But, I'm starting in the middle again. Bad habit. Following the non too subtle hint from Miscriant in her own blogpost about rehearsals, I have finally sat down to do the first of two updates on the progress of rehearsals of Wyrd Sisters, the plan wot I iz currently directoring.
There will be some people out there who have a dim and distant memory of me directing them before. What comes below will not be a surprise. But to anyone who has been directed by anyone before, including my stint as assistant director on Teechers, I suspect rehearsals for Wyrd Sister may have started a little confusing.
First, let's start from the beginning (these blog posts have more false starts than Return of the King has false endings). Rehearsals have been going well. After an initial small panic. Sadly, for a number of different reasons, several members of our cast had to drop out of the play during the first week of rehearsal. The loss of the odd cast member in a large cast amateur production is,sadly, a fact of the pass-time. But several, all at once, including at least one major character? I began to be convinced that the play might be jinxed. With the help, and calming influence, of a couple of invaluable people, and the flexibility of the cast, roles were juggled, and actually, I really love the way the cast has ended up.
We spent the first month of rehearsals 'blocking and locking' scenes. My weekends were filled with me scribbling pages in the notebook, talking to the set designer, plotting the basic physical layout of each scene, and the transitions from one scene to the other. There was also the gathering of the backstage crew, acquiring the rights, and starting the process of promoting the play. It's very easy to see the role of director as being about the prep, and it is, but you are basically on duty the whole time you aren't at work once you have taken on a play. I would never claim it is as hard as being the lead in a show - in the end, there are no lines to learn, no final, do or die performance, but it is very hard work. I knew that from my own previous experience, but it has been a pretty sharp reminder.
So, 'blocking and locking'. This is where I may have confused my cast, or at least one of the places. Blocking is essentially the first step of rehearsals, where you work through scenes one by one (rarely in order), pacing through them, working out moves, key beats, and starting to form the basis of the performance. Blocking rehearsals have virtually no props, or costume, and the cast pretty much always have a script in one hand, with regular pauses as they scribble notes in their script so as they learn the words, they also learn the moves and the key emphases on lines. Most directors (rightly) come into those scenes with an initial 'starter for ten' on how they envisage the scene being performed, whether they are directors who have every move planned, and a particular and specific vision, or whether they are ones who simply like to provide a framework. I like instead to set a scene, give a start point of the scene (which I took to referring to as 'Previously on Wyrd Sisters'), a description of where the characters are, and where they need to be by the end. I then get the actors to have a go at the scene and we build from there.
That was a bit unfair. I am the director after all...I'm supposed to give them some direction. But I do find that this produces the best outcomes in the end. By discussing themes and ideas, we can then try and create something which they enjoy performing and which tells the story, rather than creates a framework without their input and then forces them to build in a certain direction. The creative people who I am lucky to have in the cast come up with all kinds of things I would never have thought of...and I take some degree of pride in the fact that what I think are the best moments in the play have come from where the actor has just tried something that they thought of, and it worked. But it is a bit different, and high risk.
Locking is a key part of blocking rehearsals. It is all well and good blocking the scenes and making notes, but you should always finish a blocking rehearsals running the scenes with a 'performance speed' run, albeit with scripts in hand. This not only locks the scene in the mind of the performers, but it also tests that the decisions you've made whilst staggering through it work en masse.
Having run a couple of rehearsals for each scene like that, we took a 'reading week', so people can learn their lines. Well,okay, it was also so I could go to Poland for the 2013 Commander Tours, but honestly, all that did was decide when we had the week. We had a reading week on Bouncers, another high energy, script dense, funny yet serious play which John (the Fool in Wyrd Sisters) directed a small group of actors, including me, in last year, and it really worked for putting the actors into the position to run and polish performances when they came back. I wanted that to happen in Wyrd Sisters.
Once back from reading week, this is where the fun really starts. Books go down, props and costumes come out, and the play comes alive and the performances become more real.
But that, and a bit more on the brilliant people I'm working with, will come next time.....on Wyrd Sisters.....
Enjoyed the blog? Intrigued by the pictures? Just want to come and see a good, entertaining show?
Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, adapted by Stephen Briggs, is on stage at the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury from 6-8 November 2013. Tickets available from The Gulbenkian
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