Rehearsal Update!

NB: This is really a stream of consciousness written over the 4 hour rehearsal period we had today. So, during it, my thoughts and points change and my oppose each other.

So here I am in the George Wood Theatre at Goldsmiths College sitting in my back row seat looking over rehearsals for a few scenes. It’s amazing to firstly see how wonderful all members of the cast are – they're really outstanding, and everyone is impressed with each other. So, hearing the lines come out of real actors is very rewarding for me, as it gives me the opportunity to see how they’ve been interpreted by each individual. I have a couple of suggestions that I may put forward, but I am not too sure as to how the cast and remainder of the crew will react to my tiny suggestions, because I haven’t been around at rehearsals recently (notice the lack of blogs – I’ve had an essay to do!).

Looking around the theatre, it’s pretty large for a 150 seat venue. The stage, in two parts (thrust and proscenium), is vast. A Thrust Stage is where the stage goes beyond the normal frame of the proscenium into the audience (rather like a large and wide runway or catwalk). We are making use of the two sections of stage by employing our theory of William’s life be a life in two classes, by having the “upper class” events happen at the back of the stage and William’s “ole barn” at the front of the stage. Genius!!

We’ve just had the 2^nd run through of a scene toward the end of the show, and Albin is now offering ideas of spacing, and asking the cast how they felt about the scene they just acted. Clearly I can see, from Albin’s direction process, how generous and thoughtful he is toward his cast, and I am glad I chose him to direct.

One bizarre thing I have noticed is that I will make notes about the way I think a line could be said, and it will turn out that that particular line in a later scene run through would be said the way I expressed in my notes, or that Albin has picked up on the same thing and offers the idea to the cast member(s) without my assistance. Albin really understands the story and characters!

This is the first time I’ve met Christopher Rorke, who is playing Robert Brown (William’s 19 year old brother). I have to say, I am thrilled with him! He is not only exactly how I envision the role (tall and handsome), but – from what I’ve seen – he acts the role very well. Also, I saw him practice his tap routine, which made me pretty happy!

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Well – we’re now into a new scene – and I just had to accompany the cast with a song called “The Criminal Kind” on the piano here in the theatre. Needless to say, I felt like a member of the criminal king as I should certainly be locked up for my performance of the piano accompaniment song. This may sound strange that the composer can't play the song, but I never really write for myself to play the music, as I am a composer - not a pianist. I write for someone who I know can play the piano - so I am happy that Matt will be at most rehearsals, but I can bash through most of the score! Regardless, the cast, of course sounded good – especially in the four part contrapuntal harmony. Horrah!

It’s also interesting watching the development of scenes (timing as regard actors entrances before talking, etc) so I can think about what underscore to work out with Matt (motifs, etc).

During the choral ending of this song we have all the characters displaying their desires and roaming around the stage – and, once again, Albin has staged it perfectly to how I envisioned it when I first sat down to write this bloody song. “It’s not piss easy”, is how the lovely Amie Clapson (Sylvia) described it, and I have to agree with her. This song is going to look brilliant – especially with the end tableau that is now being rehearsed. I still can’t play the song very well – and I am worried that my playing will be different Matt’s and that my speed may affect the speed at which the cast are working at.

Well – I can’t write this and rehearsal notes at the same time, so I am off! More later!