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!