Extra! Extra!!

The rehearsal on Tuesday evening (25th June) proved a point, not only to me but to others who, perhaps, didn't believe me when I said that being an extra in any production was just as hard, and just as rewarding, as having to learn hundreds of lines and dash about a lot! Although in this instance, there's a huge amount of dashing about as well as standing doing not-a-lot - an equally tiring and difficult thing to do!
Another beautiful evening...

And to think I could have been working...!

...and we we're joined, earlier than usual (it was a school night, after all!) by members of the junior section of another local theatre group - and a few of the adults too - who have appeared in many of our productions. Little Sod's, as they are affectionately known (Stoke Fleming Operatic and Dramatic Society...I think I've got that right) are great friends and supporters of DSW and they always answer the call. 
This year, we have an enthusiastic and talented group of them playing the Bedlam Beggars and they came to their first rehearsal and were coached, cajoled and generally choreographed by our own Lynne Deller. 
It never ceases to amaze me just how quick these guys are in picking things up and getting on with it! Couple of dry-runs, a listen to the music, then we got the other actors up on the stage and we were virtually running the section within an hour of starting. Brilliant.

How's that looking?

Thing is, these characters, and let's not make nay bones about this, they are most definitely characters in their own right, are only on stage for about three...maybe five minutes in all. But they are already becoming the bedlam beggars; and from the look of it, having a pretty good time as they learn their moves.
Lynne's absolutely amazing with all the movers and dancers that join us at the castle...and always gets the most fantastic performances from her troupe.

A few of the beggars will also have to hang around for the very end of the play...but if you want to know why, and see what's left for them to do, well, I suppose you're just going to have to come and see for yourselves.

And then there are what are known as, in some circles,  the 'spear carriers'. Stop it! These actors...and make no mistake, they are actors, and bl...very good ones too...are asked, usually by me, to walk on with the main characters, look interesting and interested, maintain concentration and character for what, sometimes, amounts to a long long time, react to the action and then remember their exits and what they are required to do next. In this production we're doubling, and sometimes trebling, some of the roles these people are playing. They have quick costume changes to make - from servant to soldier and back again - and, in the instances seen below, they have some quite complex choreography to remember as well. It all takes time and practice, which is what we were up to on Tuesday evening as well. There was a lot going on that night! Oh yes, and the musical cues too, that's another thing. And being an 'extra' is easy?!? Not a chance. 
That's another little bug of mine: 'extra'. They're not extra, per se, they're an integral part of everything that goes on around the other actors. And in this production, some of the main characters (like Oswald, the Duke of Cornwall, the King of France, the Duke of Burgundy etc) are also 'coming back from the dead' to bolster the number of those all-important peripheral characters. It ain't an easy ask, but they're up for it...thank heavens!
You may have seen the video of the initial flag practice: this week, Lynne rolled up her sleeves - again - and did a huge amount of work with the battle sequence too.   

 So no matter what production you may be watching, professional, non-professional, panto, drama, musical, whatever...when you see those actors who appear to be standing around, be nice!! They have a difficult job to do, and if it wasn't for them, I can pretty much guarantee that the production would lose something of its sparkle and life.

If all that wasn't enough, we also moved a few other scenes about as well. Did some detail work on the hovel scene and the lead-up and lead-out from that. The characters are really starting to shine through now...just little things that only I might notice, perhaps, but they make a world of difference. 

One thing you may have noticed about our productions: they're in the open air. So what happens when it rains? Well, if it starts during a performance, the simple answer is: we, and the audience, get wet. The mics are switched off (but we have a cunning way of keeping them dry...condoms. Don't ask.) and we soldier on regardless. The last twenty minutes of 'As you Like It' in 2011 immediately springs to mind...and if you were there, you'd remember it too!
However, if it's absolutely tipping down before the off, we transfer the basics to our wet-weather venue, St Petrox church, just down the hill from the main auditorium.
Fingers-crossed, we've only ever been in there four times in eleven years, but we always make contingency plans and have rehearsal, as such, in the church. Which where we're off to on Friday...but we'll doing other stuff outside too.
As lovely as the interior is, and it is amazing, it alters the whole feel of the production and we have to make changes to certain things...and that's what we'll be doing. Making notes and talking about certain aspects of Lear that will need to be done differently inside. It's a seat-of-the-pants experience, believe me.
But we've ordered brilliant weather, so not to worry. 
(I'm banging my forehead on a large chunk of two-by-four as I type)

And once again, huge thanks go to Keith Gould, wizard of the lens, for getting these wonderful shots out to me so quickly. Dunno how he does it...but I'm awful glad he does!

In other news....there is no other news.

That Moment When...

...it feels as if you're wading through treacle (other sticky, viscous confections are available); you can see where you want to get to, but oh my word! It is just SO damn difficult!
Or else it's a little like one of those really, really, really slow-motion films...you can see all the component parts slowly expanding, rushing away from you in all directions; you know where they all go, what their function is and how you can put it back together yet if you don't STOP...and just take a second or two to think, you're gonna lose your place the whole will drop to the floor in a muddle. 
That's about where I'm at now. I have whole handful's of Ariadne-type threads clutched between my fingers - the world's most complex cat's-cradle is what it feels like - and I have to unravel them and lay them in cohesive, comprehensible lines. And I'm wondering if I have the energy or creative ability to do what is required. 
Then I open an email and see some of these pictures...and I know it's all possible!

All those lovely people that pitch up at each and every rehearsal, who hang about a bit and natter, who watch and get the gist of what's going on...who, above all else, trust that I will get it right and that what we're doing will all untangle and lay in wonderfully straight lines that all those other lovely people in the audience can eventually follow.  

It's all very strange and humbling actually. But I think back to what I said in a previous ramble, about an over-active imagination, and really that's all I have to balance all this upon: an idea; a picture of what I think this play can become, based upon what I see around me a couple of times a week at the castle.

And I can see (at least I hope that's what I can see) all these other people are there, who have cottoned-on to the play and also want to see it in its entirety...actually see how the story ends. I know we all  know 'how-it-ends' but how it ends for them, as the characters they have adopted; how they eventually turn out. 
It's very complex and makes my head hurt sometimes...but I rather enjoy the feeling. Even the slightly panicky feeling of watching that slow-motion explosion, but knowing, somewhere, that WE can put it all back together again and look back on it all as a brilliant few months in the summer of 2013, when we told a story and people came and understood.
That's what I'm hoping for, at least.



And speaking of over-active imaginations, our super-snapper Keith, had a problem with his camera (yet still managed to capture these amazing pictures!) so resorted to filming a clip on his i-phone. 
It shows us getting to grips with the battle sequence for the very first time.
Now Keith has already said that this, obviously, isn't up to his usual standard - let's face it, when all is said and done, it is phone, regardless of what else it might be! -  but I think it deserves a viewing, not least because it gives us all the chance to see it in its rawest state. Add smoke, more flags, battle noises as well as the music (sorry, but I can't copy n paste my OAI here, so use your own!) and the lights, or in this instance, the lack of light, and I hope it will convey the panic and terror of battle. That's the idea, anyway,
If you highlight and right-click the link below, you should get the option, somewhere, to go and view the clip. Ah, the wonders of modern telephonic communications!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ch22lt98oa1feks/Lear_Rehearsal_20130618_20-59-26.MOV

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

We have lift-off for all the extra-curricular activities! They'll be happening in town on 8th and 10th August...and they will be SPECTACULAR!! Oh yes.
The full programme for 10th August is yet to be finalised, but Good Queen Bess will be visiting and we shall have music and morris-men and all sorts of Elizabethan shenanigans in Royal Avenue Gardens.
In the Old Market, 8th August will see sonnet readings, Mock Hobby Horse doing their thing, with a few dances thrown in, some games and who knows what else!
I know we have performances on both nights, but it's a chance to really raise the profile of Dartmouth Shakespeare Week and actually turn it into a true celebration of all things Will...and hopefully, in the fullness of time, we will have the chance to invite other theatre groups to perform at DSW and make it something even more special.
If you want get involved with any of the other things that happening, as mentioned, drop me a line or grab me at rehearsals...we'll find something for you to do!!

It's The Little Things, Part Two...

Sometimes it's not unlike having very young children...only a proud parent notices those tiny little changes: s/he doesn't stagger quite so much when taking those first, practice steps; that tooth is slightly larger than it was yesterday and it's taking her/him less time to hammer the square plastic peg into that very triangular hole!
Such it is, I have to admit (and with no embarrassment whatsoever), with me and King Lear. I see those little steps, that larger tooth and the ease with which people are sliding into that aperture that they will inhabit completely by the end of July.

You want us to do what?!!?

Above you can see our Lynne, who is this year choreographing the Bedlam Beggars during one of the less conventional scenes we've (actually,I've) decided to put into the play. Now being the busy lady that she is, this rehearsal (11/6/13) was one of the first that she has come to since we've been at the castle...I seem to recall her coming to one of the initial blocking sessions in April...and, with it having been such a time, I got the impression that she was, quite frankly, amazed at what we had achieved. She noticed the differences that I see, but she saw them on a larger scale; I see them week on week. It is rather a strange feeling, but one that I love.

Like this?

The books are starting to disappear even more rapidly now and people are becoming more physical, starting to incorporate actions with the words. For those with larger roles - and there are very few parts in this play that are what could be termed small! -  it's a bit of an ask; like poor ol' Sam up there, looking askance at Lynne and thinking 'This and swords and madness and more swords...what the hell am I doing?' But, like everybody else, he smiles and gets on with it. We do actually have a laugh, as you've seen. But here's more proof, as if it were needed!

Case in point, with regards to the physicality thing: coaxing Lear to the Hovel was something that was going to be difficult to stage without it being mawkish or too downbeat...but the clue's in the writing and what Will put at the close of that scene...a lovely little song, that some may just remember from Twelfth Night. A sequence of Keith's pictures gives you an idea of how we solved the small (in the greater scheme of things) problem of getting his lordship out of the rain!

All problems, or perceived problems, can have a simple resolution...it's just a matter of looking hard enough or actually opening your eyes, in this case, and seeing what the guy wrote in the first place.

And so we move on. It gets better, it gets more complicated, it's getting to the point, for me at least, where we can start running the whole together in longer and longer sections, giving us all a better feeling for what the play is. 

All those long-suffering people, standing stoically in the rain, waiting for their entrance and to say their piece. Marvellous, every last one of 'em. And yes, we do get rain.

But it dampens nothing but the hats...and there's a wonderful selection of those to be seen wandering round the car park!

Some of the Reasons Why.

No better place to rehearse...probably in the world

Not the main reason why we do what we do...I say 'we', I can only speak for myself here, really...but it has to said that there can few, if any, better places to be when you're in the throes of rehearsing what amounts to a pretty dark and moody play. Even when the sun don't do the shiny thing, it's still pretty special. I'm thinking of that rather odd read-through/rehearsal at the end of April...something most would like to forget, I think...yet even that had a special sort of something about it.

What is it that makes what we do so special that we keep on coming back, year after year - and sometimes even more frequently - and putting ourselves through the mill?
Surely can't be the love learning lines (acting would be brilliant if only there weren't lines...s'pose I should have gone in for mime) or finding a new way of walking that better puts across a character or speaking in a silly voice or colouring your hair red...the list is apparently endless for whatever this thing isn't. Here's a clue...for me at least...as to what it is.

Some of it is down to the group of people, that you've come to know over those years, that have become friends and co-conspirators in that alchemy that is theatre. We have fun. Simple really. Sharing the (not so) simple aim of presenting a story and telling it with as much style, panache and relevance that you, as a group, can muster.
Yeah, it's hard work. Sometimes, after a day doing whatever else it is you do, the very last last thing you need is a car journey (a long one in some cases) and some bloke telling you that you need to be standing there, not there, or you need to show more urgency/anger/fright/love/bewilderment. Bewilderment's fairly easy sometimes!

There are times, when you've agreed to do something or go somewhere, that the all too familiar feeling washes over you...I really don't wanna do this; yet, down there somewhere, in wherever it is these things happen, a little voice pipes up 'Yeah, but you know you'll enjoy once you're there.' And for me, driving into the car park at the castle invariably lifts me and I get that tingle of anticipation. Doesn't matter if I'm directing or turning up to act, that little roman candle of expectation goes off and suddenly any lingering misgivings are not there any more. That's one of the reasons.

I've always been told (not least by certain teachers) that I've got an 'over-active imagination.' ('Max could accomplish so much more if he'd stop day-dreaming and knuckle down to some hard work' Thank you Mr Leitch.) Well thank...insert your deity of choice here...for an over-active imagination. That's the thing that gets me straining at the bit when I see something up there on-stage that has a spark, a frisson of potential that will, knowing the people involved, become something absolutely dynamic. I see it, with my over-active inner-eye, as it will look when it's lit, when the music's playing or the smoke's pouring across the stage and there are the shadows, waving their flags like ghosts, moving precisely the way you imagined it. I wouldn't be without my OAI...not for all the tea in China (other tea-producing nations are available).

Twenty five or thirty other reasons are all the people that appear and do 'stuff' as the time draws near. I'm sure everyone has their own reason(s) for being at the castle and having the pointy-man running around rearranging things and changing his mind surely isn't on anybody's list...but whatever those reasons maybe, I'm glad.

And then, of course, there's that moment. Lights, S/M calling beginners please and the music kicks in and we're off. All too soon, or so it seems, it's over and then there's the applause and lots of smiling faces leaving the auditorium. And that's a really really nice feeling.
And if you don't agree...I'll send my little friend round, he's very persuasive!

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words.

It's all very dramatic you know.

Right off the block, let me say a huge thank you to our ever-lovin' snapper: ladies 'n' gentlemen, Mr Keith Gould! He got some beauties, a few of which are here and some of which are on the King Lear page of the website

www.theinntheatrecompany.co.uk

As if you didn't know! Apologies for any duplications - what do I know?

We have one more rehearsal at the Guildhall, this Friday, 31st, then it's off to the castle to start really getting a feel for the whole. We've had a bit of a larf indoors, but personally? I love being out at the site, it somehow helps the process.

Jazz-hands, dahling, jazz-hands!

We have almost got a complete cast! Whoopee! All we want now are ten or so good people to run around like mad-things being soldiers and servants and...well, madmen. Not a lot to ask, is it. Or is it?
Huge thanks to Simon Fox, who has stepped up and taken on the role of the rather nasty Oswald. And also to  Jason Smith, dragged along...sorry, asked nicely by Gil if he wanted to take part. No accounting, but I'm so glad he agreed. Jason will be playing three parts: 
the King of France, a servant and a Captain of the Guard. He gets to marry Cordelia at the start and, by the finish, gets the commission from Edmund to kill her. Oddly satisfying in some respects...markedly unsettling in others!

Simon Fox (on the left) - already asking where to stand.

Jason Smith (on the left) - needing help to stand

I'm gradually whittling down my list of things-to-do. Actually, it's really a list of things-I've-got-to-get-done-or-nothing-happens-including-the-play! The banners went up this past week; one outside the Tourist Information Centre (tickets now on sale!) and the other on the railings of St Clement's Church, beautifully visible to one and all as they enter the town. Thanks to Ernie for his help in getting that sorted. Sort of. Ask him, he knows all the sordid details! It's been a hard old year for many of the traders in Dartmouth, but I've been out there having a natter, trying to glean advertising from them. You've seen the film, haven't you, where a character says something along the lines of 'You'll get this when you pry it from my cold, dead hands'? 
Bit like that in the shops round Dartmouth at the moment...
Actually, many of the traders and companies are being hugely supportive of this year's production, even the new guys, which is promising. So we keep battling on and eventually  Janie will have enough to go in another lovely programme; she is working on it as I type. Going to look excellent. She's found some great pages that will compliment the overall effect and in particular, Shaunagh's superb painting.

And finally: apologies for the weird layout of the pictures, but blogspot won't let me do anything else...and, to be honest, it's been a long day and I can't bothered to figure it out now. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day.

So very, very studious.

This is not the one you're looking for...

Is it safe yet?

Points a lot, doesn't he?

Peacocks and Princesses.

Well that was fun. And it didn't take as long as I thought it might; about three hours, all told...with a two hour drive each way, obviously! 

Bath Theatrical Costumiers are very fine and the lady's who work there really know their stuff. I mean really.

It also helps if you have a pretty clear picture of what you want the characters to look like and a defined colour schematic from which you can work. Adjustments are allowed...and we did...but it speeds the process.

Jenny, Barbara and I wandered amongst the racks, jaw to the floor; the place is crammed with everything from medieval (that's us) through to modern and just plain fancy dress. We had three ladies trotting around, grabbing jerkins from racks and dresses off hooks, debating the pros and cons the while (usually between themselves) and pretty much deciding for us. 

'What about this for Regan?' Says Lady 1.

'Mmm,' says Lady 2, demurring, 'I think we've got something that...here! This one. And I've got a lovely belt, pouch and hat that goes...' she rummages in a wicker casket, '...here you are. Lovely isn't it?'

Yep.

First thing I spotted when I arrived, up on a shelf, looking very fetching, was a full-face, silver helmet. My immediate thought was 'Edgar'. It's hefty, stylish and thoroughly brilliant. Should keep Sam (Edgar) happy.

Edmund and Knight One will be rocking the fugitive-from-a-leather-club look, very in this season apparently, and Lear will be regal, red and also slightly leather-bound, like a first edition.

Funnily enough...and it makes a bit of change when you're talking about costumes for a Shakespearean production...the male costumes seem to be the more sumptuous this year. They're all going to be peacocks. The ladies aren't forgotten in the pageant though: all dressed in the appropriate house colours. Lear - red with trimmings; Cornwall - green and gold; Albany - mainly blues; Gloucester - yellow with flashes of green to show his allegiance to Cornwall -  and Kent...well Kent is quite flashy at the outset but tends to dress-down after banishment.  

It's all going to look rather splendid, it's just a pity that the camera went flat and I'd not brought mine, so I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait a bit for photos! Oh yes, and we got Lear a rather natty crown.

Oswald is going to be dressed in a splendid bit of kit, way above his station, but then that's Oswald all over...hang on, I hear you say! You haven't cast Oswald yet!

In Other News: We've got an Oswald. I've managed to persuade an old friend of mine to tread the boards again after...I think 'several' is the word to use here...after several years away from this sort of performing; he does play in band, so he has a similar pedigree to someone else I know.

His name is Simon Fox and I also know he will be perfect for Oswald and will slot into the company very, very easily. Doesn't solve the problem of France et al, but we're moving in the right direction.

We've also taken a step closer to having some other events happening round town during Shakespeare week with the news that Royal Avenue Gardens are free and we can hire them! So I'll let you know what we've got going on for definite when we know.

And I'm going to take another moment to mention all the amazing hard work that the cast are putting in. Books are already going down for some of the scenes, which is fantastic, and the characters are now taking a recognisable shape...it's wonderful to see. 

Note to self: find a rehearsal prompt. Our lovely Margaret, who normally takes on this task, can't be with us this year, and they are some very large boots to fill.

Also been batting about Dartmouth, exercising the silver tongue, trying to persuade the businesses to take an ad in the programme. Our advertisers, sponsors and 'friends' are, apart from the audiences, obviously, the financial life-blood of any undertaking such as this. Year on year, they come up with the goods, either in cash form or by way of offering services for nothing. Everyone has had a hard time of it over the last couple of years, yet they always seem to manage to dig that extra little bit for Shakespeare. Thank you. If you'd like to be a 'friend' (you get tickets!!) you can always drop me a line, the address is on the web-site.

Now then...what else do I need to do?

It's The Little Things...

Seems like a long time since I took to the keyboard and put something here...and checking, I find it has been! Busy, busy, busy is all I can offer by way of an excuse. Actually no, not an excuse, a reason.

We're well into initial rehearsals as I type; blocking complete (but still being tweaked); actors getting to grips with their characters; peripherals dropping into place nicely...it's all feeling rather good!

As we run through various scenes, placing people more effectively, talking about what the character is aiming for (I hesitate to use the word 'motivation'), generally getting a 'feel' for the whole, it is the little things I seem to notice above all else. It's obvious to me - and I might be wrong, but I like to think not - that the guys have been reading the script and thinking about the skins into which they are climbing. They're getting, dare I say it, excited by the prospect of playing these characters? Several instances of me asking them to do something and them pitching in with their thoughts of what character should do...and, in nine cases out of ten, it works. They're working the roles. They get it.

There's a look on someone's face, during a break as we chat, as they feel another little piece of the puzzle drop into place, as their character begins to stand straighter in their minds, as they recognise him or her as themselves. It's very exciting!

And there's the chemistry that develops between the characters; I'm watching it grow through each rehearsal. There were several moments at the last get-together where something clicked and a scene started to really flourish into a thing with a life of it's own; that will become incredibly moving and poignant. Or particularly unsettling, planting a seed of understanding in an audience in both instances.

This little patch of ground that we have carefully turned and raked and planted will, in the fullness of time (although not too much time!), begin to bear fruit of the most amazing sort. As the books start to go down (just sayin') the real physicality of a performance will also start to develop more fully...and Lear is a very physical piece of theatre.

Another 'little' thing of note was the arrival of some of the flags we're going to use. Beautifully realised by Lyndall (thankyouthankyouthankyou!), it's another piece that's dropped into place, for me anyway, that makes me think that the time is drawing ever closer when those flags will be seen by hundreds of people within the context of what we're trying to achieve. I try not think of the scale of what we're doing; the last thing I need to be is a gibbering wreck by the middle of next week. Yet it is a huge undertaking and, thankfully, I have a brilliant cast and wonderful back-stage crew who are all beavering away. The frantically beavering away bit comes later!

Jenny (our wardrobe manager) and I will be heading off to the costumiers next week for a rummage and attempting to get the perfect mix that will compliment not only the actors but their characters. Getting that bit right, and you can't doubt the importance of this as far as I'm concerned, is paramount. It bolsters the whole incredibly and gives the cast something else to add to the arsenal of their performance. That, too, is very exciting.

The back-stage communicators arrived this morning and are currently on-charge before we wander about the flat aimlessly, testing those little suckers out. Now the crew can talk to each other without having to send runners or carrier-pigeons. A small development, but another little thing that will make all our lives easier on the night(s).

In other news:

still looking for an Oswald, 

still searching for a King of France/Servant 1/Captain.

Not panicking, not even breaking a sweat...well, maybe a small sweat. The calls have gone out...I await a response. 

I hope the rest is not silence!