A Crackin' Day! Tues. July 20th

A big day- we went through most of the choral sections of the play, making leaps and bounds forward in our exploration and there were some very exciting moments.

Here's the company rehearsing a scene from the play- when the people of Thamesmead learn about Smackheaded Peter's vision of bringing peace on earth with low-cost heroin... (A little disturbing to rehearse this section in a church?)



This is a big, beefy beast of a play and it's challenging us all: creating physicality for the drug sections, playing large Choral scenes, taking heroin on stage... I'm also taking a conceptual approach to the play which, on a new play, is unusual for me...More about that later. The main experience from yesterday is that the "we're beginning to get there" feeling was emerging ... Yee Ha!

We had the full company together for most of the afternoon and it was delight to have the energy, focus and expertise of everyone in the room. Great strides, great strides forward.

We've moved into the church sanctuary this week: an accidental double-booking at the church. Although it's got it's challenges, (water dripping through some light fixtures and sometimes-smelly AC) it's also lovely to have the light from the stain-glassed windows in the room. It's a little odd to be rehearsing a play with a messiah-like figure in it, inside a church, but it may be helping...

Here's the Holy Family from Parkdale United Church



Lots of producing things to work on in the evening-

A cracking day!

July 15th- marching and cardboard

I mentioned last week that two of the challenges of making a piece of theatre in the current rehearsal process are our old chums/enemies time and money... Well, for the first time in almost two weeks of rehearsal we had everyone in the room at the same time- and I am compelled to write that it was delightful, truly delightful! and we enjoyed nearly an hour together.

We started the day by sharing our 'unison experiences': singing in choirs, martial arts practice, dancing in musicals, playing in bands, doing Greek choral work (mostly in theatre training) and from Richard Stewart, marching. It was one of those excellent moments in a rehearsal room when the assembled group acknowledges the expertise of its members. So, (Richard leading) the actors learned how the differences between standing at attention, at ease, easy, turning and marching. And then, briefly, in groups of three, people marched, as Richard kept everyone 'in time'. I watched, delighted as everyone dove into this simple-yet-different experience- people wrinkled noses, shuddered at they're own abilities, delighted in moments that worked and we all had a good laugh. It was the fastest company bonding I've experienced in some time.

We then carried on with our game 'who moves what, where and when?' (scene changes), and finished that game on the rest of the play.

The rest of the morning zoomed by with a rehearsal of the beginning of the play. We've discovered the 'company action' for the beginning of the piece- it's 'Intervention'. I'll come back to this development another time-

The afternoon was spent working on drug hallucinations and choral work- lots of progress- and we finished the day recapping scenes with Emily and Marilla.

After that we had a production meeting; the production manager, set/costume designer, stage manager and I sat down and talked through all aspects of the production. That took about 90 minutes, lots to talk about...

We then went and picked up some of the cardboard for our set; Thursday is recycling day in Parkdale and there's excellent free cardboard available. Thank goodness we're taking a 'poor theatre approach' with this play and that it matches the socio-economic realities of the world represented in the play! Ah, money... our other friend/enemy.


(this isn't where we went shopping- but it's an example of the cardboard 'riches' available...)

I've said it once and I'll say it again- it's wonderful that the style of theatre we're exploring matches up with the 'world of the play' and philosophy on recycling!

Thanks for reading... it's been quite a day...

play day, research?

Time is flying by and tomorrow we start rehearsals! Definitely looking forward to getting in the rehearsal room with this play and this most excellent group of people.

I really wanted us to have a little research time... or a play day... before we sat down to read the play, so on Friday we had just over three hours of time in a rehearsal room at the Tarragon Theatre rehearsal rooms. It was a wonderful opportunity to have some play time on two particularly challenging parts of the play.

The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter has choral sections and drug hallucinations- so I wanted us to start working together on choral and physical work, without having to be too result-oriented. In the choral section I was wondering if we would need to 'orchestrate the voices' to create dynamics- so I was surprised to discover that it (the text) didn't seem to need it. We'll play with this again another day- I wonder if we'll feel the same? I really thought that it would... In the drug hallucination that we played with we simply played with a large, stretchy piece of fabric that Brandon had brought in a played with the images that sprung from 'cocoon', 'safe', 'warm'. The most extraordinary moment was when the company wrapped one of the actors up from head-to-toe in the fabric, while he was upside-down. He really looked like he was a big human cocoon! He looked a little like this... (but with several people around him)


We also had some fun with contact improv and played with the 'cocoon', 'safe', 'warm' images without the fabric...lots of wonder physical images emerged. What really delighted me was the generosity and risks that the company were taking- It was a super atmosphere in the room.
The company really dove into all the games/exercises- It was an excellent morning and I came away with a much richer understanding of how to move forward- to realize this fantastically heightened and challenging play!

We also had a production meeting- The set will be recyclable- hurrah! and the viral video shoot is coming together, which will be fun.

All-in-all, it was an exciting day- and so... onwards and upwards into week 1 of rehearsal.

We're rehearsing in the heart of Parkdale, at the Parkdale United Church. They've been very welcoming and I'm very happy that it's our 'rehearsal home'. Much of the church is actually apartment housing for new Canadians and seniors. Here's a photo-




To finish... here's a link to an excellent article and short film about Thamesmead, the area where the play is set. Thamesmead was built as a 'new town' just over 40 years ago- It's recently been getting some much-needed renovation. Please watch the short film and experience a little of the community and humanity amongst the brutal architecture...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/16/communities

Thanks for reading... more soon!