I was really nervous about the first rehearsal. Abi had asked me how I wanted to structure it, and I had no idea - so we decided she'd run a short warmup workshop with them (being the more creative out of the two of us), and then we'd go straight into a dry read through of the play, with me taking notes along the way. This turned out to be ideally as to my great annoyance, a meeting I was in overran making me 10minutes late - not a good start for one of the directors.
However, when I arrived they were just about to start reading, so it was an ideal time for me to become engaged. It couldn't have gone any better. Hearing our chosen actors read out the words reaffirmed our casting decisions (which I'd been nervous about too), and put me right at ease. My copy of the script is completely covered in annotations and post-it notes, and already from just one rehearsal I'm starting to see it in my head.
We're working in a slightly different way to other directors - as Abi's focusing her study on space, she's the one who is largely deciding the size and shape of the stage, and the way in which the space is dressed. My interest is in the actors, and the way in which the characters are portrayed. This works very well, harnessing our strengths and complimenting one another's work without getting in each other's way.
So, one read through down, now it's time to start planning the rest of the rehearsals. With the Easter holidays taken into consideration, there are 6 rehearsals scheduled, equalling 18hours - for a one-night show, I'm fairly confident that this will be enough time. We shall see further down the line, but for now, I'm learning, growing, and gaining confidence.
No comments:
Post a Comment