Only A Few More Grey Hairs.

Well, it's all very interesting, this business of getting a play up and running; particularly at relatively short notice! But this is really working. There's an amazing air of collaboration about this production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'...to quote one of the actors: 'Whatever's good for the play.'

Not that there hasn't been a problem or two; life is just never that easy or obliging. Poor ol' Ant had to drop out, having damaged his back (get well soon mate!), and we needed a Lysander at even shorter notice! Rich, who was playing Theseus, stepped up to the plate when we asked, and took that role on...even though he was pretty much word-perfect with Theseus! Good man. However, now we needed a Theseus. See how it all goes round and a round? 

Anyway, there was, as you might imagine, much head-scratching and chatting with various actors and then...bingo! Another fabulous-o gentleman said 'go on then'. And so we now have a full-head of steam and a full cast! Huge thanks are due to David Kinnair, who is not only doing this but also learning his part for J.B. Priestly's 'When We Are Married' in November! 

Everyone loves what they do. David's a fine example and so are several of the cast, who are also in rehearsal for other productions. Like Lucy and Freya, who are working on 'Miss Saigon' (actually Freya is also rehearsing a pantomime too; busy girl) but the point is that, despite everything that's going on their lives, our actors are there for the show; I think our motto should be 'Whatever's good for the play', because that seems to be the prevailing attitude...thankfully! 

As is the case with pretty much every production, everyone is 'involved'; by which I mean that they not only turn up to rehearsals and know their characters and lines, but have great ideas that get incorporated into the show: everybody adds something extra, over and above their performances. The Royals, the Faeries, the Mechanicals...it's really brilliant.  

Still got a few things to sort out in relation to costumes, set and lighting/sound but that's all in the pipeline and under control...he said, trying to type with crossed fingers. Looking forward to this one...and I've almost got all the lines learnt...and to paraphrase Eric Morecombe, 'I've got all the lines learnt, but not necessarily in the right order!'.

Only just over a week to go until we showcase some of the play at the Dart Drama Festival. The Festival audience are being treated to a few of the scenes with the Mechanicals and the play-within-a-play at the end of The Dream. Good practice and a nice little bit of publicity for the production, but also a little extra pressure for the actors involved, who have to get their lines down that much earlier than everybody else.   

AND IN OTHER NEWS....

We're also moving rapidly along with the 2014 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production, which, as you are no doubt aware, is 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Oh, does Janie have plans for this one! No doubt. It's all very exciting.
After her trip to the director's workshops, there has been a flurry of activity from the RSC and we hope to be able to get one - or maybe even two! - of there excellent and inspirational practitioners to come to Dartmouth and run a couple of movement and speech workshops that tie-in directly with the Commedia d'ellarte aspect of the show. Can't wait...although the bleed-over between The Dream and Shrew will be interesting to contend with; shaping up to be a busy ol' winter/summer!
Shaunnagh, bless 'er, has also been beavering away at the artwork for Shrew and you can see the rough draft below: catches the mood beautifully, I think. What a clever lady she is!

Dreaming on...and on and on!

Well, we're out of the traps and the hare is doing what it does best: scooting away in front of us. Rehearsals are well and truly underway for the new winter production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and the dates for the first full performance have been confirmed as 6th and 7th December at Hazelwood House, just a couple of miles removed from Kingsbridge.
First, however, we have to whip the Mechanicals into shape for the Dart Drama Festival on 8th and 9th November. No pressure there at all.

What I'm particularly loving is the strange continuity that seems to be appearing. As I said in the previous post, some of the actors are reprising their roles from 2007. We're using pretty much the same, edited script that we used then, but I've been through and trimmed a little here and reinstated a tad there. Yet people are remembering, even now, what they did then. Our Sal (Helena), for instance, in rehearsal last Sunday, was running her first lines and stalled a little...wasn't using her script and the reason for the stall? She wanted to use the lines she remembered from 2007, but a couple had been cut and she couldn't get them out of her head! So we put 'em back in. Happy as Larry now.
There's a smashing positivity about the whole thing, and we're only a wee way in. The Faeirie folk arrive next Sunday and start their rehearsals with the other actors...and there's another lovely little bit of 'connectedness' if you will. Some the young people who are in this production were part of their own group's (the fabled Little S.O.D.'s) rendering of the story; a modern, musical version, written specifically for younger companies, called 'Dream On'. Just one of the actors in that show was, the then, little Sophie. A few years before that, she was one of the faeries in our production of The Dream; and this year the now not-so-little Sophie was Stage Manager for King Lear. Lovely to see how things move and grow yet somehow remain in touch.

Some of the Faeires from the 2007 Dream...and there's Sophie, front and centre, in green and white

The Mechanicals from Dream On...and there's Sophie with ears!

Just four of the Mechanicals from 2007.

We also have several new actors joining us for this winter venture; never done anything like this before, yet already they're proving to be more than capable. By the time we get to the performance, well, it's going to be excellent.

Thought you might like to see the badge/branding...whatever they call it...for our advertising and so on for the next two and half years or so.

Jane had a really exciting weekend up in Stratford-upon-Avon, working with some of the foremost movement, voice and directing coaches in the land.

She's got reams of stuff and we hope to be getting copies of relevant bits and pieces together for the actors, not only for The Dream but for next year's Dartmouth Shakespeare Week, The Taming of the Shrew.

Speaking of which...work progresses with that production too. Shaunnagh, who designed our posters and programme covers for both Twelfth Night and King Lear, has kindly volunteered to do a similar job for The Shrew. And that's alongside playing Hippolyta in The Dream.

 

Above are just three of the rough-draft ideas that Shaunnagh has had for the artwork. Still a work in progress, but the finished deal will be just as much fun - and in full, vibrant colour - as these sketches are.

 

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF...

I'm still learning my lines; everyone's learning their lines; Gil knows his lines.

That is all.

Nothing new there then.

But to finish it all off this time, here's a picture of the backstage crew from King Lear...and Sophie's second from the left.