SummerWorks and beyond

The past three weeks have sped by.

SummerWorks ended very well. We had a super audiences for our three performances- and I was extremely pleased with how the play gelled over the run. It was an immense pleasure to work with the company on this beast of a play! We were listed in the Best Ensemble Category of Now Magazine's 'wrap up' of the festival- a testament to the company's work. Thank you again to all the peeps who worked on, helped, supported, encouraged and attended our production- it meant and means an huge amount! (The picture above is of the Smackheaded Company in full-flight, photo by Scott Gorman. And here's Bryan and Emily in an earlier scene from the play- I'll be posting more production photos very soon...)



The last couple of weeks have been a swift change of pace from our re-investigation into poor theatre....

It's been 'a systems go' with Anything Goes. The day after our last performance of The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter I began the the 19 hours that I had allotted myself to do the blocking (or staging) of the piece. This would just be the 'first pass', but the only week when I had priority (the two weeks prior to that were focusing on music, the two weeks after 'my week' gave priority to choreography and tap dancing). Well, we did it! Normally I allow myself about 15- 20 mins/page on a 'first pass' blocking rehearsal. To get the work done in my 19 hours I worked at 8.5 mins/ page... and had 43 peeps in the room, most of the time. It was a wee bit intense...and I'm not sure that I'll ever do that again... (Thankfully I've arranged lots of small, 'non-priority' rehearsals that run concurrently with choreography rehearsals, so I've had a more traditional 15- 20 mins a page since then!)

We also had one, 'full Equity week' with the teens. This was a six-day week of rehearsing 10-6. On our last afternoon that week we had two treats: a pizza party and a stagger-through of the musical. (The staggering was not caused by the pizza- it was just that we were putting it all together for the first time- that's generally called a stagger-through...)

Now we're on a five day break so that the cast/production students can focus on getting back to school. When we start back I begin to move into production mode on Anything Goes. I'm very excited about getting onto the Main stage at The Grand!

Today though it's R and R. Reading and relaxing... Reading The Native and Suicide Brunette (the two plays I'm directing at the Old Red Lion in the UK in Oct. by excellent Northern Irish writers Gary Mitchell and Christopher Hanvey) and relaxing...I'm immensely grateful for a wee break- it's been a busy and brilliant ten weeks.

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!