It's Sunday and the first leg of our tour at the Tobacco Factory is finished. In a week's time we move onto the Cheltenham Everyman Studio, and with it new challenges await. All in all it has to be said that this first stage has been extremely successful - in terms of audience numbers we comfortably hit our targets, and the feedback has been uniformly positive. The play has also ruffled a few feathers in terms of the story it tells and the character presented therein - I'll come back to this is a moment; I'll first talk about the performances in general.
As is the usual when a play goes into performance, every night is very different: sometimes the actors are 100% focused, others nights not so much. Some nights the audience laughs uproariously, other nights they're quiet as a mouse. Some nights a certain act or scene is embued with an amazing energy that draws the audience in and keeps them transfixed, other nights the scene plays with a totally different energy. All of the variables have been present at the Tobacco Factory. Chris B put it well after the third night: the first night seemed like a preview, the second night felt like the first night and the third night felt like second night. I agree with this to an extent although I felt that the third night went very well - yes, there were a few lines dropped here and there, but in terms of the audiences reactions and engagement with the piece I don't think there was a better performance. That said, in terms of pin-point precision, Friday night's performance topped the rest easily. I think if we were in one venue this performance would be where the actors jumped off from: knowing that they have the script fully mastered, they would be able to develop and explore the play with minimal fear of things going wrong. However, the fact of having the show on tour adds the extra hurdle of adapting to new spaces; whilst this won't be a massive hurdle I think each space has its own positives and negatives and the Everyman's razor thin stage will be a very different experience to the relatively luxurious dimensions of the Tobacco Factory.
One of the really interesting things about the audience's reaction to the play is how passionate it has made people about the characters and the situation of the piece. Whereas I knew that it was ambiguous and challenging a huge amount of people spoke to me about their real fears for the characters in the play and their feeling of helplessness as the play draws to its conclusion. I get the sense that the play has struck a nerve with many of our spectators and I am over the moon that this has occured. All too often we go to the theatre, we watch a show and we leave; we think 'that was good' or 'that sucked' or whatever we might feel. However, I get the sense with 'Blue/Orange' that the audience left the auditorium genuinely affected by what they had seen. Kudos needs to be given to firstly the actors who bought the characters to life in such a way as to provoke these reactions, and also to Joe Penhall for writing the play in the first place!
Notices have been good for the show. Click here to read Metro's take on it, or click here to see what the Bristol Evening Post thought.
I also did a radio interview with Original FM during the week where I reviewed the news (Paxman would be proud!) and also plugged the show. Click the play button on the media player below to listen to it.
We've a week now until the Cheltenham show. In the meantime, I have in my flat the entirety of the set. As I write this I can see the water cooler, the door frame, the chairs - everything. As per the carpet, it's all part of the indepent theatre game I guess!
So, Wednesday. Two more days of rehearsals to go. How, you might be asking, is it going? Not bad is the answer. Being totally off book now for a couple of days, the actors are starting to relax into this new scriptless world. As always happens during the latter stages of rehearsal we had a bit of a 'flat' day yesterday - the actors didn't seem to be connecting with each other and the energy was sluggish and unengaging. When directing comedies, I have found that this stage of rehearsal often presents itself as, all of a sudden, the play not being funny anymore. With 'Blue/Orange' being a straighter piece of drama I think the aforementioned symptoms point to the same thing.
I'm not 100% sure why this should be. It's probably a whole range of things: over-familiarity with the script, tiredness, nervousness about not having the script to hand, nervousness about the performance and perhaps nervousness about knowing one's lines (this might be particularly prescient with 'Blue/Orange' where each actor has a LOT of lines to learn).
Thankfully, today's run was much more successful. The actors were engaging with each other a lot more and they were listening to each other. This is a huge aspect of a successful performance I think - if you're not really listening to the other people on stage there is no way you can truthfully react to what is being said - you are simply working of cues. As (you guessed!) Sanford Meisner said "don't play the cue, play the impulse". And the impulse can only ever be truly played if the actor listens and reacts. Interestingly, Meisner also states the whole reason he developed his technique was that he felt actors are i) too self conscious (the technique develops a means of working off others instead of trying consciously to create emotional moments) and ii) they don't listen enough (see above).
The next couple of days we will do two runs per rehearsal. A gruelly four hours of performance for the actors - however, I think this will not only build their stamina for when they perform next week; the double run will assist in getting them comfortable with every aspect of what they are doing.
Incidentally, tomorrow I also plan to do a speed-run with the actors. Now, I picked up a phrase when I was working in Canada that I use to describe this. I call it 'an Italian' - and in Vancouver and Toronto everyone understands what this means. However, whenever I have used this phrase with British actors they always look at me like dogs that have been shown a card trick - i.e. blankly. To prove that I didn't make this up - I scoured the internet to find a reliable source that describes an Italian, and I found it. According to the Tupelo Community Theatre (who I'm sure to some people, somewhere, are the last word in theatrical terminology), an Italian is "a rehearsal in which the actors deliver their lines and perform the action at a much higher rate of speed, usually trying to run the rehearsal at "double time". Used to help with the common problem of slow or dragging pacing. Once the actors have performed at the much faster pace, they often will not return to the problem pace of earlier rehearsals because the pacing will be slower only in relation to the faster pace of the Italian Run-Through. Also referred to as a 'Russian Run-Through'."
In honour of 'the Italian' I present this below clip - courtesy of Maury Povich, a kind of American Jeremy Kyle with more turtle necked tops, and less lairyness...
Oh, I nearly forgot - there's a nice preview for the show in this week's Venue Magazine. If you're too stingy to pay £1.50 to buy a copy, or if you don't live in Bristol - here's what it says:
Violent death last summer, mental illness and incarceration this time around… Bristol’s Plain Clothes Theatre clearly aren’t out to give us an easy evening’s entertainment. And, on the evidence thus far, so much the better.
Formed in 2003 to perform high-quality writing from the last decade to audiences who wouldn’t otherwise get to see it, Plain Clothes have already toured to London, Toronto and Vancouver. Last year they performed Laura Wade’s death-strewn drama ‘Breathing Corpses’ at the Alma Tavern, and it was the best thing we saw all year: a tight, astonishingly well-acted and constantly surprising evening, full of tragedy, black-as-night comedy and plenty of emotional heft.
They return now with an award-wining play from the pen of Joe Penhall, who scripted the recent film of Ian McEwan’s ‘Enduring Love’. ‘Blue/Orange’ takes place inside a London psychiatric hospital, where an enigmatic patient claims to be the son of an African dictator – a story that soon becomes unnervingly plausible. The two psychiatrists assigned to treat him, a young idealist and a sardonic old hand, disagree violently on what is going to work for their patient. Reviews of the play’s London performances have focused on its mix of uncomfortable laughter and troubling thoughts on mental illness and how we deal with its sufferers.
In its investigations into the darker recesses of the human mind, and how these can make us behave towards each other, the play seems to have some echoes of its predecessor. “I suppose it does have something in common with ‘Breathing Corpses’,” Sam agrees. “I’m interested in how people deal with being uncomfortable, unusual situations – it makes for some very interesting explorations in rehearsals, and hopefully challenges the audiences’ ideas of how humans cope with these circumstances.”
Despite the play’s hefty subject matter, Sam hopes that laughter is the main emotion audiences leave with. “Although mental illness and the NHS are central to the play, ‘Blue/Orange’ isn’t really an ‘issues play’. It’s implicitly political in its setting and themes but steers well clear of any agit-prop. It’s more about the relationships of the characters and how they each manipulate one another to achieve their own goals.
“It’s going to be really interesting to see how the audience reacts to the doctors. When I first read the play I thought I could clearly define the good guy and the bad guy. But as we’ve explored the play, it’s become clear that both are doing what they think is right for Christopher, and each of their goals hold some water. It’s ambiguous and thought-provoking, and I think the audience will find the struggle a fascinating part of the play.”
Any comments? E-mail me at sam@plainclothestheatre.com
So, day one of the final week. At the end of last week - as scheduled - we managed to stumble through the play as a whole. As expected, it was a little rough around the edges, but the main thing it did was allow both myself and the actors to identify what areas still needed work, and areas that didn't really make sense anymore. Consequently, we have re-rehearsed a couple of moments and they are now fitting in a lot better. I think this is an important aspect of rehearsing a play - being able to put your hand up and say "that's not working" or "that doesn't make sense anymore. At the end of the day, we want to present a show that is quality from start to finish and to present a show that makes sense: if it doesn't make sense to myself and the cast - a group of individuals who have studied, dissected and analysed the play for two and half weeks (in my case much longer) - then how will it make sense to an audience who know nothing about the play.
We met for a few hours on Saturday. As we are working off-book this week, I was keen to do a line run. It was, admittedly, a little painful at times but again, it hopefully gave the actors some insight into the areas of the play they need to look at in a bit more depth.
This morning, we worked on a couple of the aforementioned parts of the play that didn't work. I think our revisions are now fitting into the play a lot more, although I still think that they can be worked more to give them some truth and relevancy to the actors. It probably needs a few more runs of the play for this to click in - and possibly some further discussion during notes.
Finally today, we ran the whole play again - this time off-book. Again, as expected, it was a little rough around the edges: some dropped lines here and there, some confusion about what an actor was supposed to be doing at a certain point. However, when the lines stuck and the action was understood there were some very engaging moments and it gives me heart for the rest of the week. Already, the actors are doing new things - finding impulses and ideas that can only come when the script is put down and they are able to confront one another within the circumstances that Joe Penhall has provided. And yes, that's very Sanford Meisner, and I know I'm not directing from a strict Meisnerian viewpoint - but in regards to my directorial practice and also my interest in Meisner, I see a clear and direct correlation between the two. I could go off on an ain't-Meisner-great rant now, but I won't - it's late after all!
As per the stumble-through, we were again able to identify a number of moments that are still not working 100%, and we will work on these tomorrow morning before doing another run in the afternoon.
Damn! I was only going to write a short paragraph, (Colin asked me how often I write this blog today and I told him not enough - so I'm going to try to be a better blogger for the rest of the rehearsals and performances...but I'm not promising anything!) but it appears I've done a bit more than that.
Now, I was going to put another video clip at the end of this entry, and it was going to be a clip from the sycophantic, back-slapping, lickspitting lovey-fest that is Inside The Actor's Studio. However I got so annoyed at all the clips I found - Kevin Spacey being egged on by James Lipton, the brownose king, to do impressions of movie stars being the most cringe-worthy of them all (and that's saying something) that I am, in protest putting up something brainless and funny - the best anti-piracy advert ever: courtesy of The IT Crowd.
Any comments? E-mail me at sam@plainclothestheatre.com
Been a few days since I last wrote - the reason? I've been busy. Rehearsals have been going well and I've been spending much of my evenings putting together either things for the next days rehearsals, or tweaking this website - the production information page is now pretty much up to date.
So today we rehearsed the end of the final scene - i.e. we have rehearsed the whole play. The last couple of days have been particularly good - it seems that everyone has started to bond, and that a new sense of trust and collaboration has entered the rehearsal room. People are trying things out, and I continue to encourage the actors to experiments and go with the impulse they have there and then (very Meisnerian!).
We had the company photographer, Marc Aaron, a few days ago and he's taken some really nice photos. I've posted six up below, and I will endeavour to put more up over the next few days.
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When I was training at Goldsmiths, I remember one of my tutors telling me that the art of directing is actually in saying very little, and I really saw this in action today with Chris T and Colin rehearsing one of the very last scenes - it is also the 'most dramatic'. Rather than give a lot of notes on objectives or subtext, I just let the actors get on with it. And it was great! I think one of the things that is really important when directing is that you have to have a level of trust in the actors you are working with. You also need to accept that once you are in the rehearsal room the play is no longer yours - it is a collaborative effort and everyone's point of view needs to be taken as valid, and everyone's ideas should be at least given a go. With the above example, the actors instinctively knew what they were doing, what was being said and what their characters were trying to achieve. With the just a couple of minor tweaks the scene flew. It's also one of those scenes that I occasionally come across in rehearsal that seem virtually complete within an hour of getting it on its feet. However, experience tells me that we may yet have to come back to it, examine it and refine it...but we shall see.
In others news, voice-over legend Don LaFontaine has died (click here for a full story). Who, you might ask. The answer is, any film trailer that you have ever seen that begins with a gruff American accent and the words "In a world where..." - more likely than not, it's Fontaine. In tribute, here's a video clip:
And here's a piss-take by comedian Pablo Francisco:
Any comments? E-mail me at sam@plainclothestheatre.com
Today is the the third day of rehearsal, and it's been going well. As always when I'm directing I follow roughly the same procedure. Day one is taken up with introductions, a brief summation of what I think of the play and my working methods, a read-through, a design brief and then discussion about the play and the characters therein.
This is probably the first play I've directed where undertaking a considerable amount of research is imperative to getting to understanding the play. Hence, since I last wrote an entry, I've been doing a whole lot of reading on mental health - both the various illnesses that are mentioned in the play, and also how the NHS classifies and deals with people who are suffering from such conditions.
For me, this research period has been a real joy. I've always undertaken some research so that I know about what various references mean, and how a certain period in time was, etc; but with 'Blue/Orange' I've had to dig much deeper. Why? Because both I and the actors need to connect with the truth of their characters, and when you have a discussion of 'Type 1 Schizophrenia', 'Borderline Personality Disorder' or the 'ICD 10' it really counts that we all know what these mean, and what impact it has on each of the characters in the play. For the most part, I have relied heavily on Wikipedia, possibly one of the greatest website around. Whereas something like Google is good for generic searches, Wikipedia's strength is that when you are after something very specific, it nine-times-out-of-ten will have exactly what you're after. The long and short - I love it. Both as a tool for directorial research, and also as a tool for procrastination!
Yesterday, and for the morning today, we have been breaking the scene in units (for further information on this concept, see my blog for 'Breathing Corpses'). Due to the considerable length of the play, this has taken some time, but I believe that we now have a solid infrastructure to work from. The units work has also allowed us to explore all of the elements that I have researched; in doing so, we have also discovered more points that need exploration - something that I have undertaken during the evenings.
This afternoon we began 'floor work' - i.e. putting the play on its feet. What struck me is how useful the units work and discussion period has been. Sure, it has been a bit of a slog spending nearly twelve hours discussing and dissecting a play of no more than two hours - but even in the few hours that we rehearsed this afternoon, it feels like the play already has a base, and an understanding from the actors of what they are doing.
Unusually, we rehearsed the play out of chronological order - mainly due to Chris Bianci been out tomorrow morning, and I thought it would be useful, as we had all the actors present, to work on scenes where they are all present. This went well - although the actors felt that sometimes they were not quite sure why they were where they were. I think this will be rectified when we rehearse the missing sections of the scene. Or, at very least, illustrate what needs further examination in a clearer light.
One last comment on my technique - I've been teaching Meisner Acting Technique for most of this year and its interesting what I can use, and what I can't when working with actors who are not necessarily turned on to the technique (Chris Tester is trained, but the other Chris and Colin Dunkley are, to my knowledge, not). It strikes me that some of the technique is esoteric and one needs to train in it to understand it. However, much of it is universal and if, as I believe I am, you are working with talented, create performers much of the terminology, ideas and practice of what Meisner taught can be tranferred to those who have no idea who Sanford Meisner is.
Tomorrow, we continue on Act One, and will hopefully stumble through it by the end of the day. The long and short - just under a half of the play will be sketched out and be ready to tweak next week. Not a bad place to end the first week.
I discovered that the BBC made a film of Joe Penhall's play. Here's an extract if you can't wait for our production.
Any comments? E-mail me at sam@plainclothestheatre.com
So, a new production is on its way. I'm writing this with just over a week to go before we start rehearsals; however, the pre-production process has been on-going for nearly a year now. This time has been taken up with two main elements - the first has been booking of the tour which has been mainly in the hands of our producer, Rachel McNally. The first thing that came as a surprise to me was the fact that the tour would not be linear in the sense that we go to one venue, pack up, then go to the next. In fact, the tour spans over two months even though our performances only take up about two and half weeks of this time. Whilst not being a problem in any way, it will be interesting to see how the actors cope with this dipping in and out of performance.
The other taker of time has been funding applications, where once again failed to secure any. It's a funny old world - I would have thought that with the company winning Best Play last year, the transferral to the Cheltenham Everyman and the extremely good audience turn out that we would have had a very good chance of getting some money from the Arts Council. Wrong. It's a complicated process, and the Arts Council's remit is a specific one. I'm still awaiting their comments on the actual reasons why we weren't awarded funding, but the long and short was that we were perceived not to be engaging the audience enough.
Other pre-production activities have included the obvious auditioning of actors - we have our cast and I'm really looking forward to working with them. All our A-list said yes, which is great news. I will be posting their information, along with the rest of the production crew, over the next few days on the productions page. I'm also working with a new designer this year - Danielle Bassett - and her preliminary sketches and ideas look really interesting. Unfortunately, she's working in Germany until a week or so before the show goes up so she won't be with us at the start of rehearsals. However, I have drawings and a model box, so the actors have something to work with.
Finally, I'd like to share with you a small part of the trials and tribulations of running a small, independent theatre company: I was writing a moment ago about set. Part of the set is a large carpet. Danielle bought the carpet before she went away and having nowhere to store it, it is now a semi-permanent feature of my flat - lying from my living room across the hallway and into my bathroom. Click the (fascinating) image below for a clearer insight! You'll notice that this image 'pops-up' in a new feature called LightBox that we'll be rolling out across the site in the imminent future.
Any comments? E-mail me at sam@plainclothestheatre.com
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