Pericles – Director’s blog 10

 

There was much laughter and teenage awkwardness when the lovely Jean Harvey came in to work on the post-banquet dance with our Pentapolian Knights and Lady Dancers. After the usual cacophony of “I can’t dance”, Jean got down to getting them swaying their hips, shaking their shoulders and cha-cha-cha-ing. A cha-cha-cha in a Shakespearian piece I hear you cry? The piece is a montage of styles, forms and representations as I didn’t want it to sit in a particular period and who’s to say this dance form hasn’t been around for millennia? There may prove to be a congruity perhaps with the different elements I’ve chosen but I hope it all sits together appropriately, which I believe it will as nothing is done for the sake of it and will help the play to be read as in an indistinct period and of a universal nature. But they all bravely pushed through and they won’t admit it but they enjoyed it and look out for the comedy moment in this scene…

 

We are at a hazy point currently where 90% of the cast are off book but maybe 50% of those are still searching for their lines within that. Meaning that they aren’t committed to memory and therefore their characterisation has dropped. This is a difficult point for a director as part of you thinks have they remembered nothing you’ve been through in regards to building and developing character detail. But then you have to remember that they are still searching and those details will return once they’ve found their voice with the words. The whole process is about layering bit by bit, knowing when you need to stop and pull out the details and when to let things go to allow for continuity. You can’t achieve everything at once and it’s a fine balance to be reached, as part of you wants to get every detail right straightaway but until all the production elements are in place, the material’s, sound, lighting…its difficult for the company to completely engage in the world we are trying to create.

 

It’s a frustrating time as well as the production is so close but now we have to wait another 6 days to continue on the play, with only being 3 weeks away it feels we should be meeting regularly to really push on. Switching my brain to other things is proving difficult as the production has become all-consuming for me. Those three intensive days we have in pre-production week can’t come soon enough for me when we can really get our hands dirty and progress with the play as a whole rather than tiny segments. I want to see how the play works in its entirety, not just act to act, to feel the energy that transports us from place to place and make sure above all that we are communicating this brilliant story – as in the end this is the most important thing. It’s easy to forget this, again something that seems such a given but you get caught up in pictures and moments but unless the audience understands what we are trying to communicate we will have failed and that’s not something we want to contemplate doing.

 

Costume fittings went well last week and we finish the others off tonight, they look really good and no grumblings at all, which is a feat in itself and testament to the fine job done by Lydia. It’s all coming together…

Pericles – new print!

Pericles – Director’s blog 9

 

In thought...

We completed our third journey through the play on Monday and another key section of my call sheet reached. The crossed-out lines are starting to out weigh the one’s that aren’t…It seemed an apt time to reflect with the company where we’ve got up to and to allow them express any thoughts or concerns they had. After having said the floor was open to them then continuing to talk myself for five minutes there was either a worrying or affirming silence. Heads were nodded when I asked that they were secure in understanding the story – I told them to tell the story to people as I believe in the Augusto Boal quote “the best way to learn is to teach”. I think much of the time when young people work on plays they don’t really understand the story and this seems such a base requirement for working on any text. I have really pushed the company to understand the narrative and before every rehearsal we have ‘Julian’s story quiz’, where the cast labours to tell me what has happened previously in the story up to this point. So I have decided to take their silence as a positive and am part comforted by this with four weeks to go as I feel we’re relatively secure and I hope to be able to get my theatrical spanners out to do lots of fine tuning.

 

 Our cast hoodies arrived yesterday which I hope will be out around York proudly worn by our company in a shameless marketing exercise. Everybody seems really pleased with them and helps to bond the group together and feel as though they are part of something special. Which they are. Our new print looks great and reflects the nature of the piece being performed by young people and adds a fair degree of intrigue and tongue in cheek-ness. Next week this print I hope will be coming to a wall near you or will be handed to you in a neat business card format. There are a series of three, the prostitute, the fisherman and the pirate – it’s like the old sticker collections at school you’ll want to get them all!

I met up with a friend who I haven’t see for nearly a year recently and we had a good catch-up about what we were doing. I naturally talked about the production and she said to me it was nice to hear someone being so passionate about something. This made me think for a moment as passion in work seems such a distant thing for so many people but for me I definitely feel a great passion for what I’m doing at the moment. It excites me working with the company on this text, helping to realise the potential in them and the story. I love seeing the pictures being created in front of me and the company starting to truly ‘inhabit’ their characters and the mind ticking behind the eyes. It’s definitely only in the eyes can you truly see an actor inhabiting their character. Passion for something means committing to it whole heartedly and I’m glad someone has recognised that in me and I hope that I’m managing to communicate this to other people. Passion and drive is infectious and I hope our story will do the same for our audience in four weeks time.

Pericles – Director’s blog 8

 

I’m currently writing whilst listening to music samples from Autechre, Squarepusher and Aphex Twin on Amazon as Craig has suggested these bands as the type of style we might work with for our sound design. I always wanted a contemporary feel with the sound that was electronic rather than lyrical and instrument driven. The music is there to reflect and drive the mood and atmosphere of the places we construct, acting more as a subliminal mnemonic to aid our understanding of where we are and what we might expect. I don’t like plays that are underscored throughout, it feels manipulative, as film scores can be sometimes. With Shakespeare we need to hear the words and allow the cast to just tell the story so only during the storm and brothel scenes will we have underscoring. With Craig now in rehearsals I am very excited by his ideas and feel we are on the same wave length – which now means we must be getting closer to production time…

 

I feel a bit on a theatrical rollercoaster with this production, it feels as though it takes ages to climb up the slope sometimes, having to constantly stop to do repairs but sometimes we reach the top and the blocks have gone – lines have been learnt, feedback has been absorbed and its exhilarating working with the company on the way down (does that analogy make sense!?!) I hope we’ve managed to avoid too much frustration in the large choral scenes as there’s inevitably hanging around where I’ve just told the Bawd’s “stand there and look vaguely prostitute-like” assuming 16 year olds will add in their own interpretations and extra activity…but its not as simple as that and its really difficult for them as they don’t have the material which they’ll be wrapped in to help them or musical assistance. We’ll get to it but we can’t do everything at once and just hope they’ll stick with me, unfortunately we don’t have the budget for a field trip to Soho.

 

The brothel scenes are finally starting to come together after much disruption and they contain the energy that will lift the play’s rhythm after a fairly long period of similar paced scenes. There quite awkward these scenes as inevitably they are sexual and provocative in nature and communicating this to teenagers is part embarrassing part dangerous waters as sometimes with movement you want to demonstrate to them what you want but this isn’t possible or appropriate here so I try to either just be plain speaking and say it or hope they pick up on my slightly embarrassed vague drifts! My main concern at the moment is their understanding of their journeys, more practically than anything through the play as I’m still getting 8 weeks in “oh am I in this scene?” from certain cast members. How do I solve this conundrum? Will it just come from running and running the play? I’m trying to devise something to aid them with this, something tangible that will help them chart their route in and around our wonderful set. Hmm…

 

Costume fittings are next week, which is probably the highlight for a lot of our cast members, for one in particular she must be close to erupting point as before I told her the name of the play she asked “what are the costumes like?” They may be young adults but they sure like a dress-up. Another step towards it all feeling very real and getting progressively closer…

Shore of the Wide World – Director’s Notes 3

Just over a week to go until first night, that’s just five rehearsals, and with a long play like this, only three opportunities to run the play – the pressure’s on.  I’m conscious there’s a gradual process now of handing the play over to the cast, that I need to observe more and talk less.  I know that there’s only so much that an actor can take on before each run of the play so I have to be disciplined in my choice of instructions, and the order I select them.  Is it pace and rhythm first, a refocus on character’s intentions in each scene, or should we work at listening/giving/receiving and move as close as possible to being ‘in the moment’?

 

I see now there are real benefits in having a larger cast.  I’m encouraging everyone to observe each other’s work.  Some are stronger vocally, some have natural comic timing, some are listening well, some have a physical tension and rhythm that makes their characterisation completely natural…  It’s exciting to see the fearlessness of the younger cast members in combination with the experienced, stage trickery of their seniors.  I’m working hard to give everyone confidence in themselves and the need to trust the words.  It’s paying off too, I can see hints already of those ‘hairs on the back of your neck’ moments ahead but we will need to work hard to release and sustain them by giving more attention to what goes between.   

 

Anyway enough about the actors, it’s the help you don’t see that I’m really counting on at present.  My Assistant – Ed the Bearded One – is cracking the whip on the accuracy of lines, vital to steering the pace of the action, and is tightening up some of the dodgier scenes; Jorvik (Props) Kalkinski is helping unleash the ‘business’ on stage; Vikki on costume is sourcing as many ‘chavvy’ garments as she can from actors’ own wardrobes (some of it surprisingly suitable!), and Laptop Jon is layering in the ambient sounds which support the action and wacking in (if that’s an appropriate term) some great music for links, endings and openings.  Andy meanwhile is devising an exciting kaleidoscope of light for the rich seam of locations.  That’s the thrill of theatre – different skills coming together, a fixed point in time to aim at and an expectant audience ahead.  I can’t wait. See you there I hope.