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The White Bear is a fast-receding memory. One week in a crowded dressing-room, waiting to go on to a tiny stage, wondering whether I'm going to fluff my lines. Surrounded by fifteen other actors, with the director and stage manager hovering by the lights. Feeling redundant each night as two hours pass between my first exit and last entrance. Often bored. Sometimes tense. Expectant. Excited. Pleased that the production went well, but aware that I was more an observer than a participant.

The Greenwich Playhouse (pictured) is very different. Every rehearsal is in the theatre - unlike As You Like It, where until the day before opening night we were cooped up in a classroom with different measurements and unclear entrances and exits. The cast in Greenwich is smaller and older. We do not divide into generations but cohere as a group, with the occasional outrider sitting apart to learn their lines or scrutinise the screen of their phone. There are costume and set and lighting designers, a stage manager and other assistance that comes and goes, leaving the director free to focus on the play.

I am more relaxed in this production than in the one before. I feel a participant rather than an observer, fully involved as I watch Bruce craft the blocking, shifting his players up and down, left and right, here and there until he has created the vividest of tableaux to express his vision. In the process, he gives few notes as to how he wishes each character to be played; this allows each of us to draw our personalities from within ourselves, to instinctively find our own level and our own response to the characters around us. On the rare occasions he does say "I want it this way", he explains why and willingly listens to our thoughts and alternatives until, together, the adjustment is made that brings director's and actor's perceptions into alignment.

The more I work in the theatre (assuming I do work more), the more I expect to see directors' methods differ. Marianna's approach, fine-tuning each performance, worked. It created a quick, enjoyable production that was highly successful, with many audience members saying that it brought Shakespeare to life. It also made me uncomfortable. If I have the luxury of choice, I would seek out the older director who fully trusts his / her cast, and who allows characters to emerge rather than forcing characters onto the actors portraying them.

Maybe I’ve lulled myself into a false sense of security. Maybe on the first and subsequent nights I will fluff my few lines or otherwise let the production down. But I don’t think so. I am more confident now of my abilities now than at any time during the rehearsal and run of As You Like It. This time, I believe, I will be proud of my performance.