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Wednesday 27 April 2011
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Production Manager's Notes - Week 1
Hello!
The first week of our rehearsals for "We've Got Guests!" (adapted one-act version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf") was mainly about getting to know the characters and getting the cast used to each other so that they are able to convey believeable relationships on stage.
Monday 11th April 2011
We jumped straight into some eye contact and trust exercises today so that we can see how they cast react to working together and keeping focussed. It was a good start, but there was still some work to be done to overcome the nervous giggling that kept occuring.
We then moved on to reading a section of the script in a variety of different ways - such as; happy, shy, angry, sad, suspicious, bored, drunk, excited, miserable. This helped the actors get a sense of the different ways that they could play the scene.
After this, we discussed how the cast felt about the characters in the play. Everybody seemed to agree on the main points of each character, such as Martha's loud and domineering nature and Honey and Nick's nervousness at being around someone so bold.
The actors were then given different situations to improvise in order to make them think about how their characters might act in different situations and also, in some cases, to form an idea of the characters' histories.
Tuesday 12th April 2011
We started today by doing some more fun improvisation games to get the cast warmed up and ready to work.
This was followed by some hot-seating in character so that we could see how well everybody knew their characters and how well they were able to think on their feet. They all seemed to do very well during this activity and even referred to things that other people had said during their turns in order to make their stories even more interesting.
We did a timed read-through of the script so that we have an idea of how long the play should hopefully run at.
After the read-through, we did some more character improvisations so that we could explore the characters and their relationships a little more. This was interesting as the cast brought up things from yesterday's improvisations and discussions, as well as things which were mentioned during the hot-seating activity.
Wednesday 13th April 2011
We started today by trying the eye contact activities again to see if the actors had improved at all. The difference in focus was very noticeable and they were able to last a lot longer than they had on Monday.
The actors then had a conversation in order to get to know each other better so that they would feel more comfortable with each other. They then did the eye contact exercise again and noticed that they were able to keep eye contact for much longer than they had before the conversation.
We then moved on to reading part of the script in different ways, but being as over the top as possible. This helped the actors to explore different ways of delivering the lines and also helped them to lose their inhibitions a little more.
After this, we did a few more improvisation activities to see if we could find out anything new about the characters.
Thursday 14th April 2011
We started today with a few quick improvisations to get the actors into their characters.
After this we got them to read a section of the script in different ways. They were much more open and over the top with the emotions/directions than they had been at the beginning of the week because they were getting more used to working with each other.
We then moved on to some more improvisations to see if we could find any more moments from the characters pasts.
Friday 15th April 2011
This rehearsal started with a few warm ups before reading a section of the script. Instead of constantly changing the ways in which they read it, each character was given a certain way to read and they were all told to be as over the top as possible. Martha was drunk, George was sarcastic, Honey was giggly, Nick was interested. They were also asked to attempt American accents. The emotions all started quite over the top, but gradually became more naturalistic as the scene went on.
We then did a few more improvisations, but with the girls and the boys, rather than couples. This was interesting as we were able to see how these characters would act when they were together. It also helped us to explore what Martha and Honey might be talking about when they go upstairs.
After this we discussed what needed to be done after Easter. We discussed what set and props we need to get hold of and also talked about when we could get costumes for the actors.
We decided that more work needs to be done on the relationship between Nick and Honey, as they feel like they haven't had chance to work on it enough. I will be doing this with them after Easter whilst other scenes are being worked on.
We then met with the group performing "The Eden Trials" to discuss publicity and set and technical details, as they are double-billed with us.
I feel that we have made a lot of progress in terms of the cast working together and getting to know the characters and I am looking forward to starting work on the script after Easter. Once we start blocking and getting set, props and costume together, everything should start to come together really nicely!
The first week of our rehearsals for "We've Got Guests!" (adapted one-act version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf") was mainly about getting to know the characters and getting the cast used to each other so that they are able to convey believeable relationships on stage.
Monday 11th April 2011
We jumped straight into some eye contact and trust exercises today so that we can see how they cast react to working together and keeping focussed. It was a good start, but there was still some work to be done to overcome the nervous giggling that kept occuring.
We then moved on to reading a section of the script in a variety of different ways - such as; happy, shy, angry, sad, suspicious, bored, drunk, excited, miserable. This helped the actors get a sense of the different ways that they could play the scene.
After this, we discussed how the cast felt about the characters in the play. Everybody seemed to agree on the main points of each character, such as Martha's loud and domineering nature and Honey and Nick's nervousness at being around someone so bold.
The actors were then given different situations to improvise in order to make them think about how their characters might act in different situations and also, in some cases, to form an idea of the characters' histories.
Tuesday 12th April 2011
We started today by doing some more fun improvisation games to get the cast warmed up and ready to work.
This was followed by some hot-seating in character so that we could see how well everybody knew their characters and how well they were able to think on their feet. They all seemed to do very well during this activity and even referred to things that other people had said during their turns in order to make their stories even more interesting.
We did a timed read-through of the script so that we have an idea of how long the play should hopefully run at.
After the read-through, we did some more character improvisations so that we could explore the characters and their relationships a little more. This was interesting as the cast brought up things from yesterday's improvisations and discussions, as well as things which were mentioned during the hot-seating activity.
Wednesday 13th April 2011
We started today by trying the eye contact activities again to see if the actors had improved at all. The difference in focus was very noticeable and they were able to last a lot longer than they had on Monday.
The actors then had a conversation in order to get to know each other better so that they would feel more comfortable with each other. They then did the eye contact exercise again and noticed that they were able to keep eye contact for much longer than they had before the conversation.
We then moved on to reading part of the script in different ways, but being as over the top as possible. This helped the actors to explore different ways of delivering the lines and also helped them to lose their inhibitions a little more.
After this, we did a few more improvisation activities to see if we could find out anything new about the characters.
Thursday 14th April 2011
We started today with a few quick improvisations to get the actors into their characters.
After this we got them to read a section of the script in different ways. They were much more open and over the top with the emotions/directions than they had been at the beginning of the week because they were getting more used to working with each other.
We then moved on to some more improvisations to see if we could find any more moments from the characters pasts.
Friday 15th April 2011
This rehearsal started with a few warm ups before reading a section of the script. Instead of constantly changing the ways in which they read it, each character was given a certain way to read and they were all told to be as over the top as possible. Martha was drunk, George was sarcastic, Honey was giggly, Nick was interested. They were also asked to attempt American accents. The emotions all started quite over the top, but gradually became more naturalistic as the scene went on.
We then did a few more improvisations, but with the girls and the boys, rather than couples. This was interesting as we were able to see how these characters would act when they were together. It also helped us to explore what Martha and Honey might be talking about when they go upstairs.
After this we discussed what needed to be done after Easter. We discussed what set and props we need to get hold of and also talked about when we could get costumes for the actors.
We decided that more work needs to be done on the relationship between Nick and Honey, as they feel like they haven't had chance to work on it enough. I will be doing this with them after Easter whilst other scenes are being worked on.
We then met with the group performing "The Eden Trials" to discuss publicity and set and technical details, as they are double-billed with us.
I feel that we have made a lot of progress in terms of the cast working together and getting to know the characters and I am looking forward to starting work on the script after Easter. Once we start blocking and getting set, props and costume together, everything should start to come together really nicely!
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