Rehearsal progress

Week Commencing 29th September 2008

While I’ve been off in Italy learning about Romans, the play has progressed. We’re still blocking the moves. With a large cast this can take ages. At this stage it’s still very much traffic control. The model if the set is a useful reference for entrances. The tapes marking out the set are proving helpful. We usually find that despite having measured them out very carefully, when we get into the theatre the space is never quite the same. This means rethinking the timing of entrances and long moves.

Ian, the director, has a clear idea of the moves. However, if a cast member isn’t comfortable with a move or where they end up, he’s open to suggestions. What we end up with is something that we’re all happy with.

Some people have learnt their lines already. Jonathan, who is playing Flote, has a huge part and so has started learning early. I’ve learnt mine because I don’t have many and they’re quite memorable. The smaller speeches usually stick after we’ve rehearsed a scene a couple of times. Longer chunks need more concentration. Once the play is blocked and books are down we start using rehearsal props. For this play it’s lucky I’ve got a large car to transport the amount of stuff we’ll need each time – scourges, books, red noses and the ventriloquist dummy that we all think is spooky and nobody else will have in their house!

This week will see the end of the blocking and next week we stagger through the play to fix the moves and the flow of the scenes.