planning a go-go

Friday was an excellent day!

We had a four-hour session of meeting and greeting actors, chatting, measuring actors for costumes, catching up on design conversations, updating production schedules- all very exciting.

In terms of set design, it looks as though we're going to pursue 'the cardboard way'- which I think is great. Also, some super ideas emerged, in conversation with the actors, about costume possibilities... one intriguing offer was the idea of having one character in a wheel-chair. I love it- the collective creative brain at work!

At the moment I'm making sure that we have as much technical information together as we can: the SummerWorks Festival need our technical requirements by June 28th at 5:00. Just combing through all the information so far to give the festival as full a picture as possible of how the play will look/feel etc, so that they get a sense of it before the technical rehearsals. I'm very slow at admin. and planning in this area- so I'm glad to have a couple of quiet days to sift through it all- and I'm getting the information from the design teams, it's just that I'm putting it all into the form- (yum!).

SummerWorks has a similar technical process to a number of festivals- you have a four hour slot to get your play into the space, do all of your lighting and sound cues, run the play (if you decide to do that) and get out. It's a great exercise in having an organized team. And there's little time for indecision, which I like... Also, as a director it's challenging because up until that point you've only been able to imagine the play in the performance space- and you really never know of you're ideas are really going to work until you see it all coming together in the theatre space. For the actors the challenge is understanding how the space works, how it affects the play- it's a swift learning curve for all the production/cast peeps.

However, I do like the impact that this condensed technical time can have on the design and organization of the play. For example, projection. The play we're doing is set in London, UK and we're performing in Toronto- so I'd like to be able to bring the 'character of London' into the production. This can be done through costume, set design, the actor's bodies, the physical/spatial relationships- and through (perhaps) including projection of some kind. However, projection takes a lot of work, it's another design element that needs careful attention and it can get fantastically complicated in a technical rehearsal... So, we may or may not go down this route... The designer and I are still in discussion about it...

A few weeks ago I was in London so I took a lot of photos on slide film- and one option that we're talking about it using an old carousel slide projector... I think that the production is going to have a 'poor theatre' approach overall- so it might make sense to incorporate a 'retro technical approach'... and if we go that route then we can use it in rehearsal and the transition into the technical rehearsals will be 'easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy', as they say. It might also be a fun, slightly subversive expression of projection, (it's old, it's clunky, there's an ugly-beauty to it), which makes sense for the world of the play. A lot of the play is set on the Thamesmead Estate- (which is all 1970's Brutalist architecture).

Okay- I'd better get back to thinking about music and sound cues...

I will write more about the play very soon- promise!



And I did say that it's set on the Thamesmead Estate in the UK...

Here are a couple of photos that you may recognize of the Thamesmead Estate... from the film A Clockwork Orange

Smack Set/Costume Day

An exciting morning ahead-

Meeting costume/set designer Brandon Kleiman to see costume and set sketches. We were talking about our set being created out of card board- so it'll be interesting to see if that's the direction we go.

I love working with set materials that can be recycled. Last year on the production of Twelfth Night (in Oxford, UK), that I directed our set was 10 tons of sand and found items from beach combing near Bristol, UK- and nearly all the costumes were reconfigured clothes from charity shops- So, it would be super to be able to carry on this exploration of found items and recyclable materials... (and to be honest- we need the budget to stay as petite as possible, so it's great when you're philosophical exploration supports your budget reality-).

And then we meet the actors for measuring- It'll be great to see how Brandon combines his vision with ideas that emerge from meeting the actors.

I love this part of the process, particularly on a new play like Smack: there's room for lots of dialogue between director/designers and the actors' Imagination can be layered into the process as well... and this play is firing off a lot of images and ideas in all our imaginations...

more on The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter a little later.

Contrasts galore

Well, the last few months have sped by-

I've been working at The Grand Theatre, in London, Ontario, as the Apprentice Artistic Director. More on that later... It's been a super experience and I've been mentored by the wonderful and thoughtful Susan Ferley, the Artistic Director. I've learned an immense amount about running a large theatre company and have also directed Macbeth (with 19 high school students!), The Little Prince, (with a wonderful cast) and a number of short Canadian plays, (at The Playwrights' Cabaret, co-directed with Susan Ferley and Jeff Culbert).

The next few months are full of contrast, which is why I decided to reconnect with the ol' blog.

First on the list is a new British play that I'm directing at SummerWorks Theatre Festival in Toronto. It's called The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter, by Simon Glass. It's a tongue-in-cheek fable about Peter, born on the impoverished Thamesmead Estate in south-east London (UK). His quest is to free the poor and bring peace on earth with low-cost heroin. Oddly, it doesn't all go well... It's a subversive, hysterical combination of high and low art- if you're nearby Toronto during this excellent summer festival please come along.

Next, it's back to The Grand! I'm directing the Grand's High School Project on the Main stage this summer- the 1930's musical, Anything Goes. We'll have about 45 teens in the production- and all the people in the production, on-stage and back-stage are mentored by the theatre professionals at the theatre. It's a unique and inspiring production experience. I caught the tail-end of the rehearsals for Grease last year and it was very exciting. I'm looking forward to working with all departments and tapping along with Cole Porter's wonderful melodies...

After that eight-week rehearsal process I'll be zooming back to the UK to direct two new solo plays at The Old Red Lion, Suicide Brunette by Gary Mitchell and The Native, by Christopher Hanvey. More on these solo pieces a little later- I will say though, that they're going to be virtuoso acting pieces-

So, I hope to share some experiences from these three entirely different rehearsal/production processes. It's a season of contrasts... I'm delighted to be working on such a range of material, in wonderful circumstances, with excellent peeps! And a little terrified about it all as well...

More soon...

The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter is going to be a blast!