Sunday 29 April 2012

Week Four: Getting Technical

I will never cease to marvel at the way in which British actors & production teams pull together to put shows on in about a third of the time of most other countries. We're not short of time as such here in Keswick at TBTL, it's just that we're putting three plays on one after the other in super-quick succession to make the most of the huge summer audiences that turn up here every year. Am I repeating myself? I blame this crazy schedule!
To explain more fully: the more 'usual' schedule on a theatre job ( in my illustrious career anyway) is four weeks' rehearsing just the  one play, one week spent doing three days' technical rehearsal on that play, then a couple of previews  before  opening to the press & paying public. That can feel arduous enough if the play is very long or the writing is new & challenging,  or the show is hugely technical. For example, I played Wendy in a production of Peter Pan at Birmingham Rep that involved good old-fashioned flying operated by big beefy guys working ropes in the wings, as well as lots of stage kit that moved up and down and back & forth to transform from London to Never-Never Land. So the technical rehearsal- which is not just for the actors to get the hang of special props, trap doors, being flown in a harness, lighting & sound cues etc, but also for all the specialist crew who are operating all of the above and especially for the stage manager on the book. This person oversees & runs the show every night using a big folder which holds the script all annotated with cues for all changes. So, a pretty important slot in the diary of a show... In our Peter Pan, there were loads of special effects operated by the clever folk dressed in black backstage as well as enormous trucks on stage- one holding Hook's pirate ship- wheeled by the assembled actors all in costume & in character. I'm talking about things the size & weight of a small bus. In the dark. Toward the audience. Quite important to know when to stop that sort of thing & how to operate the brakes.. Anyway, the tech rehearsal made it as far as the beginning of the first flying sequence ( ie the first 20 minutes of the entire show), when the nursery falls away & Peter, Wendy, John & their baby brother fly up over the skyline of London and on to Peter's world. We had the  alloted three days  and those three days were spent moving at a snail's pace to get as far as this first massive scene change. So we opened to a full house of paying customers having not actually 'done 'most of the show.  This happens more than you'd think in a business that is always trying to innovate. Needless to say, there were a few brown-trouser moments but no-one got (seriously) hurt and amazingly the show flowed seemlessly from beginning to end.
And thus we have the reputation across the world of being able to put brilliant shows on in a frighteningly short space of time. We still have a 'luxurious' couple of weeks before we enter our tech world..
This week after three excellent days work on Bedroom Farce, where we all got the opportunity to look more closely at what our characters get up to and to find lots of new colour & depth to scenes ( sorry if this language is all a bit 'luvvie', but I can't think of better ways to describe this process), I  sat in on the next day's rehearsal for Act 1 of Dry Rot. Apart from feeling slightly odd, having been allocated a day off, I was knocked out  by the amount of work people had done clearly on their own and if possible with one another to take the play on to another level, despite all working on other plays the rest of the time. Somehow, lines were coming more easily & relationships growing between characters that start to show the glimmer of a fantastic finished story, somewhere off in the distance! I am not getting paid to rave about all this btw, for those too cynical to believe in this magic of live theatre and this theatre in Keswick in particular. I keep reminding myself that all these people were strangers to me a month ago. I'd gladly swear on anything important to you dear reader as to the caliber of this motley crew and the things that can be achieved when that crew is carefully chosen by people who know what they're doing. Audiences enjoy seeing the same actors play wildly different parts from play to play and here they know that they have people who come from across the UK and Keswick to see three or more shows while they spend a few days enjoying the Lakes. This is why rep works. Oh, and we're cheaper than those there off-the-telly celebrities..

Saturday 21 April 2012

Week Three: Plenty of Rot

So the end of week three and hilariously, we have rattled through the whole of play number two, Dry Rot. Feeling like a farce-within- a farce, we have dashed about, trying to learn lines while marking stunts and sight gags and all the 'business' required to tell the ever so slightly silly story written by John Chapman to cheer the post-war London audiences of the 1950s.
So to recap: confusingly, we are firstly doing Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce which follows the convention of a farce but which involves none of the 'Oops Vicar, Where's My Trousers' of a Whitehall farce ( so named because of the venue in London that became synonymous with these shows), and Dry Rot which is a farce &  does involve quite a bit of dropping trouserage as well as secret doors, true romance, a stolen race horse  and a dangerous staircase.. All clear so far? Good. Perhaps you can tell me what's going on!
Monday was our play two readthrough and we convened in the same room most of us had been rehearsing Bedroom Farce in two days earlier.  Our group had changed to add two more cast members and lost one and all the familiar looking furniture had been changed and the taped mark-up switched to represent our new world. This is an odd feeling for an actor like me unused to 'traditional' rep. The rehearsal room usually is a pretty sacred place & all the props & furniture placed technically for us to get the hang of things and explore and thus it remains throughout the rehearsal period. To find it all gone and changed after two weeks is kind of scary. Stage management have a system where the coloured tape marking walls & stairs on the floor is stuck on a massive floor cloth so they can chop & change the whole thing swiftly between shows. Anyone would think they've done this kind of thing before...
Needless to say,  as I write, weekend plans are being revised as folk realise the task in hand for week four, which is a split week. This means three days back on play number one  ( play number one? er..?) and then two days on play number two. Lines must be learned to minimise confusion. My husband in play one, played by the totally comedic Chris Hannon becomes a likely criminal to my policewoman in play two; the buxom maid in play two- played by the delightfully daft Jessica Ellis becomes the kind-hearted newly wed Kate in play one and so on. I am a neurotic mess in play one and a terrifying butch policewoman in play two.  Not confusing at all. You're looking at the same face but the words and deeds are different.  At least our directors are two separate people. If Stefan Escreet is in the house, we are in Bedroom farce territory; if our leader is Artisitic Director Ian Forrest, then Dry Rot is happening! Stage manager on the book is  Daisy ( Bed Farce) or Tara (Dry Rot) so that helps remind you where or what you are in. It'll all be so much clearer once our costumes are in place and wigs etc are on.. I know a man who only knew which show he was doing each night by the colour of tights hung up in his dressing room. If they were yellow, it was The Magic Flute!  Trying to commit your complete 6 month show schedule to memory is not a good idea so some kind of costume-related system makes sense. As long as you don't upset the wardrobe department..!
As Sergeant Fire in Dry Rot I have a modest amount to do, so have luxuriated in a light week of rehearsals, obviously learning my lines. Not enjoying the beautiful Cumbrian landscape or going for dreamy walks by the river or  strolling up to the standing stone circle to gaze on the timeless view, no. Learning. My. Lines. Yes..
When I finally get my chance to rehearse my little bit, I walk into a rehearsal room pulsating with the lunatic energy of a creative group of very funny people all working together to tell the story of a bunch of dodgy geezers coming to a country hotel attempting to switch a horse to fix a race. All perfectly straightforward. All looking amazing after just three days' work. Brows very furrowed, the ideas kept coming and by the close of day four, even the young and energetic were flagging. It's so reassuring to have Ian & Stefan remind us that this apparently impossible schedule works and works amazingly well. The record shows us.
Last night a crowd of us said farewell to the History Boys who finish tonight, having broken box office records with their splendid show. The cast featured a lovely mix of familiar faces like Peter Rylands & Kieran Buckridge and debutantes fresh from drama school. They treated us to a post-show cabaret and they too were treated to a filmed tribute from the TBTL  production crew. Sad to think that'll be us in six months' time. Time I think to focus on the task in hand...bit previous to think about the end. Typical actor!

Friday 13 April 2012

Second Week: Don't Panic!

So we come to the end of our second 'week' in this fab place and we galloped through the play like things possessed, all doing our very best to create as much as we could in the time we've had which is of course only 8 days because of the Easter break. I am going on record to say that I haven't laughed so much watching a show that's been rehearsed for such a short time in all my days! Our directorial leader Stefan Escreet has kept us thoroughly motivated with encouragement and lots of  ideas to make our rehearsal time as productive and enthusiastic as possible.
Bedroom Farce is an odd world to inhabit, jumping between three couples'  bedrooms and following the fallout from the antics of a fourth couple (Trevor & Susannah) who take their relationship problems to their friends & family and generally behave pretty badly. One character spends the entire play in bed- or falling out of it and another spends the entire play having a nervous breakdown ( that'll be me-joy of joys!!). Despite that, it is a comedy and so we all are set a challenge.  That is, to do anything but play it for laughs. The secret to this stuff, which at first glance  can often read like pretty every day bickering, is to play it for all the truthfulness, so if your character is really on the brink of a full-on tantrum, then you play that to the hilt and don't for a moment think about being funny. I guess that is what can make the performing of comedy so fascinating because of that massive  contradiction.
Today's fun started with choreographing a mighty fight that involves four of us in a small bedroom with  a lethal table lamp. Fight Director Peter McQueen got us puffing and panting going over and over our moves to ensure maximum dramatic impact but minimum personal injury. Learning fight sequences is just like learning lines; no magic secret technique just repetition. So, by lunchtime we were all very aware of how fit we were. Or not. Cue a frantic weekend of trips to the gym and solemn vows to cut down on booze & chocolate biscuits  in  a vain attempt to feel slightly stronger the next time we get to wrestle in the name of art!
So this weekend is going to be spent reflecting on the huge amount we achieved on Bedroom Farce but also contemplating what still needs to be done; how that now goes on the back burner until the 23rd April and on Monday we enter  the world of the Whitehall farce and Dry Rot rehearsals begin.
Wish us luck!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Week One: Getting to Know You

So you get enough actors into one place in order  to put on six -count them- six plays in about two and a half months and the thespian equivalent of speed-dating begins! The sooner you all find common ground and get cracking playing with the material given, like Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, the sooner the director can see that all will be well and the pressure can be reduced from almost fever-pitch to just plain old brown trousers. Only in dear old Blighty do we ask professional actors, directors, designers & all the skilled set builders, costume makers and stage managers to put amazing shows on in what feels like ten minutes. But we do it and we do it so well that we have a belting reputation in this country for excellent live theatre and Theatre by the Lake - or TBTL as it shall ever more be known here is no exception.
I am one of the lucky ones invited to this  beautiful place to work and play in some wonderful plays directed by Ian Forrest and Stefan Escreet, first in the main house, then in the intimate studio. 14 of us will perform in Bedroom Farce, Dry Rot, Doll's House, Colder Than Here, Great Expectations and  Roma & the Flanellettes. Ian and Stefan are gathering more talented young directors around them too.

Day One was the mighty gathering, including the current bunch performing in The History Boys, meaning 26 actors in one theatre and some sort of regional if not national record! It is a rare thing indeed to find a proper repertory theatre, meaning one that puts on varied plays with the same versatile thesps. It used to be the norm but now is super rare, for all sorts of  reasons, which is a shame because it is a fantastic way to get actors & directors to work together, becoming so familiar with each others' skills and style that, like musicians, they gel onstage & off, turning out better performances ( I believe) than when only given a few short weeks to get a play on.
So- we are now the other side of Easter and the end of week one's rehearsal of Bedroom Farce & The Doll's House. Here in the Bedroom Farce camp, we have rattled through the play once to get an idea of what's what. It has been hard not to fall about laughing watching the other scenes, as my esteemed colleagues have jumped into the chaos of Alan Ayckbourn's writing with gusto. I need to dash off now to join them at the start of week two and more fun & games..