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.
No comments:
Post a Comment