Character Dinner

So tonight we embarked on a bit of an experiment. We booked a room on campus, bought some cold pasta dishes, a quiche, some salad, bread and butter, and a trifle. And asked our actors to come along and have a dinner party in their characters. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I thought it'd be a good way for everyone to get their heads back into the game after a 4 week break. I was looking for character dynamics, improvised interaction, instinctive responses, and generally anything of interest that may benefit or enhance the play.

The dynamics that came out of just a 25 minute exercise (such a thing like this must go for as long as is natural, and cannot be forced) were more than I'd anticipated, and were both very entertaining and telling.

The tension that arose when Jimmy stepped into the room was tangible, and the light-hearted chatter between Helena and Alison took on a bit of an edge. Jimmy stated "didn't we have salad yesterday?", unexpectedly highlighting the theme of mundane repetition that Abi had decided was a key element to really enhance in the production. Throughout the entire meal, Jimmy was provoking, baiting Helena into argument, and doing his best to belittle Alison. Poor Cliff (who, as one would expect, had the most food on his plate) continually attempted to keep the peace with little comments on the meal, complimenting Alison and hoping Jimmy would calm down.

As an overall experience, it was very informative for me as a director to see how much the actors had picked up on the characters from the text, and how comfortable they were to respond when moved away from the set script. This confirmed their characterisation and the work they've done thus far, and has put us in good stead for the final few rehearsals. I'm really happy with the way they have developed and their interpretations of the characters matches what I'd wanted to get from them almost exactly, which is why they've required fairly little emotional directing up until this point. I look forward to the next fortnight with the rest of the play coming together, and I think tonight's exercise will have strengthened their onstage relationships.