Category Archives: Rehearsals

Snow And Wardrobes, But No Narnia In Sight

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It’s all systems go for “An Evening at Muldoon Manor“ or should that be all systems snow?

The UK weather has meant rehearsals have been postponed but we’re hoping for an intense weekend of rehearsals ahead, so we’re on schedule.

We went and got our costumes sorted last weekend, it’s always fun rummaging around, trying costumes on and finding what you feel your character should wear, we’ve gone for a 1970′s look for my character Moon and the other critic Birdboot. So I’ve some gorgeous checked flares to wear and shoes that will I feel go down into the theatrical annals as “legendary”.

The second cabaret act is coming along too, Dominick Zwolinski has been busy working on new tricks and finally managed to source an outfit for his assistant this week, you’d never believe how hard a magician’s assistant costume that was appropriate and suitable was to locate.

All this has meant I’ve not been to the theatre to see anything yet this year, (apart from The Exorcism but I was Production Assistant for that, so that doesn’t count!), that’ll all change this Friday when I’m off to the London International Mime Festival to see Gandini Juggling. Review will follow at the weekend.

 

‘Tis the Season to Be Busy

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Hi,

I didn’t get to post last week, sorry.

I’m currently busy acting as Production Assistant for The Exorcism, which opens at the Miller Centre Theatre, Caterham on 3rd January 2013.

I’m also involved as producer for The Real Inspector Hound which opens at the Bridewell Theatre, London on February 20th. I’m also in that production playing the character Moon, so am busy learning my lines like crazy.

Added to this, my final college module starts in January, it’s entitled The Director’s Story, so I’ve been doing a bit of preliminary reading. (I’m also hoping to direct my first play in 2014, so this’ll module comes along at just the right time). I’m also in the process of getting my research area confirmed for my dissertation that begins next year too. So 2013 will be a “heads in the books” year for sure.

I am going to a few shows in December, so reviews will follow shortly.

I hope your Christmas preparations, be they familial or theatrical are going well.

Dominic

 

 

Line learning, Paracetamol, Lucozade and the Long Road of Rehearsing.

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I’ve not written about the current play I’m rehearsing yet. Primarily as I’ve been busy rehearsing!

I’m playing the character Joe in Shelagh Stephenson’s play The Long Road. It’s an intense play looking at the issue of forgiveness and examines how a family reacts to the murder of their son. My character Joe, is the brother of Dan who has been murdered.

The poster encapsulates the blood, sweat and tears rehearsing can be.

I’m finding it a real challenge as the play has a couple of monologues for each character and these are particularly emotional and so getting the balance right is hard. As we don’t want to go over the top, but also we’re trying not to reign in the emotions too much either.

I’ve come down with a bit of a cold (“Man Up!!” I hear you cry!), and so am relying on paracetamol and Lucozade to get me through this afternoon’s rehearsal. I’m pleased that the rehearsal process has been great fun so far. The cast is only 5 of us, we’ve bonded well and even though it is a serious play we’ve been able to have some laughs as we’ve rehearsed it, which I think has been necessary otherwise I think we’d get depressed.

I have a feeling the director is going to push us hard this afternoon, and that’s no bad thing, in fact it’s the part of the rehearsal process I enjoy the most, as the sense of achievement you have once you’ve stretched yourself is one of the things I like the most about acting.

I must dash and work on my lines now though.

TTFN

(it’s on from 18th – 27th October, tickets can be bought here )

Rehearsals, the blood, sweat and tears (more often from laughter) the audience never sees

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Myself and Alex Wakeham rehearsing A Few Good Men earlier this year

Rehearsals commenced for the next production I’m involved in, The Matchgirls, last night, it was great to finally get stuck in, after knowing for a couple of months I had got the part of George Bernard Shaw.

I love the rehearsal period of a production, it’s a time of discovering more about the play, yourself and each other and the camaraderie developed in productions is like nothing else. This show has a large cast of varying ages and abilities, but I got a good “vibe” from everyone last night, that I think bodes well for the rehearsals and more importantly the actual production.

I always feel a bit miffed that the audience of a production only ever see the final product. They never get to see how that came to be. The creative process of taking a script (and score in this case too), and realising that on the stage is what fascinates me about the theatrical process. Currently on TV in the UK is the programme Strictly Come Dancing and while I enjoy seeing the Saturday night dance, I love seeing the video of the couples rehearsing and training the week prior to the show, to see how they and the dance has developed, from just an idea in the choreographers head to a stunning (or not in some cases) piece of dance on the Saturday night.

My role in The Matchgirls isn’t a huge one, and so it’ll give me time to sit back and observe the rehearsal process and hopefully assist others as and when applicable. It can be a very draining experience rehearsing, physically, mentally and emotionally, but it’s necessary for us to push ourselves in order to put on a good piece of theatre.

This will also be the first time I’ve played an historical person on stage too, and one who himself was a playwright makes for quite a unique opportunity. I enjoy his writing and actually feel quite chuffed to be portraying one of my literary inspirations on stage. I’m fortunate as he’s the same age as me in this play, and so I had a look online to see if there were any photos of him from this era of his life and this is what I found;

So I have some work to do in the beard department! However I do like his suit and look forward to being kitted out in something similar.

As the process develops I’ll log some of my observations here, and hope to see some of you at the production in February. (tickets are released at the end of December)