Quite a few people have thought that now the shows are all running along that I will have nothing to write about, which is an interesting viewpoint, especially when it comes from another actor! Nothing in live theatre ever really stays the same, it should never get samey, in that we all turn up and do our job still dragging behind us the day we've had. The warm-up is meant to dispel all that but we are all affected by things and some of those don't go away easily. Of course no-one can ever do scenes exactly as they did them yesterday (trying to do that is deadly, creating a very lopsided performance because the audience is never the same!). Obviously the lines are the same ( they should be of course but let's not forget human error; no-one's perfect!), the blocking and moves etc, but how you say them come out a little different every time- if you're doing it right- because you're hopefully in a state of 'finding' them for the first time. It's a bit like when we did art at school with Mrs. Rogers. She was a big fan of getting us to sit around a dispiriting pile of mouldering fruit, sad potted geraniums and assorted engine parts with pencil & paper in hand, our challenge to produce a colourful and life-like image of the still life in front of us. Uninspiring the first time to say the least. Once you realised that she would then set you further challenges using extracts of that same still life for the rest of the year, you began to really hate that sorry pile of detritus quite a lot. So, how to remain inspired by a shriveled apple, oily crankshaft or droopy geranium? Pretend that you've never seen it before. Ever. This also allows the mind to really go to work with the eye and you find yourself noticing things about everyday objects that you've never noticed before. So too with the notion of playing a part for the nth time. You play the game of, "I've never said this before or had this happen to me before" before you hit the stage and all being well, a freshness and liveliness comes across, making the audience sit forward and get involved. Of course you might trip over as you come on stage or, as one of my fine colleagues did the other night, bash yourself in the face with the door that you are opening yourself (stagecraft!) and that can throw all your 'alive freshness' preparation out of the window. At that point you're just grateful that the brain and the mouth keep working sufficiently to get your line out! It's great to be working with actors who are alive to the things that can go wrong and who leave room for the audience to be a part of some of those things and share in the whole silliness of pretending to be in the 1950's or Dickens' London. I tell you, you have to stay humble to be good in this game. You can eliminate all kinds of potential mistakes but at the end of the day, if you trip over your own feet when playing the king or president, you have to laugh!
Aside from all this theory is always the weirdness of the practice and how people in the audience will see things in a performance that you may never have intended or considered. That's another reason why I love this game; you really can't second-guess what an audience will think of something. We can get caught up in the macro-audience reaction of laughs; some actors get quite preoccupied with those- but a chance conversation in the cafe afterwards and you get all kinds of responses that remind you that there is always more than one point of view about the events witnessed. It's good to encounter people who are happy to tell you what they thought of your character or the play, and often they will not think that you have any feelings to be hurt or that they might be causing any offense... Here in a small community like Keswick everyone now is getting accosted in the supermarket or chemists by happy customers keen to pass on their enjoyment of the plays they've seen. Even some of my very experienced show-biz chums up from that-there London have really enjoyed the experience of seeing the same actors play different parts on consecutive nights in the same theatre. It is a rarity these days as I've said but it shouldn't be! Folk love it.
This week ahead holds a busier than usual turn-around for all as the theatre hosts a residential week at Higham Hall for theatre-lovers. We'll be doing more matinees than usual and the stage crew will be earning their keep, changing shows on the same day and then again for the next day, so that people can see as many plays in the shortest amount of time. Phew. A mini festival if you will. I don't know how they do it. I was recently visited by a friend who did the old-style weekly rep where it was described as 11 plays in 11 weeks... I need a lie down just thinking about that! That must surely be a consolation for the mighty Maggie Tagney who gets to play 9 shows this week to our humble 7. It's the luck of the draw in this rep system! At least we're not missing the sun while we're indoors for all that time...
Monday, 27 August 2012
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Week Twenty: Back in the Rehearsal Room
Back in the rehearsal room but now a bit like sixth-form students who occupy the school's communal spaces very differently from the younger kids. I'm not saying we're all swanning about taking liberties with our feet up on desks and generally ignoring the teachers when they try to get us to vacate the assembly hall & go do something productive, but you remember the feeling when exams were over and there was that rather blissful period between that and the end of term when you were generally left to take it a little bit easier before moving on? No? Just me then...
Anyway, this time, we're in the rehearsal room rather cheekily doing Pilates classes. Owing to popular demand it's twice a week and an impressive amount of effort is being expended by all who attend. Regular updates then follow from folk feeling the ache the next day, all a sign that it's working. Expect all here to possess awesome abs by October! This desire to be in better shape unites all here, both those on-stage on off. Likewise there is a running group that is also getting together, meeting up to run several miles at 7.30 in the morning no less. Most unlike the generally perceived image of the typical British actor, always portrayed as being less fit than their American cousins! Then there are the keen bicyclers, kayakers, windsurfers and all the 'usual' walkers, striking out whenever the skies clear enough for it to be an enjoyable outing.
I suppose all this activity is somewhat offset by the many tempting varieties of ale, cheese, meat & cake on offer...
The fact that August is relatively quiet on the work front also means that many family visits are planned and each actor spends a fair bit of time canvassing their colleagues for good things to do with Mum & Dad, little sis or grandmas in tow. I reckon top vote must be riding on the launches around Derwent Water; possible and enjoyable in any weather. Unless there has been a 'heavy dew', rendering all the little wooden jetties unreachable. Friends are also emerging from the Penrith bus, having survived the train from London, to enjoy a little light theatre followed by in-depth analysis in the pub. Sometimes you really need to hear what an old show-biz chum thinks of a show. To then be able to show them round this fantastic part of the world is a great treat. Introducing them to the gang is also an essential undertaking, especially a very special bunch like this lot.
The term 'Heavy Dew' was first heard last week just South of Rydal Water in a very soggy field with a few hundred other fools. Quite a few of us in the cast are enjoying the tremendous number of dogs that are abound in these parts; so much so that several of us took ourselves to an international sheep-dog trial. I tell you, you haven't lived til you've seen a display of plain & carved shepherd's crooks! Seriously, the show was a delightful display of human kind, never mind the dogs on show. To add to all this excitement, who performed the best sheep-herding performance we saw? A shepherdess no less and all done in pouring rain. She managed to fetch, drive, gather and pen four reluctant sheep with the aid of trusty Meg. One-nil to the ladies.
Splendid sheep-related facts that we gleaned: don't try driving sheep through boggy or wet places; sheep that haven't been herded by dogs before are pretty useless; if you wish to applaud, please wait until the shepherd has finished.
Anyone who remembers watching One Man & His Dog would be fooled into thinking that sheep generally have some idea of what's needed of them. Many shepherds here were quite grumpy that the fell-sheep used were not fluent in Sheep Dog, resulting in quite a few stand-offs between hound and sheep and hardly a single successful penning. And that was in the experienced class! Crossing over to the novices and many contestants abandoned their attempts as they watched the dog disappear in the general direction of the sheep only to fail to reappear at all. Cue cries of, 'Fenton!!' Perhaps not. Most dogs had good solid names like Jess, Dot and Ted. I was greatly cheered to even see a Rover in the line up! You definitely do shepherding like you do acting- mostly for the love (allegedly!). The first prize for the experienced shepherd class? Forty quid. Barely covers the petrol driving there!
Back on to the subject of acting, everyone in the cast is also looking forward to the many writing projects that the theatre has picked from various sources for workshopping in September. These projects will include next year's premiere, to follow on the success of Roma & the Flanelettes.. a different author and secret title still to be officially unveiled so no more to be said about that here!
Right. It's another case of heavy dew out there. Time for a trip on our night off to the bright lights of Penrith and a bite to eat before a silly film. Then back to start another week and try not to think about how fast time is flying. Have I mentioned that I don't really want this to end??
Anyway, this time, we're in the rehearsal room rather cheekily doing Pilates classes. Owing to popular demand it's twice a week and an impressive amount of effort is being expended by all who attend. Regular updates then follow from folk feeling the ache the next day, all a sign that it's working. Expect all here to possess awesome abs by October! This desire to be in better shape unites all here, both those on-stage on off. Likewise there is a running group that is also getting together, meeting up to run several miles at 7.30 in the morning no less. Most unlike the generally perceived image of the typical British actor, always portrayed as being less fit than their American cousins! Then there are the keen bicyclers, kayakers, windsurfers and all the 'usual' walkers, striking out whenever the skies clear enough for it to be an enjoyable outing.
I suppose all this activity is somewhat offset by the many tempting varieties of ale, cheese, meat & cake on offer...
The fact that August is relatively quiet on the work front also means that many family visits are planned and each actor spends a fair bit of time canvassing their colleagues for good things to do with Mum & Dad, little sis or grandmas in tow. I reckon top vote must be riding on the launches around Derwent Water; possible and enjoyable in any weather. Unless there has been a 'heavy dew', rendering all the little wooden jetties unreachable. Friends are also emerging from the Penrith bus, having survived the train from London, to enjoy a little light theatre followed by in-depth analysis in the pub. Sometimes you really need to hear what an old show-biz chum thinks of a show. To then be able to show them round this fantastic part of the world is a great treat. Introducing them to the gang is also an essential undertaking, especially a very special bunch like this lot.
The term 'Heavy Dew' was first heard last week just South of Rydal Water in a very soggy field with a few hundred other fools. Quite a few of us in the cast are enjoying the tremendous number of dogs that are abound in these parts; so much so that several of us took ourselves to an international sheep-dog trial. I tell you, you haven't lived til you've seen a display of plain & carved shepherd's crooks! Seriously, the show was a delightful display of human kind, never mind the dogs on show. To add to all this excitement, who performed the best sheep-herding performance we saw? A shepherdess no less and all done in pouring rain. She managed to fetch, drive, gather and pen four reluctant sheep with the aid of trusty Meg. One-nil to the ladies.
Splendid sheep-related facts that we gleaned: don't try driving sheep through boggy or wet places; sheep that haven't been herded by dogs before are pretty useless; if you wish to applaud, please wait until the shepherd has finished.
Anyone who remembers watching One Man & His Dog would be fooled into thinking that sheep generally have some idea of what's needed of them. Many shepherds here were quite grumpy that the fell-sheep used were not fluent in Sheep Dog, resulting in quite a few stand-offs between hound and sheep and hardly a single successful penning. And that was in the experienced class! Crossing over to the novices and many contestants abandoned their attempts as they watched the dog disappear in the general direction of the sheep only to fail to reappear at all. Cue cries of, 'Fenton!!' Perhaps not. Most dogs had good solid names like Jess, Dot and Ted. I was greatly cheered to even see a Rover in the line up! You definitely do shepherding like you do acting- mostly for the love (allegedly!). The first prize for the experienced shepherd class? Forty quid. Barely covers the petrol driving there!
Back on to the subject of acting, everyone in the cast is also looking forward to the many writing projects that the theatre has picked from various sources for workshopping in September. These projects will include next year's premiere, to follow on the success of Roma & the Flanelettes.. a different author and secret title still to be officially unveiled so no more to be said about that here!
Right. It's another case of heavy dew out there. Time for a trip on our night off to the bright lights of Penrith and a bite to eat before a silly film. Then back to start another week and try not to think about how fast time is flying. Have I mentioned that I don't really want this to end??
Monday, 13 August 2012
Week the Nineteenth: Something's Up.
Something odd happened here last week. The river dropped, the sky cleared, my laundry dried and everyone cheered up a lot. Yes indeed, the sun actually shone for several days, enabling the good ship TbtL and all who sail in her to jolly off to the seaside! We also discovered some of the most amazing wild swimming spots deep in the valleys of the Lakes.
The shows are starting to tick along, with only the occasional hiccup here and there; possibly a senior moment causes a line to come out a little oddly; perhaps a busier than usual social life leads an actor's mind astray mid-scene, causing a slight deviation from the script. From the outside of course, nothing seems awry, as the mind snaps back to attention and steers the slightly tired actor's brain back on to course. What always keeps live theatre alive for the true thespian is obviously the audience. Here in Keswick we get our fair share of lively folk coming to see our shows and their comments and reactions keep us well and truly on our toes and not thinking about how we'll spend our day off tomorrow. The majority are funny and delightful to share in the pub afterwards. For example in Bedroom Farce, the reappearance of my character Susannah at a crucially awful moment often incites cries of, "Oh crikey! She's back!" and "Uh-oh! Here's trouble!" as well as some audience members even finishing an actors' lines for them, which when it's a juicy punchline, can seem really harsh! I sense a strong need for a good old fashioned Pantomime here one Christmas.. In Dry Rot, a lovely sight gag was swiped from under an actor's feet as an audience member loudly told him what he was going to do next.. These things help keep us humble you know! You've got to love or at least accept this sort of thing is going to happen if you're in live performance. In the studio, where the audience sit opposite each other and where the lighting illuminates the two front rows, it can be quite challenging to keep on going when very vocal people come to a show; people for whom day to day reality has become a challenge. Who are we to question the motives of someone who wants to bring a family member to a show with for example, advanced Alzheimer's disease? The disturbance sometimes caused by someone with such a distressing condition getting loudly and visibly upset can be very pronounced, causing the audience around to get restless and actors to lose their way.. We still have to carry on and trust that somebody 'outside' of the performers is keeping an eye on proceedings. That can seem very callous, but that is how it is in the world of Show. The other things that can keep us on our toes in both spaces can also be exterior noise and that again is where we have to trust that the audience who can also hear the superfluous noise don't mind it. Little London fringe venues are typical in this case, where every night of the week audiences are paying to watch, for example a restoration drama whilst a loud pub quiz is conducted in the rooms below and police sirens are heard all around. These are times when the 'Fourth Wall' seems a flimsy little tissue indeed! I've done more than my fair share of jobs where the sound of people using the toilets in the pub below can be very clearly heard throughout the performance. Very clearly. I've said it before, it's a glamorous old game this business.
We have our matinee this week of Bedroom Farce and the weeks ahead bring visits from family and friends making the most of the August break. Needless to say, the weather is heading back to its default setting and it's time once more to put the summer frocks and sun cream away and on with the waterproofs. Bah humbug. An ideal time to get down to some serious reading of the books long neglected and even a read of the novel selected for next season's TbtL proposed world premiere..
The shows are starting to tick along, with only the occasional hiccup here and there; possibly a senior moment causes a line to come out a little oddly; perhaps a busier than usual social life leads an actor's mind astray mid-scene, causing a slight deviation from the script. From the outside of course, nothing seems awry, as the mind snaps back to attention and steers the slightly tired actor's brain back on to course. What always keeps live theatre alive for the true thespian is obviously the audience. Here in Keswick we get our fair share of lively folk coming to see our shows and their comments and reactions keep us well and truly on our toes and not thinking about how we'll spend our day off tomorrow. The majority are funny and delightful to share in the pub afterwards. For example in Bedroom Farce, the reappearance of my character Susannah at a crucially awful moment often incites cries of, "Oh crikey! She's back!" and "Uh-oh! Here's trouble!" as well as some audience members even finishing an actors' lines for them, which when it's a juicy punchline, can seem really harsh! I sense a strong need for a good old fashioned Pantomime here one Christmas.. In Dry Rot, a lovely sight gag was swiped from under an actor's feet as an audience member loudly told him what he was going to do next.. These things help keep us humble you know! You've got to love or at least accept this sort of thing is going to happen if you're in live performance. In the studio, where the audience sit opposite each other and where the lighting illuminates the two front rows, it can be quite challenging to keep on going when very vocal people come to a show; people for whom day to day reality has become a challenge. Who are we to question the motives of someone who wants to bring a family member to a show with for example, advanced Alzheimer's disease? The disturbance sometimes caused by someone with such a distressing condition getting loudly and visibly upset can be very pronounced, causing the audience around to get restless and actors to lose their way.. We still have to carry on and trust that somebody 'outside' of the performers is keeping an eye on proceedings. That can seem very callous, but that is how it is in the world of Show. The other things that can keep us on our toes in both spaces can also be exterior noise and that again is where we have to trust that the audience who can also hear the superfluous noise don't mind it. Little London fringe venues are typical in this case, where every night of the week audiences are paying to watch, for example a restoration drama whilst a loud pub quiz is conducted in the rooms below and police sirens are heard all around. These are times when the 'Fourth Wall' seems a flimsy little tissue indeed! I've done more than my fair share of jobs where the sound of people using the toilets in the pub below can be very clearly heard throughout the performance. Very clearly. I've said it before, it's a glamorous old game this business.
We have our matinee this week of Bedroom Farce and the weeks ahead bring visits from family and friends making the most of the August break. Needless to say, the weather is heading back to its default setting and it's time once more to put the summer frocks and sun cream away and on with the waterproofs. Bah humbug. An ideal time to get down to some serious reading of the books long neglected and even a read of the novel selected for next season's TbtL proposed world premiere..
Monday, 6 August 2012
Week 18: Achieving a Work:Life Balance
It's here! It's time at last for all six shows and he actors in them to settle in to some kind of routine and for our days to be ours to do as we wish, with the punctuation of a matinee here and there on alternate Wednesdays. What to do? Aside from sitting in front of the telly and watching team GB land a load more medals that is. Jaded big city types are probably wondering how we'll stave off boredom in a small town tucked in to this creased and bumpy landscape soaked all too often by rain. Silence those cynical voices! Time will fly as we all try to squeeze in: ukulele lessons ( George Banks as tutor), play readings ( Chris Hannon, writer), walks ( there are over 200 Wainwright walks in the Lakes alone), Tai Chi ( Maggie Tagney leading) & Pilates classes ( me having a go), trips to the seaside, barbecues, World of Owls, which I think I may have mentioned before; the museums both of Pencils and Mining ( yes! both in Keswick town!), Trotters' World of Animals ( an actual petting zoo- Jess Ellis take note!), sheepdog trials, Scotland just over the way..Which to do first? There are also those with their own particular hobbies like wild swimming (Zoe Mills), horse riding (Nicky Goldie), zorbing and kayaking ( Company stage manager Jo and lighting technologist Sanne to name but a few) . Add to that a 'Herman' or friendship cake mix that's going round, which means time put aside for cake baking and sharing.. .Two members of the cast plan to learn to drive while here.. Looking out of the window I think they might be better off buying a boat.
Now before you start to wonder what has happened with the consummate professionalism that I have written about over the previous weeks and months, let me reassure you that the shows do not slip into the back seat become box-ticking exercises, oh no! Walk into the green room before the half, after the warm-up and you will find folk discussing how they can make new changes to find something exciting in a scene or get a new audience reaction. This is all about keeping it fresh in our minds and thus fresh for the audience. This bunch of people are a bit special like that. I don't care how many times I write this, it's true: Theatre by the Lake has put together a really top crowd for the 2012 summer season. Despite the venerable age of some of our party ( mentioning no names, ha ha ), jaded cynicism does not come into the building. Trust me there are a lot out there who by now would be grumbling about being bored etc. Not this lot. As a result our shows are, as one lady said to us the other night after a show, better than Chichester Festival Theatre no less! The mixed schedule keeps every show feeling new anyway; no rut can possibly be settled into when you have different plays on from week to week. By now, we have started to find the very particular way to prepare for each play that you need when doing two shows here, one show there. Initially here in repertory land you do crave the consistent burn of a single play's schedule, the luxury of exploring the same world night after night. This process however, actually frees you up in a different way once you pass the point of opening the last show and you find yourself discovering stuff each time because you are probably freer, having less time to worry over things.
So now to dash off to the theatre and see what thrilling leisure activities have been pinned up on the notice board in the green room where previously rehearsal schedules were scrutinised! Any chance it could stop raining so we can go outside?
Now before you start to wonder what has happened with the consummate professionalism that I have written about over the previous weeks and months, let me reassure you that the shows do not slip into the back seat become box-ticking exercises, oh no! Walk into the green room before the half, after the warm-up and you will find folk discussing how they can make new changes to find something exciting in a scene or get a new audience reaction. This is all about keeping it fresh in our minds and thus fresh for the audience. This bunch of people are a bit special like that. I don't care how many times I write this, it's true: Theatre by the Lake has put together a really top crowd for the 2012 summer season. Despite the venerable age of some of our party ( mentioning no names, ha ha ), jaded cynicism does not come into the building. Trust me there are a lot out there who by now would be grumbling about being bored etc. Not this lot. As a result our shows are, as one lady said to us the other night after a show, better than Chichester Festival Theatre no less! The mixed schedule keeps every show feeling new anyway; no rut can possibly be settled into when you have different plays on from week to week. By now, we have started to find the very particular way to prepare for each play that you need when doing two shows here, one show there. Initially here in repertory land you do crave the consistent burn of a single play's schedule, the luxury of exploring the same world night after night. This process however, actually frees you up in a different way once you pass the point of opening the last show and you find yourself discovering stuff each time because you are probably freer, having less time to worry over things.
So now to dash off to the theatre and see what thrilling leisure activities have been pinned up on the notice board in the green room where previously rehearsal schedules were scrutinised! Any chance it could stop raining so we can go outside?
Monday, 30 July 2012
A World Premiere and Beyond..
Whew. What a week. A world premiere is a bit of a beast at times. Untested in front of an audience, the team often up the pressure to ensure that things do go as well as possible when all is finally unveiled. On this occasion, it meant running the play six times in three days which felt like cruel and unusual punishment at times but which meant that it was thoroughly in our memories by the time we reached Saturday night, at which point of course, we said goodbye to that play for almost a week! Our director knew that and knew how important it was to have the play run in as much as possible, so now we forgive him the harsh few days. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh?
The audiences so far seem to love the show which is all that matters at the end of the day & bookings are going thick & fast for the next few weeks. As word of mouth kicks in we should be doing great business for the Theatre by the Lake!
Now of course we actually begin the repertory in full flood. Three plays now all up and running and rotating in a merry whirl. Anyone actually know what's on when? I've taken to carrying a programme with me everywhere as trying to remember in my case just leads to much dithering & confusion.. Basically with three options to play with, we now have a schedule that runs in a three-weekly cycle, to allow most choice for visiting audiences, as the bulk of folk turn up from far afield for a week's holiday. The clever people at the theatre have thought this through, trust me folks.
This week, because of the past two weeks having been dedicated solely to the last plays in our cannon, we have refresher runs to remind us of the other worlds we left behind before tech weeks, as well as our first matinee on Wednesday. Today for example, we are performing Bedroom Farce in the morning then watching Doll's House do their refresher in costume this afternoon before performing Bedroom Farce to a live audience tonight. Then it's into Dry Rot country tomorrow.. so no rest for the wicked. We must have been really bad!
Watching Doll's House this afternoon will complete all the pieces in the jigsaw for me, filling in the gap of what exactly that cast has been up to creating that show while we were busy rehearsing Bedroom Farce. Great things have been said about it; I can't wait to see it. We had the Great Expectations crowd in watching one of our dress rehearsals and it was lovely to hear them chuckling away and then hearing their response afterwards. This bunch of people have become very important to all of us; we get along very well, something you can't guarantee and which doesn't happen that often in this funny old game. We are very lucky, very lucky indeed.
From here on the journey changes through August's relative calm towards the new projects to be explored and workshopped with the theatre's new writing team as well as personal projects that members of the cast have brought along to road test in readings.
Somewhere in all this, we are all promising to organise days out walking, rowing, sailing etc etc.
At this rate, November 10th will be here all too soon!
The audiences so far seem to love the show which is all that matters at the end of the day & bookings are going thick & fast for the next few weeks. As word of mouth kicks in we should be doing great business for the Theatre by the Lake!
Now of course we actually begin the repertory in full flood. Three plays now all up and running and rotating in a merry whirl. Anyone actually know what's on when? I've taken to carrying a programme with me everywhere as trying to remember in my case just leads to much dithering & confusion.. Basically with three options to play with, we now have a schedule that runs in a three-weekly cycle, to allow most choice for visiting audiences, as the bulk of folk turn up from far afield for a week's holiday. The clever people at the theatre have thought this through, trust me folks.
This week, because of the past two weeks having been dedicated solely to the last plays in our cannon, we have refresher runs to remind us of the other worlds we left behind before tech weeks, as well as our first matinee on Wednesday. Today for example, we are performing Bedroom Farce in the morning then watching Doll's House do their refresher in costume this afternoon before performing Bedroom Farce to a live audience tonight. Then it's into Dry Rot country tomorrow.. so no rest for the wicked. We must have been really bad!
Watching Doll's House this afternoon will complete all the pieces in the jigsaw for me, filling in the gap of what exactly that cast has been up to creating that show while we were busy rehearsing Bedroom Farce. Great things have been said about it; I can't wait to see it. We had the Great Expectations crowd in watching one of our dress rehearsals and it was lovely to hear them chuckling away and then hearing their response afterwards. This bunch of people have become very important to all of us; we get along very well, something you can't guarantee and which doesn't happen that often in this funny old game. We are very lucky, very lucky indeed.
From here on the journey changes through August's relative calm towards the new projects to be explored and workshopped with the theatre's new writing team as well as personal projects that members of the cast have brought along to road test in readings.
Somewhere in all this, we are all promising to organise days out walking, rowing, sailing etc etc.
At this rate, November 10th will be here all too soon!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
The Final Push for the Studio and Beyond..
Sunday morning and the close of a week of final rehearsals for the new studio play. We have run it three times in quick succession and now can collect our thoughts for the tech week and the promise of real live audiences by the week's end. We've passed the writer's test, he seemed happy, crying like a good 'un through our first run! Of course we mustn't forget our special secret invited audience for our dress rehearsal comprising our colleagues from the land of Dickens. That is quite frightening to think about too much! In the studio, you are up close and personal with the audience; there's no getting away from who they are and where they are and as we all know each other really well by now, you will hear a familiar laugh or similar reaction and for a second you might get distracted from the task in hand! Roma & the Flanellettes asks a lot of the actors involved; there's a whole heap of tough subject matter and big emotional baggage to carry around- for some more than others - and the nature of the piece means that there's no relaxing even for a second inside that, because then the ball gets dropped as we say in the trade! There's quite a bit of vital body minerals to replace at the end of a run..and lots of strategically placed boxes of tissues behind the scenes. That all starts to sound a little off-colour. It's not meant to put anyone off, just paint a picture of how things are in this particular story. Of course it's a world premiere, so that might mean that those reviewers down there in that there London might actually get on their bikes and come and see the wonderful stuff we're turning out here in the Lakes. They tend to have all sorts of convenient excuses as to why they don't bother to come to see shows more than a stone's throw from Drury Lane..Still: what counts are the very happy folk in the audience and it seems that Keswick can thrive without worrying about what critic has written what about who, which is how it should be! I'm one of a growing number of actors who do not read reviews. Somebody clever once wrote about how a brilliant review can harm an actor's performance- it isn't just about being frightened of reading something awful that someone has written about you, oh no. If you are made too aware from an external point of view about a particular moment, because a reviewer has raved about it, you can end up trying to recreate that moment and of course, failing! The basic fact is that reviews are not written for us but for the theatre-goer, so another reason not to read them. Oh, and the fact that often the person writing them is a twerp who wouldn't know a decent bit of acting if it bit him on the bum. Bitter? Moi? Certainly not.
One other minor event to cover this week I suppose is the main house opening of Great Expectations, which we attended on Friday night. The theatre was packed and the show was beautiful. The actors 'up there' who we were all rooting for as you'd expect, didn't disappoint and for their second only public performance of an ambitious adaptation of a great novel, it was a splendid sight to see. What better thing in a summer rep company than to get your actors all playing different parts within the same play? Like the five-hander Shakespeare tours I've done where you each play four characters, some of whom must eventually meet, there are inevitably going to be times in Great Expectations when a particular actor is going to have to change in front of your eyes into someone else. On a sixpence. How will they do it? Suddenly it happens and the simple inventiveness delights everyone. You hear the collective intake of breath from 380 people. It can't be beat! Hats off to all who put it together and all who played. Read more about the creative team on TbtL's website!
Off now for a bit of r & r, or washing & cleaning the flat that has become a morass of filth. At least the sun's out and I can get my laundry dry in a day. Glamorous business this world of show. Ttfn.
One other minor event to cover this week I suppose is the main house opening of Great Expectations, which we attended on Friday night. The theatre was packed and the show was beautiful. The actors 'up there' who we were all rooting for as you'd expect, didn't disappoint and for their second only public performance of an ambitious adaptation of a great novel, it was a splendid sight to see. What better thing in a summer rep company than to get your actors all playing different parts within the same play? Like the five-hander Shakespeare tours I've done where you each play four characters, some of whom must eventually meet, there are inevitably going to be times in Great Expectations when a particular actor is going to have to change in front of your eyes into someone else. On a sixpence. How will they do it? Suddenly it happens and the simple inventiveness delights everyone. You hear the collective intake of breath from 380 people. It can't be beat! Hats off to all who put it together and all who played. Read more about the creative team on TbtL's website!
Off now for a bit of r & r, or washing & cleaning the flat that has become a morass of filth. At least the sun's out and I can get my laundry dry in a day. Glamorous business this world of show. Ttfn.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Tech The Third Beckons...
Well, well, well. Here we are at the end of July and the cautionary words of our leader, Ian Forrest back in May rise up from the memory and smack us in the face. He said we'd be tired and he wasn't wrong. The thing is, anyone who has lived a bit, worked a bit and travelled a bit has experienced tiredness. So you think you know every kind of tiredness. Had to wait in an airport for a missing flight? Had to go without kip for a teething baby? Been kidnapped and chained to a radiator? ( too much?) Ok maybe I have gone too far using those metaphors, but relatively, the way everyone is feeling right now compared to three months ago, folk are pretty much at full stretch, even perhaps breaking point. If tempers are going to fray, my money is on them fraying sometime in the next ten days! We were warned about this tiredness and still we choose to go out for a beer or two, head off into those hills for a spot of fell-walking, go visit friends & family on our one day off. Strangely it would seem that we always have to find out for ourselves about the blooming obvious instead of taking someone's word for it even someone who knows from lengthy experience.. I don't know! Ian must despair of us lot at times!
Saturday night we bade farewell to Bedroom Farce and Doll's House for two weeks and settled in to the final technical phase of our Summer 2012 season.
The Great Expectations set has gone up and is now looming in the main house in all its Gothicky finery. I snuck in to have a peep and watched as the lighting effects were being added and played with. It looks incredible and I can't wait to see my talented chums get on it and bring Dickens' splendid story to life.
On a far more minimal but no less exciting platform, Roma & the Flanellettes is now being rehearsed for full 8 hour days this week. Suddenly in this marathon stint at TbtL, we in the studio show find ourselves with our evenings off, as the production team all focus on pulling the main house show together and we get to have a final week's work to fine-tune the new play that has yet to be tested in front of an audience. So, the plus side, we have some free evenings; on the downside, we're back to 10 o'clock starts. Swings and roundabouts ( Actors always have to have something to complain about!). We've recorded our Motown songs and they've been mixed beautifully by Matt Hall at the theatre. Young Jess Ellis as Delie would give any X-Factor finalist a run for their money singing A Love Like Yours and Nicky, Steven & I do a pretty decent job backing her up even if I say so myself. I have a whole new respect for backing vocalists after this experience. Unsung heroes and heroines of a good pop song!
Today we had our final costume fittings and finally got to see our Flanellettes group costumes. I think show-stopping is a fitting description...! Our designer Thomasin Marshall has done a great job plotting how each character looks throughout the play and has taken all our concerns and ideas on board gladly. Her inspiration for the karaoke costumes came from a group called the Marvellettes; check them out on Google images! We can now picture ourselves more fully in the world of Roma; costumes take on a new importance in traverse or theatre-in-the-round productions, where the three-dimensions of a proscenium arch is missing. For my character, as an outsider, I really wanted to feel that she would look like that and that her clothing would evolve as her story changed. I think we got that right today, which is just grand.
So two good full days ahead for us to go over the play in detail before our first run on Thursday. All will I am sure be well. Ever so slightly nervous of performing it in front of the writer and our colleagues before going into the studio space and our tech next week.
I keep thinking of that calming piece by Julian of Norwich; 'All shall be well and all shall be well & all manner of things shall be well'. Or words to that effect!
It'll be alright on the night.
To all my esteemed colleagues, toi toi toi.
Saturday night we bade farewell to Bedroom Farce and Doll's House for two weeks and settled in to the final technical phase of our Summer 2012 season.
The Great Expectations set has gone up and is now looming in the main house in all its Gothicky finery. I snuck in to have a peep and watched as the lighting effects were being added and played with. It looks incredible and I can't wait to see my talented chums get on it and bring Dickens' splendid story to life.
On a far more minimal but no less exciting platform, Roma & the Flanellettes is now being rehearsed for full 8 hour days this week. Suddenly in this marathon stint at TbtL, we in the studio show find ourselves with our evenings off, as the production team all focus on pulling the main house show together and we get to have a final week's work to fine-tune the new play that has yet to be tested in front of an audience. So, the plus side, we have some free evenings; on the downside, we're back to 10 o'clock starts. Swings and roundabouts ( Actors always have to have something to complain about!). We've recorded our Motown songs and they've been mixed beautifully by Matt Hall at the theatre. Young Jess Ellis as Delie would give any X-Factor finalist a run for their money singing A Love Like Yours and Nicky, Steven & I do a pretty decent job backing her up even if I say so myself. I have a whole new respect for backing vocalists after this experience. Unsung heroes and heroines of a good pop song!
Today we had our final costume fittings and finally got to see our Flanellettes group costumes. I think show-stopping is a fitting description...! Our designer Thomasin Marshall has done a great job plotting how each character looks throughout the play and has taken all our concerns and ideas on board gladly. Her inspiration for the karaoke costumes came from a group called the Marvellettes; check them out on Google images! We can now picture ourselves more fully in the world of Roma; costumes take on a new importance in traverse or theatre-in-the-round productions, where the three-dimensions of a proscenium arch is missing. For my character, as an outsider, I really wanted to feel that she would look like that and that her clothing would evolve as her story changed. I think we got that right today, which is just grand.
So two good full days ahead for us to go over the play in detail before our first run on Thursday. All will I am sure be well. Ever so slightly nervous of performing it in front of the writer and our colleagues before going into the studio space and our tech next week.
I keep thinking of that calming piece by Julian of Norwich; 'All shall be well and all shall be well & all manner of things shall be well'. Or words to that effect!
It'll be alright on the night.
To all my esteemed colleagues, toi toi toi.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)