Rehearsal #3 - Pages 33-50

Yet another very good rehearsal - having willing and talented actors does definitely help the process. I am however once again feeling rather overwhelmed. Coming into the hall I felt terribly inadequate, and though the run went perfectly, the blocking looked great, and the emotions were strong, I still couldn't shake a feeling of doubt. This is an aspect of directing I had not expected to come across.
Following the rehearsal, Abi led a character workshop. Getting the actors to lie on the floor, close their eyes, and imagine the characters taking over, whilst summoning various emotions and memories is a classic technique for characterisation. After this, Abi played various pieces of music and asked the actors to respond physically in character - this was a very insightful exercise for me to watch as it started to uncover layers of emotion that really help to build the play. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to run such a workshop - the ideas appeared so obvious once they had been said, but I had little creativity to make them up myself. This is something I am definitely going to work on.
It's no use if the director feels uncertain or self-conscious - they must lead the actors and help draw the play. So next week, I'm going to go into the rehearsal room with confidence that it is developing as I had hoped (which it is), and shake off this feeling of doubt.

Music character work

I am considering extending the project to include a dramaturgical study of Look Back in Anger, exploring past productions of the text and the reception they received. This will be confirmed following a meeting with my supervisor, but I will start looking into past shows over the Easter break.