Monday, 31 March 2008
Verbal Diahorrea
I was meant to be keeping my posts to 250 words but the last one amounted to 1028 words. The limit was self imposed but I just don't know when to stop!
Tales from the Green Room 1979
The Best Beloved spotted a factual error in my last dispatch from the Green Room, this very personalised history of the Bench Theatre. As I have said before, these reminiscences are based upon personal memory without access to the Bench archives, so errors or misperceptions or views from an individual perspective are bound to occur. It is one of the reasons that these Tales from the green room will change format after this dispatch. This is the last one that will deal with ancient history and, from now on, the tales will be concerned with particular productions and will use the archive material carefully stored and maintained by the Bench archivist.
Anyway I was telling you about the factual error spotted in the last Tale when I was describing the 1977 production of “As You Like It” and the advent of the Penroses on the Bench scene. Spokey Wheeler did make an appearance in 1977 but didn’t play Silvius to Jenny Jones’ shepherdess.
Spokey did go on to be Bench Chairman and Chairman of the Arts Centre but he didn’t play Silvius.
That honour went to Langley Gifford, a Havant College student at the time. In fact Langley may have been the very first Havant College student to have joined us but he definitely was one of the first of a long line of highly successful Havant College additions to the company, which have been a direct result of David Penrose becoming a Bench member. Such Bench stalwarts as Mark Wakeman and Damon Wakelin joined initially as Havant College students, before going off to University, and eventually returning to Havant and the Bench Theatre. Mark, I remember, arrived for “Martin Chuzzlewit” (May 1990) and one of the productions lined up for a backwards look in the forthcoming series of “Tales from the Green Room”.
I did say that I would review our first version of “Habeas Corpus” in this particular Tale. We did the very first production of any kind in the Arts Centre in November 1977 with me directing the Alan Bennett farce (It was reprised in July 1994 with Jacquie Penrose as director).
Alan Bennett wrote a farce in Habeas Corpus – admittedly in his own linguistic style but he deliberately wrote it in the form of a farce. The driving force behind a farce and what motivates the characters is desperation. A superficial reading of Habeas Corpus can mislead you into thinking it’s about English eccentricity and observation of quaint people and their foibles. But if you remember that each one is driven by desperation then the throwaway lines are not occasioned by wry humour but are wrested from tortured souls. The audience reaction should begin as quiet chuckles of recognition but as the farce proceeds, the pace quickens and the events come tumbling in on one another in ever hectic fashion, the laughter begins to roll in waves until the ultimate sign of success is audience humour exhaustion – “enough is enough already – my sides ache – please stop!”
One of the comments heard occasionally at play selection evenings is the plea that the Bench do something light, a frivolous bit of fun for all concerned. When such a suggestion surface, I groan because invariably comedy is hard work to do really well and the payback only comes in performance – there are invariably tears and tensions during the rehearsal period unless everyone involved is on the same wavelength. Such comments go double for farce!
Added to the difficulty of mounting a farce as described above was the fact that we were about to mount a theatrical performance in 1977 in a building, which had just ceased being the Civic Offices and Council Chambers of the Borough of Havant. The sunken area in Red Mango on the way to the toilets used to be the Mayoral Changing Room and what is now the theatre was the Council Chamber itself. From this we had the public gallery, which is now the balcony and lighting box. However, in 1977, there was no tiered seating. In fact there was no seating at all. The entrance at the back of the auditorium entered on the same level as what is now the stage. It was a purely arbitrary decision on my part that the stage area became the stage area. We had to clean and clear the area to make it practicable as an auditorium. We could have built a temporary stage area on rostra and this would probably have existed to this day. However, I went for performing on the flat and raising the audience on temporary seating stands. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was setting down the way the theatre has been used ever since in what is the David Spackman Auditorium or Hall, named after one of the Bench members, whose exploits I have extolled in previous Tales from the Green Room. One of my reasons for performing on the flat was that I wanted to hang one of the cast. I wasn’t being unnecessarily cruel to my cast but rather the first act ends with an actor having hung himself and the second act starts from exactly the same moment. It is a dangerous activity, hanging, so I had hired a proper flying kit. The lighting grid you see now didn’t exist and the roof was too far for us to use. I designed and built a triangular setpiece similar to the one that Tim Taylor designed for “Art” (July 2006). The difference was that one of the triangles faces was left out but with the cross beams still visible. It was from these that the actor (Brian Sweatman) hung himself. The counter weighting of the whole structure took a bit of thought I can tell you – and quite a few trials and errors before we got it right – without damage to Brian, who fulfilled all performances and rejoined the Bench for “Man of La Mancha” in February 1995.
The audience must have been very uncomfortable during the show but I am pleased to say the production itself was something of a triumph and helped to successfully herald in a new era of the Bench Theatre at the Havant Arts Centre.
I hope to continue these “Tales from the Green Room” by taking a look at some of the landmark productions the Bench has mounted at the Arts Centre since then, relying less on personal memory and more on our wonderful archive material.
Anyway I was telling you about the factual error spotted in the last Tale when I was describing the 1977 production of “As You Like It” and the advent of the Penroses on the Bench scene. Spokey Wheeler did make an appearance in 1977 but didn’t play Silvius to Jenny Jones’ shepherdess.
Spokey did go on to be Bench Chairman and Chairman of the Arts Centre but he didn’t play Silvius.
That honour went to Langley Gifford, a Havant College student at the time. In fact Langley may have been the very first Havant College student to have joined us but he definitely was one of the first of a long line of highly successful Havant College additions to the company, which have been a direct result of David Penrose becoming a Bench member. Such Bench stalwarts as Mark Wakeman and Damon Wakelin joined initially as Havant College students, before going off to University, and eventually returning to Havant and the Bench Theatre. Mark, I remember, arrived for “Martin Chuzzlewit” (May 1990) and one of the productions lined up for a backwards look in the forthcoming series of “Tales from the Green Room”.
I did say that I would review our first version of “Habeas Corpus” in this particular Tale. We did the very first production of any kind in the Arts Centre in November 1977 with me directing the Alan Bennett farce (It was reprised in July 1994 with Jacquie Penrose as director).
Alan Bennett wrote a farce in Habeas Corpus – admittedly in his own linguistic style but he deliberately wrote it in the form of a farce. The driving force behind a farce and what motivates the characters is desperation. A superficial reading of Habeas Corpus can mislead you into thinking it’s about English eccentricity and observation of quaint people and their foibles. But if you remember that each one is driven by desperation then the throwaway lines are not occasioned by wry humour but are wrested from tortured souls. The audience reaction should begin as quiet chuckles of recognition but as the farce proceeds, the pace quickens and the events come tumbling in on one another in ever hectic fashion, the laughter begins to roll in waves until the ultimate sign of success is audience humour exhaustion – “enough is enough already – my sides ache – please stop!”
One of the comments heard occasionally at play selection evenings is the plea that the Bench do something light, a frivolous bit of fun for all concerned. When such a suggestion surface, I groan because invariably comedy is hard work to do really well and the payback only comes in performance – there are invariably tears and tensions during the rehearsal period unless everyone involved is on the same wavelength. Such comments go double for farce!
Added to the difficulty of mounting a farce as described above was the fact that we were about to mount a theatrical performance in 1977 in a building, which had just ceased being the Civic Offices and Council Chambers of the Borough of Havant. The sunken area in Red Mango on the way to the toilets used to be the Mayoral Changing Room and what is now the theatre was the Council Chamber itself. From this we had the public gallery, which is now the balcony and lighting box. However, in 1977, there was no tiered seating. In fact there was no seating at all. The entrance at the back of the auditorium entered on the same level as what is now the stage. It was a purely arbitrary decision on my part that the stage area became the stage area. We had to clean and clear the area to make it practicable as an auditorium. We could have built a temporary stage area on rostra and this would probably have existed to this day. However, I went for performing on the flat and raising the audience on temporary seating stands. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was setting down the way the theatre has been used ever since in what is the David Spackman Auditorium or Hall, named after one of the Bench members, whose exploits I have extolled in previous Tales from the Green Room. One of my reasons for performing on the flat was that I wanted to hang one of the cast. I wasn’t being unnecessarily cruel to my cast but rather the first act ends with an actor having hung himself and the second act starts from exactly the same moment. It is a dangerous activity, hanging, so I had hired a proper flying kit. The lighting grid you see now didn’t exist and the roof was too far for us to use. I designed and built a triangular setpiece similar to the one that Tim Taylor designed for “Art” (July 2006). The difference was that one of the triangles faces was left out but with the cross beams still visible. It was from these that the actor (Brian Sweatman) hung himself. The counter weighting of the whole structure took a bit of thought I can tell you – and quite a few trials and errors before we got it right – without damage to Brian, who fulfilled all performances and rejoined the Bench for “Man of La Mancha” in February 1995.
The audience must have been very uncomfortable during the show but I am pleased to say the production itself was something of a triumph and helped to successfully herald in a new era of the Bench Theatre at the Havant Arts Centre.
I hope to continue these “Tales from the Green Room” by taking a look at some of the landmark productions the Bench has mounted at the Arts Centre since then, relying less on personal memory and more on our wonderful archive material.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Theatre Reviews
These are two brief theatrical reviews that I came across.
One is from Noel Coward, reviewing Lionel Bart's "Blitz" as "half as long as the original and twice as loud".
The other is from Groucho Marx: "I didn't like the play. But then I did see it in adverse circumstances. The curtain was up."
One is from Noel Coward, reviewing Lionel Bart's "Blitz" as "half as long as the original and twice as loud".
The other is from Groucho Marx: "I didn't like the play. But then I did see it in adverse circumstances. The curtain was up."
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Merrily We Roll Along
The Best Beloved, Penroses and I saw the production of "Merrily We Roll Along"(Stephen Sondheim) at the Watermill, Newbury, Thursday matinee on the 6th after lunch in the restaurant. This was my second viewing of this particular Sondheim musical, having seen a Donmar production with Daniel Evans a couple of years ago. I remember the Donmar version with particular affection as I was blubbing by the time we had got to the end of the show. The blubbing was induced by the excellent performances, the music and the story of youthful ideals and friendships lost in the search for fame and success. The two songs which get me going are "Friends Like Us" and "As days go by". Sondheim also gives a producer in the show a hummable tune, with which he derides the lack of hummable tunes produced by the young songwriters in the plot. Sondheim is just occasionally too clever for his own good. The show lasted sixteen performances on Broadway and was a parting of the ways, I believe, between Sondheim and Harold Prince.
"Merrily We Roll Along" is told chronologically in reverse. We begin with a speech by Frank Shepherd to an academic presentation day audience to which he has been invited as guest speaker because of his fame and success on Broadway and in the movie industry. The musical then works backward through his life showing the shortcuts and betrayals needed to become the success he is. The show actually ends where the life story of Frank Shepherd the composer begins - on the rooftop of a student community hall watching Telstar cross the skies with his two old friends, Mary and Charley. They pledge eternal friendship and commit themselves to the cause of producing remarkable music. This is an anthem to youth and youthful aspirations.
John Doyle, the director, made a name for himself by taking a production of "Sweeney Todd" from the Watermill all the way to Broadway in 2005. Doyle uses actor-musicians to perform his pieces. The twelve strong cast each plays one or more musical instruments as well as singing. The cast are the orchestra as well. The Watermill is a tiny theatre with a tiny performing space. There is no set other than a large vertical tape recorder on the back wall. The space is dominated by Frank's grand piano. I am pleased we saw this production from the circle so we were looking down on the action as i suspect the view from the stalls would have been highly restricted by the piano and pianist. As it was the action mainly consisted of duets and trios around the piano. The emphasis was mainly upon singing and the Best Beloved commented that it was more akin to watching a concert version than a stage one. I certainly did not feel the upswell of emotion that I had experienced during the Donmar version. It may have been due to having to admire the skill with which speeches or songs would be delivered, followed by the raising of an instrument to add to the score. One admired the skill rather than felt the emotion. Sam Kenyon as Frank was good looking but slight and this, for me, rather summed up his performance. I thought Elizabeth Marsh as Mary and Thomas Padden as Charley caught the disillusioned companions well but perhaps that is because the characters themselves are more worthy than Frank. I liked Rebecca Jackson as Gussie with black, thigh high split skirt and black fish net stockings perched high on the piano. Well, I would, wouldn't I?
Johnson Willis, with shaven pate, gets the part of Joe the producer and hapless husband to Gussie. Joe gets the hummable tune in which he derides the unhummable nature of much of the musical output of the composer/ songwriter duo that is Frank and Charley.
I love the intimacy of the Watermill and I love the intimacy of "Merrily We Roll Along" but somehow John Doyle's production never used either intimacy to arouse my soul sufficiently in a beautifully if minimally staged show. I admired it but like my heart strings to be twanged and they weren't.
"Merrily We Roll Along" is told chronologically in reverse. We begin with a speech by Frank Shepherd to an academic presentation day audience to which he has been invited as guest speaker because of his fame and success on Broadway and in the movie industry. The musical then works backward through his life showing the shortcuts and betrayals needed to become the success he is. The show actually ends where the life story of Frank Shepherd the composer begins - on the rooftop of a student community hall watching Telstar cross the skies with his two old friends, Mary and Charley. They pledge eternal friendship and commit themselves to the cause of producing remarkable music. This is an anthem to youth and youthful aspirations.
John Doyle, the director, made a name for himself by taking a production of "Sweeney Todd" from the Watermill all the way to Broadway in 2005. Doyle uses actor-musicians to perform his pieces. The twelve strong cast each plays one or more musical instruments as well as singing. The cast are the orchestra as well. The Watermill is a tiny theatre with a tiny performing space. There is no set other than a large vertical tape recorder on the back wall. The space is dominated by Frank's grand piano. I am pleased we saw this production from the circle so we were looking down on the action as i suspect the view from the stalls would have been highly restricted by the piano and pianist. As it was the action mainly consisted of duets and trios around the piano. The emphasis was mainly upon singing and the Best Beloved commented that it was more akin to watching a concert version than a stage one. I certainly did not feel the upswell of emotion that I had experienced during the Donmar version. It may have been due to having to admire the skill with which speeches or songs would be delivered, followed by the raising of an instrument to add to the score. One admired the skill rather than felt the emotion. Sam Kenyon as Frank was good looking but slight and this, for me, rather summed up his performance. I thought Elizabeth Marsh as Mary and Thomas Padden as Charley caught the disillusioned companions well but perhaps that is because the characters themselves are more worthy than Frank. I liked Rebecca Jackson as Gussie with black, thigh high split skirt and black fish net stockings perched high on the piano. Well, I would, wouldn't I?
Johnson Willis, with shaven pate, gets the part of Joe the producer and hapless husband to Gussie. Joe gets the hummable tune in which he derides the unhummable nature of much of the musical output of the composer/ songwriter duo that is Frank and Charley.
I love the intimacy of the Watermill and I love the intimacy of "Merrily We Roll Along" but somehow John Doyle's production never used either intimacy to arouse my soul sufficiently in a beautifully if minimally staged show. I admired it but like my heart strings to be twanged and they weren't.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Bronte Begins
"Bronte" is the Bench Theatre production opening on Thursday April 24th until Saturday May 3rd, 2008. It is the Polly Teale version created with Shared Experience. The Best Beloved is the director with yours truly as movement director (and possibly dialogue coach). The Firstborn is the Stage Manager and Cat is playing Charlotte Bronte, so it is something of a family show. I think the Natty Chap may be approached as lighting designer.
The cast gathered for the first read through on Monday 3rd March. The other two sisters are Lorraine as Anne and Frankie as Emily. The ghosts were played by a single actress in the original production but they will be split in ours with Lynda as Bertha and Jo as Cathy.
The two men have to play a number of male characters each. David is Patrick, the Bronte father, and Callum is Branwell, the brother. David has given Patrick a slight Irish burr but has also discovered that Bell Nicholl, another male character he plays, was also Irish. Heger, a third character, is Belgian and David's final part is as Rochester from "Jane Eyre". Callum has also to play Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" and Arthur Huntington from "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
The play has an interesting structure. The actresses playing the three Bronte sisters change out of modern clothed and into costume during the Prologue. The play then plays chronological tricks with the timeline 1825 - 1854. We see the sisters' story at various times during their lives but not necessarily in time order. By the time the audience see it, this will be absolutely clear but it does mean the company have a lot of work to do to keep the structure clear in their own heads.
As this is FA Cup day and Barnsley are playing Chelsea at their Oakwell ground, I was intrigued to see that Charlotte Bronte - under her nom de plume of Fieldhead - stayed at Oakwell Hall. How's that for an interesting coincidence?
The cast will also have to take on board a Yorkshire accent, which will be part of my briefing. Also a physiotherapist observing the Club Night on Thursday last observed that the incorrect posture was adopted in response to the request to behave like Victorians. She has offered to help with the movement in rehearsal and to do some exercises in future Club Night sessions. The wardrobe are also working very hard to get costumes ready for rehearsal rather than just for performances. I am not sure whether corsets are part of the costume brief but perhaps they should be.
The Club Night also produced outlines of the plots of "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" acted out by three sections of the gathered assemblage. It was interesting to note how much aspects of all three plots have been retained in the memory as almost iconic moments but how much of the plot is really unknown. It certainly helped the cast to learn about the three books in a painless way and hopefully helped the whole company towards an interest in the current production.
The next rehearsal is Sunday 9th March with a look at the two men and their variety of parts. We will also look at the interaction between Anne and her brother, Branwell.
Jo and Frankie are rehearsing "Stand and Delivery", the Mark Wakeman one acter, for the Totton Drama Festival on Friday 14th March. Cat is away in London at the Actors' Workshop.
I will try to keep you abreast of progress in the production as we go along. It is certainly an interesting challenge to be playing people with real lives who actually existed. The research possibilities are there but one has to rely on Polly Teale having done hers beforehand before writing the play. She will have selected what she wanted to include in the telling of her tale.
The cast gathered for the first read through on Monday 3rd March. The other two sisters are Lorraine as Anne and Frankie as Emily. The ghosts were played by a single actress in the original production but they will be split in ours with Lynda as Bertha and Jo as Cathy.
The two men have to play a number of male characters each. David is Patrick, the Bronte father, and Callum is Branwell, the brother. David has given Patrick a slight Irish burr but has also discovered that Bell Nicholl, another male character he plays, was also Irish. Heger, a third character, is Belgian and David's final part is as Rochester from "Jane Eyre". Callum has also to play Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" and Arthur Huntington from "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
The play has an interesting structure. The actresses playing the three Bronte sisters change out of modern clothed and into costume during the Prologue. The play then plays chronological tricks with the timeline 1825 - 1854. We see the sisters' story at various times during their lives but not necessarily in time order. By the time the audience see it, this will be absolutely clear but it does mean the company have a lot of work to do to keep the structure clear in their own heads.
As this is FA Cup day and Barnsley are playing Chelsea at their Oakwell ground, I was intrigued to see that Charlotte Bronte - under her nom de plume of Fieldhead - stayed at Oakwell Hall. How's that for an interesting coincidence?
The cast will also have to take on board a Yorkshire accent, which will be part of my briefing. Also a physiotherapist observing the Club Night on Thursday last observed that the incorrect posture was adopted in response to the request to behave like Victorians. She has offered to help with the movement in rehearsal and to do some exercises in future Club Night sessions. The wardrobe are also working very hard to get costumes ready for rehearsal rather than just for performances. I am not sure whether corsets are part of the costume brief but perhaps they should be.
The Club Night also produced outlines of the plots of "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" acted out by three sections of the gathered assemblage. It was interesting to note how much aspects of all three plots have been retained in the memory as almost iconic moments but how much of the plot is really unknown. It certainly helped the cast to learn about the three books in a painless way and hopefully helped the whole company towards an interest in the current production.
The next rehearsal is Sunday 9th March with a look at the two men and their variety of parts. We will also look at the interaction between Anne and her brother, Branwell.
Jo and Frankie are rehearsing "Stand and Delivery", the Mark Wakeman one acter, for the Totton Drama Festival on Friday 14th March. Cat is away in London at the Actors' Workshop.
I will try to keep you abreast of progress in the production as we go along. It is certainly an interesting challenge to be playing people with real lives who actually existed. The research possibilities are there but one has to rely on Polly Teale having done hers beforehand before writing the play. She will have selected what she wanted to include in the telling of her tale.
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Attempts On Her Life
This Bench production of a play by Martin Crimp came to an end on Sunday 2nd March at around noon.
The Natty Chap created a play and a company that puts it up there in the top ten amongst my 45 years of theatrical endeavour. I am still unsure whether he is a genius or just really stubborn. I suspect both elements have their sway in his general make up.
I do not intend to use this post as a resume of the whole process as Natty Chap set up a rehearsal blog elsewhere for the production. However I would like to pick out my highlights from rehearsal but mainly from the production week just passed.
The company was excellent. At times in rehearsal they foundered with this strange play in which Martin Crimp provides the dialogue but without naming any of the speakers and providing no stage directions. At such times they were all prepared to provide ideas and contributions, but especially Neil and Zoe, who were also mentioned in the fair dinkum newspaper review. When the ideas were in short supply, the Natty Chap just drove them on, coming up with endless variations that they could work on. The company hung together. I don't think I heard one cross word exchanged between them and they all supported each other magnificently. They were a great credit to themselves and to the Natty Chap's direction.
During rehearsal I felt somewhat isolated as Stage Manager. I have done the job before and thought I knew it well enough to be able to do it without too much sweat. However,I was having to learn how to operate the camera and the projector, while at the same time trying to keep the master copy up to date with the amendments. We eventually committed four scenes to the use of live camera work, which was at least one fewer than we had intended. The film crew turned out to be me on projector and the Natty Chap himself on camera, although we had tried a few variations on that before arriving at the performances.
The production team didn't really meet up until 7th February about 18 days before the performance week. Emily and her sister agreed to work in the box as lights and sound crew. Sharman was to be Deputy Stage Manager on the book so I could keep an overview and do the filming. Lizzy was joining us from finishing a stint as Stage Manager on the College production of "Guys and Dolls". She was to be Assistant Stage Manager in charge of props and microphones.
Robin ( Herself) was working hard as producer and providing the props. During the week of the performances she and Himself ( Paul) proved invaluable. Herself was Box Office Manager and Arts Centre Duty Manager on several nights.
We had scheduled a long day for Get In Sunday on 24th February. We worked on the lights from 0900 till noon. We then worked on the visual imagery provided by Patsy and on the mobile projection supervised by yours truly. By 4.00 p.m. we were ready to go through a long, slow tech with the actors before doing a full dress rehearsal at 8.00 p.m. We finished at 10 p.m. The show worked although we had had technical difficulties with the back wall projections. They were incomplete and there seemed to be some lack of communication between the laptop and the static projector. Get that, please, all the human agencies were on their best behaviour and except for one spluttery moment by yours truly late in the day, communication channels were kept open and civilised throughout the day. The only communication breakdown was between two pieces of machinery, who just wouldn't talk to each other unless cajoled and coaxed! I ask you!
We had dispensed with staging blocks, instead going for taped areas on the stage floor. We had two lightweight flats on either side of the stage which were also the screens for the mobile projector. Otherwise we had curtained black surrounds and a large white cyclorama on the back wall. We were certainly going for a minimalist approach.
The Monday dress rehearsal was beset with technical difficulties. The same difficulties from the Sunday hadn't really been resolved and in the end we did the final dress rehearsal without the back wall projections. The cast and crew were magnificent but without the projections the show was too minimalist. Nobody panicked but we hadn't yet run the show in its entirety and next stop was first night and press night!
The first night arrived and we hadn't yet run the show in its entirety with all the technical bits and pieces attached. Adrenalin was flowing but tempers were remarkably under control. Lynda, the assistant director, was magnificent and turned up trumps in finally getting the back wall projections up and running. We did, however, have to call upon the computer expertise of Himself to get the laptop and projector to actually agree to talk to each other. This meant the birthday tea of Herself was somewhat truncated as a result. Hopefully we made up for it at the last night party, which became her unofficial birthday party.
We also discovered that Emily, our lighting operator, who had done a marvellous job on Sunday and Monday taking on board the lighting programme and plot, had been involved in a car collision. We were concerned on her behalf but relieved when her sister Lucy still turned up to do sound and reassured us that Emily was not seriously injured but might be kept in hospital overnight. Jacquie, the lighting Designer, stepped into the breach as Lighting Operator for the performance. In fact, though she was worried about her big sister, the only comment Lucy made was that Emily was looking pale. Now Emily is one of those very slim young women who always to my eyes look "pale and interesting" so I was intrigued to know how Lucy could tell that Emily was pale.
However we had to delay the curtain going up until 8.06 p.m., 36 minutes after its scheduled time. The audience were accommodating, the FOH staff and Amanda the Arts Centre Director jollied them along until we could start. The reviewer was amongst the first night crowd and still give us a very fair and good review.
The show ran to time and, though they were other hiccups during the week. we managed to get through all the performances with flying colours.
I particularly liked Scene 7 The New Anny, which is in the form of a car advertisement. The cast were good at the physical theatre needed and which they had devised.
Scenes 2 and 3 grew on me during the week. The idea of a documentary film crew filming the biography of Anne had arrived early in rehearsals but the action had taken some time to develop. The actors were surprised to find how funny Scene 2 was in performance with a live and aware audience. Scene 3 was quite hard hitting but didn't ever really work until we were in the theatre and using the lighting effects as planned.
I loved the live camera work on the show. I am pleased that Nathan himself operated the camera, freeing me to concentrate on the projection. Nathan knew what he wanted visually and was able to get it. Jacquie's idea to back project it on to the screens was a winner.
I loved the two scenes with Julie. I thought The Camera Loves You was splendid as Julie has the figure to be a model. It was however her vulnerability that tugged at the heart strings as Neil the director harangued her.
The tight close up on Julie in Strangely! again allowed the audience beyond the footlights and into those tawny eyes. To see them fill with tears and then to see the tears run down her cheeks was moving in the extreme.
I thought The Statement was the weakest of the scenes cinematic ally. The idea was good but somehow the hands weren't expressive enough and it just didn't hold together dramatically.
I have recorded all the scenes on Windows Movie Maker as instructed and hopefully we shall see them at future exhibitions as part of the Bench archives.
I was impressed by the company spirit. Sometimes they wallowed at rehearsals but always Nathan drove them on, usually by providing a context or an idea. All the cast were eager and able to contribute ideas and Neil and Zoe in particular seemed to come up with new ones time and again. I never heard a cross word exchanged and the actors were totally supportive of each other from the beginning to the end. The ensemble and company esprit were directly due to Nathan's directing approach. The backstage crew were equally supportive of each other and the production.
I loved working on this play and have learned a lot of new skills. I am working on the next production, "Bronte", as movement director and having to cover for the Best Beloved as director for some of the rehearsals. The stage manager and I intend to film some of the rehearsals so the cast can see themselves and movement points can be made to them. The stage manager is my Firstborn and Kitten is playing Charlotte Bronte so it is quite a family affair.
This blog will now continue as my viewpoint on "Bronte", the Bench production for April 2008.
At the last night party after the Saturday performance, the Natty Chap, the director, asked me, "Knowing what I know now, would I do it all again?" My instinctive but truthful answer was, "No!"
Later, today, I had to qualify it by saying it was one of the productions I was proudest of being involved with.The Natty Chap created a play and a company that puts it up there in the top ten amongst my 45 years of theatrical endeavour. I am still unsure whether he is a genius or just really stubborn. I suspect both elements have their sway in his general make up.
I do not intend to use this post as a resume of the whole process as Natty Chap set up a rehearsal blog elsewhere for the production. However I would like to pick out my highlights from rehearsal but mainly from the production week just passed.
The company was excellent. At times in rehearsal they foundered with this strange play in which Martin Crimp provides the dialogue but without naming any of the speakers and providing no stage directions. At such times they were all prepared to provide ideas and contributions, but especially Neil and Zoe, who were also mentioned in the fair dinkum newspaper review. When the ideas were in short supply, the Natty Chap just drove them on, coming up with endless variations that they could work on. The company hung together. I don't think I heard one cross word exchanged between them and they all supported each other magnificently. They were a great credit to themselves and to the Natty Chap's direction.
During rehearsal I felt somewhat isolated as Stage Manager. I have done the job before and thought I knew it well enough to be able to do it without too much sweat. However,I was having to learn how to operate the camera and the projector, while at the same time trying to keep the master copy up to date with the amendments. We eventually committed four scenes to the use of live camera work, which was at least one fewer than we had intended. The film crew turned out to be me on projector and the Natty Chap himself on camera, although we had tried a few variations on that before arriving at the performances.
The production team didn't really meet up until 7th February about 18 days before the performance week. Emily and her sister agreed to work in the box as lights and sound crew. Sharman was to be Deputy Stage Manager on the book so I could keep an overview and do the filming. Lizzy was joining us from finishing a stint as Stage Manager on the College production of "Guys and Dolls". She was to be Assistant Stage Manager in charge of props and microphones.
Robin ( Herself) was working hard as producer and providing the props. During the week of the performances she and Himself ( Paul) proved invaluable. Herself was Box Office Manager and Arts Centre Duty Manager on several nights.
We had scheduled a long day for Get In Sunday on 24th February. We worked on the lights from 0900 till noon. We then worked on the visual imagery provided by Patsy and on the mobile projection supervised by yours truly. By 4.00 p.m. we were ready to go through a long, slow tech with the actors before doing a full dress rehearsal at 8.00 p.m. We finished at 10 p.m. The show worked although we had had technical difficulties with the back wall projections. They were incomplete and there seemed to be some lack of communication between the laptop and the static projector. Get that, please, all the human agencies were on their best behaviour and except for one spluttery moment by yours truly late in the day, communication channels were kept open and civilised throughout the day. The only communication breakdown was between two pieces of machinery, who just wouldn't talk to each other unless cajoled and coaxed! I ask you!
We had dispensed with staging blocks, instead going for taped areas on the stage floor. We had two lightweight flats on either side of the stage which were also the screens for the mobile projector. Otherwise we had curtained black surrounds and a large white cyclorama on the back wall. We were certainly going for a minimalist approach.
The Monday dress rehearsal was beset with technical difficulties. The same difficulties from the Sunday hadn't really been resolved and in the end we did the final dress rehearsal without the back wall projections. The cast and crew were magnificent but without the projections the show was too minimalist. Nobody panicked but we hadn't yet run the show in its entirety and next stop was first night and press night!
The first night arrived and we hadn't yet run the show in its entirety with all the technical bits and pieces attached. Adrenalin was flowing but tempers were remarkably under control. Lynda, the assistant director, was magnificent and turned up trumps in finally getting the back wall projections up and running. We did, however, have to call upon the computer expertise of Himself to get the laptop and projector to actually agree to talk to each other. This meant the birthday tea of Herself was somewhat truncated as a result. Hopefully we made up for it at the last night party, which became her unofficial birthday party.
We also discovered that Emily, our lighting operator, who had done a marvellous job on Sunday and Monday taking on board the lighting programme and plot, had been involved in a car collision. We were concerned on her behalf but relieved when her sister Lucy still turned up to do sound and reassured us that Emily was not seriously injured but might be kept in hospital overnight. Jacquie, the lighting Designer, stepped into the breach as Lighting Operator for the performance. In fact, though she was worried about her big sister, the only comment Lucy made was that Emily was looking pale. Now Emily is one of those very slim young women who always to my eyes look "pale and interesting" so I was intrigued to know how Lucy could tell that Emily was pale.
However we had to delay the curtain going up until 8.06 p.m., 36 minutes after its scheduled time. The audience were accommodating, the FOH staff and Amanda the Arts Centre Director jollied them along until we could start. The reviewer was amongst the first night crowd and still give us a very fair and good review.
The show ran to time and, though they were other hiccups during the week. we managed to get through all the performances with flying colours.
I particularly liked Scene 7 The New Anny, which is in the form of a car advertisement. The cast were good at the physical theatre needed and which they had devised.
Scenes 2 and 3 grew on me during the week. The idea of a documentary film crew filming the biography of Anne had arrived early in rehearsals but the action had taken some time to develop. The actors were surprised to find how funny Scene 2 was in performance with a live and aware audience. Scene 3 was quite hard hitting but didn't ever really work until we were in the theatre and using the lighting effects as planned.
I loved the live camera work on the show. I am pleased that Nathan himself operated the camera, freeing me to concentrate on the projection. Nathan knew what he wanted visually and was able to get it. Jacquie's idea to back project it on to the screens was a winner.
I loved the two scenes with Julie. I thought The Camera Loves You was splendid as Julie has the figure to be a model. It was however her vulnerability that tugged at the heart strings as Neil the director harangued her.
The tight close up on Julie in Strangely! again allowed the audience beyond the footlights and into those tawny eyes. To see them fill with tears and then to see the tears run down her cheeks was moving in the extreme.
The fact that the rest of the scene onstage was played by the light only of two flashlights held by the actors was very powerful and heightened the projected close up of Julie. One member of the audience was heard to ask where Julie was when she was being filmed. Gently she had to explain it was her silhouette to be seen behind the SR screen and that was where she was filmed. She was lit by a torch held by an actor while Nathan filmed her from upstage.
I also liked the Kinda Funny, American evangelical TV, with Callum and Sue. The shots of Sue as Mom were excellent. Callum's performance was rightly praised in the review and I suspect it was mainly on this particular scene. He was creepily "right on" as the evangelical commander of a group of like minded people carving a new life for themselves and maintaining their right "to bear arms". He got the American flow and his asides to the camera were so accurate.
I thought The Statement was the weakest of the scenes cinematic ally. The idea was good but somehow the hands weren't expressive enough and it just didn't hold together dramatically.
I have recorded all the scenes on Windows Movie Maker as instructed and hopefully we shall see them at future exhibitions as part of the Bench archives.
I was impressed by the company spirit. Sometimes they wallowed at rehearsals but always Nathan drove them on, usually by providing a context or an idea. All the cast were eager and able to contribute ideas and Neil and Zoe in particular seemed to come up with new ones time and again. I never heard a cross word exchanged and the actors were totally supportive of each other from the beginning to the end. The ensemble and company esprit were directly due to Nathan's directing approach. The backstage crew were equally supportive of each other and the production.
I loved working on this play and have learned a lot of new skills. I am working on the next production, "Bronte", as movement director and having to cover for the Best Beloved as director for some of the rehearsals. The stage manager and I intend to film some of the rehearsals so the cast can see themselves and movement points can be made to them. The stage manager is my Firstborn and Kitten is playing Charlotte Bronte so it is quite a family affair.
This blog will now continue as my viewpoint on "Bronte", the Bench production for April 2008.
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