And The Next One Please!

I believe the expression is 'gluttons for punishment', but it's not really punishment, is it...otherwise we wouldn't do it. The expected 'down' after Lear will not have a chance to kick-in because we're kicking it out before it even gets a foothold! 

You may recall, in a previous post, I spoke of all the different things we have a chance to do, over the winter months, before we get down to the next DSW? Well, they're happening!
We've had a hugely positive response from loads of actors, all wanting to get involved with the the Hazelwood House project and the processional performance in the early spring. 
So much so that we're looking to take this new production to other venues, betwixt and between the above mentioned gigs. But what are going to do? Ahh, there's the rub...

You may also recall that we were thinking of going off-piste, as it were, and doing something other than one of Will's finest. That, however, cannot be...mainly for financial reasons. So we're heading back to Master Shakespeare and reviving another of our previous productions in the form of
'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Yep, in the middle of winter. And why not? We all need a little cheering when the weather's at its worst and the nights are long and the days seem even shorter.

The intention is to have a 'group director' for this production, with the final yay or nay going with our Artistic Director, Jane. I, apparently, will be shedding the director's mantle for this and donning an actor's guise once again. Which means learning lines...not so sure about that one...but I have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

That being said, there is a huge amount of work to be done, primarily because we also want to take some of the scenes, most notably the mechanicals, to this year's Dart Drama Festival, as a bit of a taster for what is to come.
First full performance will be at Hazelwood House in December. Other venues will be announced as and when they are confirmed.

We first performed the Dream back in 2007, under the directorial auspices of a certain Mr Malcolm MacIntosh, the recently retired Artistic Director. Up to that point it had been one of the most ambitious productions we had attempted; we were flexing our ever-strengthening production muscle and experimenting with different ways of adding colour to the shows. We ended up with a full-blown ballet section and more faeries than you could shake a bluebell at!

Some of the actors that appeared in that production are back again, some even reprising the roles they played at the time, and we have a rake of new talent coming on-board to sample the mayhem that is an Inn Theatre production!

Just a few of the original Mechanicals from 2007 - that's our current
Artistic Director on the left, performing impromptu brain surgery!

We had a fabulous time bringing all the those characters to life, and this new production will be just as much fun, but will have just as many challenges, albeit of an entirely different nature. The stage at the castle is huge and lent itself beautifully to the staging of the Dream. Here we have to imagine it in a completely different light, particularly for the Hazelwood show, which is in a space not much larger than the marquee in which the actors get changed for a castle show. Then we have to re-think the whole for the processional performance in 2 & a half acres of garden and woodland. Not to mention the Flavel for the Festival...which is happening at the beginning of November. Here are a couple of shots from the castle production in 2007.

Tinah O'Reilly as Cobweb

You may recognise Jon Miles (on the left) as Puck - he was King Lear! And Oberon is played by Jack Corrigal

An iconic scene from The Dream.
Nick Crosley as Bottom

Just a few of the Faerie-folk

And a few more...many of the Faeires were from a local dance academy...we even had a ballerina!

It's a huge project, yet we know it's do-able. No doubt. We have the actors, we have the script - obviously! - but, above all else, we have the will to make this happen. There's an energy around this that feels like it could, unless we hang on tight, take off like a rocket! And that's no bad thing, but we need to keep a little control over it...

We have notions as to who will be playing which character, but we're still looking for a couple of actors that don't mind a bit of hard work and a challenge that is like no other that the company has faced.
It feels good, from my point of view anyway, to have something to get the teeth into during a time which is usually pretty bleak, if I'm honest!

What else? 
Well, with all that going on, I think that the original plan to do a modern piece in the spring of 2014 is probably going to have to go by the board, but there is one other piece of news that will be trumpeted even louder when the press release is given to the nationals...but until then, just between you and me (and please, keep it under your hats!) we are, once again, affiliated to the Royal Shakespeare Company for their 2013-16 Open Stages project!! 
I believe the correct theatrical term for this is BOOOM!!
Jane's off on her first director's workshop at the end of September and she'll be bringing back a whole raft of ideas from there for us to use, not only on the Dream but on Shrew as well.
It's all rather exciting, isn't it?
And this blog will still be added to; there are, it seems, a great many more 'other stories' yet to tell...

Pyramus and Thisbe...2007's Couple of the Year in Cosmo!