Exactly half way through a six week rehearsal period and things are going well …. perhaps too well – if that’s possible. The House of Bernarda Alba (or HOBA or Bananaraba as some of the cast have taken to calling it) is a taxing play for a male director – we have a cast of 14 women – but they are all pulling together and working extremely well as an ensemble. I have also been joined in all our rehearsals by Ged Murray, who not only has doubled testosterone but has been doing wonders ‘on the book’ and has started his stage manager’s duties well ahead of schedule.
Some of our first rehearsals had us playing games for a while so that we all got to know one another, but then we got down to the serious task of blocking the pieces where all 14 cast were to be on the small studio space at once without it looking like a rugby scrum.
Some important directorial decisions have been made: whether to use mild or strong chorizo; what colour traditional Spanish Gazpachio should be, and other food related matters.
The back-stage crew are also working exceptionally well as a team with no artificial demarcations of responsibilities. As a director this is all very invigorating – virtually everyone who has attended the rehearsals has brought an open mind and invaluable ideas to the process.
Andrew
