3rd Week

 

Somehow we've racked up 11 shows already. Dunno where the time goes.

 

This week started strangely. Had a really bad run personally on Monday. Out of sorts. Details were obscured and I wasn't comfortable. Overall energy was low and the show felt slow. The house was full but the audience never quite got into it – completely our fault and a shame we missed that opportunity. So we tweaked things, cut some lines and speeded up the play at the end. It hasn't felt like a fully presented play – rather a series of gags and physical comedy that doesn't build to any climax. We're trying to sort that. Last night was excellent. A good level from which to build further. Audience was fantastic. I had more energy to give and it paid off. It was a very strange evening all round but the show was great.

 

What do people do in their days? Some people work. People see shows. The Muppets show has gone down well with those of the cast who've seen em. As has "Black Watch" – an incredible piece of theatre and a brilliant advert for the new National Theatre. Going to see Peter Stein's "Troilus & Cressida" on Sunday. He's one of the greatest directors alive so am really looking forward to that.

 

I've been running and doing lots of exercise. And a lot of emailing. Roslin is a sunny place today and gives a lot of space for thinking and writing.

 

Middle of the 3rd Week and we may be losing energy so we need to galvanise ourselves and find ways to keep it fresh. A trick I've been using is to consvince myself its the last night I get to perform and this is the only opportunity I have to make it great. In a sense it is, as the audience only see it once and each night is a different, unique event. So far we've been fortunate with the weather and had 1 indoors performance. I like watching the audience outside. I think they have to work harder and are more involved with the scenes. Sitting down inside is more passive.

 

One thing about the Gala Show on Saturday was Bruce asked the audience how many had seen a Shakespeare show before. Most of them. Then he asked for how many this was the first time. A few put their hands up. So we have a responsibility. Hopefully after watching this people will want to go read his plays or see more shows. Its so important to make a good impression. Especially as people can be turned off his work at school, for whatever reason, be it poor, uninspired teaching, rebellion at authority, or simply boredom. It might be good to think of this as a first time for every member of the audience. And if we can present it in a fresh way to veterans of Shakespeare, so much the better.

Second Week of Run

 

 

Its Thursday. 3 down, 3 to go.

 

The Festival has started. Officially. Edinburgh is a mass of costumes, flyers, drunkenness and music.

 

Today's a birthday for one of the cast. Several people have birthdays around this time including the director. Its a sign we should all be working together. There may be a few drinks in town tonight after the show. And then a few more.

 

Show's in a good state. Audiences keep coming. My parents saw it on Saturday and liked it very much. My Mum said it was "a tour de force" and my Dad said it was "long". Fair enough, it is. But Mum saw it again last night and was more impressed. Said it has bedded in now and she enjoyed it more inside the the chapel – made for a more intense atmosphere, especially with the drama of the first scene.

 

Saw a programme about a guy who works in prisons in the US getting prisoners to perform Shakespeare plays. Amazing man of unbelievable compassion. And the process was the important thing, not the final performance. Very humbling to watch these guys looking deep in their souls for something of truth and hope. And of course they"get" Shakespeare. Their lives have only been fear and conflict and revenge and intolerance and love and loss and all the other themes no playwright but Shakespeare has been able to write about so clearly and beautifully. It sticks 2 fingers up to all that talk of the "relevance" of Shakespeare and (deeply-patronising) attempts to make it more "reachable" for "modern" audiences. Absolute crap. Just do the plays. And get on with it.

 

At one sticky point the prisoners got frustrated and the director had to calm them. He simple said: "All we do is we try and find the beauty and truth in the moment. And if we don't find it, we move on to the next and try and find it there."

 

Nothing more needs to be said.

End Of The First Week

 

We made it this far…

 

Got to the end of the first week of the show and it has been successful so far. The 3 shows we considered Previews – a time to get things settled and try things out. Now we have a platform to build the show upon. Celebrated by going out en masse and drinking until the wee early hours. Much jollity had by all.

 

Audiences have been very good. 60ish for Thurs/Fri and 70ish for Sat. A great start. Hopefully we can carry on at this rate. Tickets are selling well at the Fringe and most people are not local – they have to travel to get here. Which is a good sign. We wondered if they might be reticent to become audibly involved in the play since they are in a church and it is Shakespeare – both of which inspire a lot of reverence – but people have been warm and responsive so far. Though I think we have to do more to coax them into it.

 

Saturday was a good show. The best so far. Most involving and developed. It was hot too! Sweating buckets by the interval. Its good – it should cost us to do a play of the magnitude. The energy and excitement was great. I really enjoyed Demetrius for the first time. Quince is brilliant to do – a real treat – but Demetrius has been more elusive. Now I'm starting to find my/his feet. The first scene with Helena has been bugging me all through rehearsal and on the first night most of what I'd been working on went out the window because of the audience. They responded differently to how I'd ever imagined and it took the scene to a different level. A valuable lesson. Each scene is very different and its easier to concentrate solely on that moment rather than think of the play as a whole or this particular stage of his personal journey.

 

Now we have a full week ahead with 6 shows. Time to learn how to pace ourselves. Fridays and Saturdays are great to perform on because there is a freedom about the weekend. Audiences are livelier too. But the challenge is to live up to the standards we've laready set, and then better them.

Opening Night.

 

It happened. We opened. It was great.

 

Began at 3pm with notes on the previous night's run. The sun was shining and the omens were good. Got down to the chapel and moved the pews into postion and focused lights and got into costume and warmed up. Good atmosphere in the group. Some inspired words from the director and we started. I was really excited. No time for nerves – there's plenty to get on with instead.

Wednesday 2nd August

 

Last day of rehearsals.

 

Second dress rehearsal.

 

Its been raining all day.

 

But it brightens up and we decide to do our Outside scenes in the dress. They go ok. Seems like ages since we've done them in situ. Rest of Dress is ok. Good even. The pace was up. There's a very positive feel about it. Puts us in a good place to begin the run tomorrow night.

Tuesday 1st August

 

Finally reached August. The month we perform in. Time's flown by. On Thursday we start. Yeah.

 

Of course, it's now raining. Been brilliant sun for weeks – leading us into thinking we'd be safe working outside – and then in production week the heavens open. So we revert to Plan B where we locate everything inside. It looks ok. Gotta remember not to take our Outside voices inside though.

 

Friday 28th July

 

End of the last week before the show opens. Few words to cover what we've been doing.

 

Friday was bits and pieces. Had very precise times to work scenes. Not in the chapel so did outside scenes inside. Good for voices – we have a tendency to speak loudly and excitedly, so its good to work in smaller rooms and get more natural. Was hoping to do a run to tie up the week and give a good indication of where we're at (and what we still have to do) but we ran outa time. Ran the second half and it was very long but helped to clarify character journeys. The play is very enjoyable but we need to really nail stuff to make it perfect. And the audience will tell us when its right.

Wednesday Night

 

Did a run. We got thru most of it. It felt quite long. Words to describe it include Stumbly, Useful, Potential, Mixed. It was pretty long and slow and involved a lot of running from door to door. Some scenes were good. Got some notes, the rest tomorrow. People were very tired.

Its Wednesday morning.

 

Thinking over the last 2 days. Things have cranked up a gear again. Its now 4 days until the Tech. Yep. Doing a run this evening. All off book. In the chapel.