Week Seven: Through the Tech & Into a Live Audience

Oooh. Tech weeks really can divide people. Some love 'em, some not so much. Personally I really dig getting in to the space and having a good old bounce on the mattress and fettle with doors & light switches etc. Then a fair bit of time passes as things are done with the aforementioned bits & bobs by skilled folk dressed in black and you realise it's been a while since you did any acting or even thought about your lines. Then you get scared. It was even scarier on Monday to be told that as far as Stefan was concerned, we wouldn't benefit from another run through so we could have all of Tuesday off. A quick glance at our scared & blood drained little faces and he shrewdly suggested a  line run, to keep us on our toes. Our Stage Manager Daisy kept a close eye on us to prevent us from larking about through this line run and picked us up on every little slip.
Our bedroom world on stage in the main house has been lovingly created by the devoted team at TBTL and resembles three bedrooms collided together. Those old enough to have been there will I am sure, enjoy the 70's references that are oozing out of the wallpaper & furnishings.  Everyone needs to explore the newly created space to get a sense of sightlines for the audience and how vital things like the beds differ from those knocked up for use in the rehearsal room. This is especially important if fights  take place in a space, where the material a bed is made of can change how a fight will work, or  require change to the blocking to prevent an actor knocking themselves out on a metal bedstead.
One odd part of a tech is the way in which a close-knit bunch of people in rehearsal can become separated by moving into dressing rooms and the sudden addition of walls where none previously existed. You can feel distanced from people you've been sharing the same space with, especially in this set with all its walls, doors & black flats. I certainly missed being able to sit by & watch the other cast go through their scenes as I had done in the rehearsal room.
We have been relishing seeing each others' costumes and especially some of the wigs. Yes we're professionals, but we are human and so we too get a kick out of seeing each other all dressed up.. or down, depending on the desired finished look.. As for wigs, well a good wig just adds to the whole excitement. Needless to say, that coupled with the good spirit with which everyone seems to work here has resulted in us whizzing through a large chunk of the technical rehearsal in great time, allowing us to be let out a little early for a well-deserved glass of something refreshing-- I mean,   for an early night. That is a first for me! Most techs can drag on day after day into the wee small hours. Here though, everything is done with great efficiency.  So we got an extra 'last night' of freedom. The luxury of being able to wander home after having had a good feast in a local eatery with your fellow actors & crew is to be cherished wherever possible. Certainly, from here on, it'll be Sundays only that we can sit and watch the sun set over the lakes & mountains. I'm not complaining! Just making an observation..! Carpe Diem & all that.
So after our amazingly painless two days of technical rehearsal, with only minor interruptions to sort out amongst other things one broken bed, which went under an actor as he sat while uttering the immortal lines, '..a great, heavy weight' and a slightly bent door which sees a lot of action in this play,
Friday raced past in the shape of two more runs on the main stage, one a tech/dress, the other a dress rehearsal proper with photographer in action.. Then Saturday dawned and a second dress and the first paying audience in the evening, what we'd all been waiting for.

Now we have our first show under our belts- a preview by name but a show nonetheless- we can start to see how it will all 'work'. The audience in any live show is like the missing cast member; their presence changes how a comedy feels.  Their reactions can be guessed at and anticipated in rehearsal but until they are all out there living & breathing and laughing when they feel like it, the actors have to wait. Saturday's audience were ready to have good evening; within minutes of curtain-up lovely warm chuckles and guffaws greeted the opening scene between Maggie Tagney & Steven Aintree. Standing & listening by the prompt corner, I felt that heartening feeling that everything would be just fine, which when you're playing a crazy person can sometimes feel all too far away!
Needless to say, from the inside we were all feeling a bit mixed about how we were doing, what we were doing, what might be tried the next night, all the usual worries and niggles of a new opening.
Bottom line, lots of happy smiling faces, especially from Stefan & Ian waiting for us in the bar.
So- roll on next week and lots more audiences to play with. Oh- and a return to the whacky world of Dry Rot... no pressure..!