Tech Day

So today was tech day - usually a day filled with stress, no food, lots of coffee, and inevitably fallings-out between actors, directors, and technical crew. But today was not like that; amazingly, things seemed to just work as they were meant to, and even the technical hitch or two didn't get in the way of a good day and bright spirits.

I spent the morning in the van with Josh and Freya, driving around Guildford looking for furniture. We were fortunate enough to be given access to an armchair from the Yvonne Arnaud, and sourced the other chair and mattress from Josh's and Freya's homes. Abi had supplied the bed frame, and the studio was being rigged with blacks to create the 2nd wall, and the lights were being tested. There were a couple of crossed and broken extension leads which set us back a little in the schedule, but overall things moved smoothly. The space had the appropriate claustrophobic feel that Abi had wanted, and the set was beginning to look cluttered and lived-in. Seeing everything in its own place definitely made everything that bit more real, but also a lot more tangible as we weren't just working from markings on the floor any more. The space was in front of us, the seating banks were set, so it became clear where the sight-lines were and what needed to be tweaked.

The lighting has been fairly straightforward also, moving from warm 'April' tones, through the various seasons to a slightly colder atmosphere that reflects both the time of year in the play, but also the emotions and tensions onstage. Once everything was rigged and focused, which didn't take as long as I was expecting, the plotting and cues were fairly straightforward. Luckily, Abi and I didn't have any differing opinions about the atmosphere of the lighting, and following a few suggestions from Dave, our acting Stage Manager for the day, we were able to create a full plot within a couple of hours.

I was only able to stay for half of the tech rehearsal due to meetings (a frustration I've been finding throughout the process - clashes of timetabling definitely isn't ideal), but the actors did seem comfortable in the space even just for a cue-to-cue run. Of course, energy was lacking, as was volume, however for a first attempt in the space it was a fair enough run. Tomorrow we've got an early start with a dress rehearsal at 9am to allow the actors to give it one last go over, then we're up at 2pm. I'm again confident that they'll manage well - I only hope my influence as a director has been a good one and they enjoy themselves as much as I hope the audience will.

Lit set, ready for actors!