Thought i'd talk a bit about my reasons for this choice of play and how our fabulous group came about for this one act play project.
This is my first real experience as a director, the only previous directing experience I have is from college and when I was part of a drama group when I was at school. However I felt very passionate about directing this play as I think it is a brilliant piece of writing and I knew it would be very fun yet challenging to direct.
I read the play 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?' a few years ago and fell in love with it straight away, thinking that the characters were very interesting and believable, I also felt it was a very clever comedy. When this one act play project came about, I jumped at the chance to direct the play and make it my own. I began by editing the play into a one act play, using just the first act of the original play and then editing that to make sense on its own as a play. I then went about to search for a cast who could be in the play and make it as good as I knew it could be. I first approached Andrew Swift and James Manford as I had them both in mind for the two male roles and thought that they would fit perfectly within their roles, also as I have worked closely with them both before I knew that they would be lovely to work with, also as they are both very good friends I knew that they would both enjoy working together. Thankfully they both said yes. I then searched for the female parts and found Katie Beresford who I had just worked with would be perfect for the part of Honey. I then had to search for a girl to fit the demanding role of Martha, who pretty much is the centre of the whole play with her big personality and intense relationship with her husband. I asked Kirsty Clarke to take the part, letting her know of the hard work she would have ahead with the part and she accepted. I then had my cast, my group was formed. I then had a producer in Hayely Sadler and publicity with Jose Nuno Lopes who have been a massive help to me in my efforts to make this play a success.
Currently the cast are working extremely hard for me and doing a brilliant job, the characters and accents are almost there! We have a fantastic group guys. Thank you all for allowing me to direct you in this play :)
Directing is a difficult job but I am enjoying every minute of it. I have worked hard on being extremely organised as I would hate to fall behind on anything and have been working on making rehearsal plans for every rehearsal so that I know exactly what I want to get done in every rehearsal. So far this is working very well as we are working at a fast pace and have the play fully blocked and now all that it needs is perfecting!
During my first week as a director, I worked on giving the actors an opportunity to enjoy themselves and relax into the play; not wanting to force it on them immediately. We played games and worked on characters before any work on the script began. Accent work soon became a priority for the actors, and at the beginning of this process was a bit of a worry with the whole group that we may of had to change the setting of the play to England, however, luckily the american accents have come on wonderfully.
Blocking the play has been a big task but also enjoyable, the main difficulty with this play being that it is all set in one location, a living room; where people usually sit. The play is very dialogue based and so it has been a challenge of mine to make the play look as interesting as possible and working hard on the play not becoming a static piece of theatre. I have included as much movement as possible, keeping it realistic but interesting and enjoyable, giving the actors motivation for doing things so there is no movement without reason behind it.
I still have a big task ahead of me in perfecting this play and ensuring that the play really manages to come alive in the bigger space that is the Robert Powell theatre.
I look forward to seeing the play as its finished product and I am very lucky to have such a great cast who have taken all of my direction on board and have obviously worked hard on whatever I have asked of them.
Abbie x x
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