow understudies have to remain within a six-mile radius - or be no longer than 15 minutes away - of the opera house during every performance, but I've never, yet, been needed on stage.

Back in 2008 I covered the role, also, and the experience changed my life. Five years ago, sitting at the back of the auditorium in darkness during stage rehearsals, following Birtwistle's complex score with a little torch, I began to think about opera in a totally different way; finally realising how the narrative is expressed not just through words and drama but how it fills the score too. There's no such thing as just a tune in opera, the composer's music is based on the psychology of the characters; this is especially true of Birtwistle.

When I told friends and family that I was understudying at the Royal Opera, the most common response was, "Would you like me to push someone down the stairs, or perhaps hand deliver a jar of flu to their house?" Their suggestions made me smile for a millisecond, but the truth is I wouldn't. Even watching the singer I'm understudying get gored by Sir John Tomlinson as the Minotaur every night brings little satisfaction. No, my fortunate lot is to watch, wait and fall deeper in love with opera.

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