I was flicking through the Peter and Alice programme and noticed a familiar face among the understudies. The face belongs to Henry Everett with whom I'd worked some 10 years ago; he left journalism to train to be an actor.

Back stage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Photo: Rev Stan

It got me thinking about what it's actually like being an understudy, always wondering if you'll get to go on in front of an audience, what it's like if you do go on and how the understudies work with the cast? Fortunately, Henry was happy to answer to my barrage of questions over a pot of chamomile tea between today's matinee and evening performances.

Henry is the understudy for two parts: Lewis Carroll and James Barrie. He'd been reluctant to audition having understudied a couple of times before but was persuaded to by his agent. A week or so ago he got to put all his preparation into practice when Derek Riddell who plays Barrie was ill. This is what he had to say about being an understudy and that call.

On rehearsals:
"The understudies watch the rehearsals picking up the blocking and any advice the director (Michael Grandage) gives the actors. Then after the actors have left we spend two hours with the assistant director rehearsing.

"You have to know the blocking as a bare minimum but you are given leeway to add in some of your own performance. Inevitably having watched the actors working you have their performance buzzing in your head. But you have to be ready. We rehearse once a week and I go through my lines once a day in my head.

"I sometimes watch the performance either from the wings or I'll stand at the back."