Pity the understudy. Most understudies rarely get that Cinderella call to the stage. But “the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new director, Michael Boyd, has waved his magic wand and decreed that she shall go the ball – every understudy at Stratford is now contractually guaranteed at least one full public performance per production. As a morale booster, this seems to me both humane and practical, and it is also evidence of a new trend that brings the understudy out of the dressing room and into the spotlight.”