January 21st, 2010

5 Jan found us in the Snooker Room. We recapped Act 1 following the Christmas break. The Mill was deserted - BCP were the only occupants. I expect the staff we glad to see us leave at 9.45pm. And then it snowed .... and snowed ... and snowed ... and Thursday's rehearsal had to be cancelled. Stage Manager/Assistant Director, Tara couldn't get in the following week so it looks as though it will now have to be another production where she 'cuts her directing teeth'.

We weathered the slush bravely rather enjoying the vast choice of car-parking spaces, for a change! Act 2 beckons and I cart my music centre to rehearsals so we start with the quartet, which, I have to say, looks really good. My God - they could actually be singing!

Act 2 is now blocked, worked and reworked. There has been a lot of working 'off book' so the cast have obviously taken the opportunity afforded by cancelled rehearsals to set to on the line-learning. Gill (prompt) at every rehearsal now allows me to direct, take in and watch with a beady director's eye, without having to continuously have my nose in the script.

Set design is complete and Anne (Wescott) is in tonight (21 Jan) for costume measuring. Props are busily working through their many lists ('does anyone have ...?); the Banbury Guardian photo shoot is scheduled for the 30 Jan; the programme is nearing completion. So once again, the production team are gearing themselves up for another successful BCP show.

It all sounds rather too much like hard work doesn't it? Well it's not all been nose to the grindstone. There have been laughs amongst the cast and funny pieces as the play is brought to life - in some cases 'You had to be there' but that's part of the fun for the actors.

Scene 3 starts life in a week. This is the most difficult scene for the actors as the script calls for putting on costume and make up on stage as well as sewing and panic as one of the characters doesn't want to perform ....

Onward and upward!

TG

January 3rd, 2010

Back in June 09 when I first listened the Maria Callas version of the quartet from Rigoletto and heard the complexity of the operatic voices, I just burst out laughing. "How are we ever going to nail this? What have I taken on? " I thought.

A lot of preparation went into giving the actors as much help as possible - searching the web for the Italian words for the piece, getting them translated, burning a disc for each of them to listen to, finding a synopsis of the opera and finally the musical score - all 25 pages of it! Bearing in mind that we would lose four and half weeks over the Panto period and Christmas, it was essential to start early.

So, Quartet began life on 5 November with an evening in Italian. The quartet from Rigoletto forms the last 4 minutes of the play so this is where we started ... naturally. By the end of the evening the cast were fluent in their Italian lines from the piece after some pronunciation exercises provided by Brigitte Mansfield, a Swiss lady living in Banbury, married to an Englishman. The EU truly at work here!.

Unfortunately, the booked répétiteur (the person responsible for coaching singers and playing the piano) could not make the 16 November rehearsal and actually had to pull out altogether. With help from Wendy Green (Lynden Players) kindly agreed to help out. The cast have each had a one to one session with Wendy and we now practise the quartet at the beginning of every rehearsal.

What I have found difficult, with both these exercises ( words and music) is that they were not within my control (says a lot about me) and I was happier when we opened the script and began working with the text. The first act takes place on the terrace of a country house. Bearing in mind the play moves from terrace to music room to green room to a stage in a small theatre, a flexible approach is called for. The terrace (with the music room behind) restricts the amount of movement the actors can achieve. We have tried to keep it as fluid as possible so that we don't end up with 'talking heads'. All credit to the cast, they have worked hard on their lines and it is a truly funny play.

January 2010 sees the start of Act 2. Tara Lacey-Rousou is going to test her directing skill by taking control of Scene 1 .. with me mentoring. Lets see how I/we get on ... bearing in mind my aforementioned "control issues"! Watch this space :-)

TG