Tomorrow I am running a directing workshop as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre's Inspace Program. If I'm honest I don't really know how to go about teaching directing, never have had any formal directing training myself. I want to use the time to investigate ways of communicating with actors and how to work with them to develop a scene. I also want to use the time that we have with six other creative people in the room to generate new ideas, ways of looking at scenes that we are working on. I want it to benefit our rehearsal process. We all need to get something out of it. Actors included.
I have been reflecting on my directing process and what is clear is that it changes from project to project. I also know that my training at the CPA has really influenced the way I navigate a text, I often ask what are you trying to do to the other character? What do you want? Moment by moment what do you want? Maybe we need to do more of this.......
I also believe that directing is about intuiting - staying alive and open to what is happening in the moment, on the floor and knowing when something is working, and when it is not.
It is about so much more too. It is about ensuring the rythym of the text is kept to, it is about working with designers, stage management, it is about understanding actors needs, telling a story to an audience, problem solving, team building, expressing yourself clearly, it is political and personal. I have realised that I respond much better to seeing or hearing something, than hearing about something. This is probably a frustrating for people that I work with. I sometimes find it easier to know when something is not right than when it is right.
I am noticing over this project that each time we look at a scene I see many new ways of staging it - this freaks me out a bit. We can't keep "trying things out".
We worked quite intensely today on about 12 pages with the focus of getting the actors to learn their lines. We then broke the scenes down into small sections, read them around the table and kept going back over each part until the lines were learnt, then we moved it again. This was at times frustrating for the actors, but they did really well and it was successful.
Something I have observed over the last couple of days is that when the actors have had a specific task to focus on ie yesterday Helen Tiller was working with them on accents, and today the focus was lines, the sense of the scenes were rediscovered, an uncluttered simple truth was brought back to them.
I'm tired now. I have just had a 3 hour lighting meeting. We didn't resolve anything. But know what we need to resolve. So I guess that's a start. Some of the ways I described what I wanted with lighting were: Fractured, sharp, cold, electric, tense, jaggered, arresting, flickering, dangerous.
I need to resolve the convention for scene changes and very soon. There are a lot of them. The question I need to resolve is do the actors stay as their characters through scene changes or do they become actors.....Can this convention change in the final scene change??
I will sleep on it - I'm sleeping on a lot of things at the moment!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Making decisions and problem solving
I realise I've got to make some decisions and quickly - but the answers aren't coming to me. They are predominantly to do with the use of the space but also to do with style vs reality. How much should our non-naturalistic setting influence prop and furniture aesthetic? Is it odd to have created a space that is stylised but then to use branded cans, baked beans, chilli etc. How far do we take the aesthetic of the set through the rest of the piece?
The scene change into the final act of play is tricky. I am really grappling with how to make this change smooth and quick and in keeping with the style rest of the play - however the story changes locations and the script talks about the presence of another character in this final part. It wasn't sitting right with me, the idea of introducing a non-speaking character, to what has been a powerful piece of story telling with two actors. I can see why the part was written - but when I contacted Dennis today - he said he'd even forgotten that he'd written this character, and that he had never seen one production with this character present. The presence of this character will probably help us achieve a seamless scene change, but this shouldn't really be a deciding factor in keeping the character in the play.
I am looking forward to the run we are doing tomorrow, which will give a clearer picture of where the holes are, where we need to focus our attention. We have a lot to achieve this week. It feels as though the piece will go to that next level when the actors can have their scripts out of hand. I also know though that after the run tomorrow I may make some changes in relation to the trunk, which will change the blocking for the actors. I need to make some decisions and stick to them soon. Might I add that Dennis also said the original production did away with the trunk too!!
Tomorrow Helen Tiller will join us for a couple of hours to help the actors with their accents.
The scene change into the final act of play is tricky. I am really grappling with how to make this change smooth and quick and in keeping with the style rest of the play - however the story changes locations and the script talks about the presence of another character in this final part. It wasn't sitting right with me, the idea of introducing a non-speaking character, to what has been a powerful piece of story telling with two actors. I can see why the part was written - but when I contacted Dennis today - he said he'd even forgotten that he'd written this character, and that he had never seen one production with this character present. The presence of this character will probably help us achieve a seamless scene change, but this shouldn't really be a deciding factor in keeping the character in the play.
I am looking forward to the run we are doing tomorrow, which will give a clearer picture of where the holes are, where we need to focus our attention. We have a lot to achieve this week. It feels as though the piece will go to that next level when the actors can have their scripts out of hand. I also know though that after the run tomorrow I may make some changes in relation to the trunk, which will change the blocking for the actors. I need to make some decisions and stick to them soon. Might I add that Dennis also said the original production did away with the trunk too!!
Tomorrow Helen Tiller will join us for a couple of hours to help the actors with their accents.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wanking, a chain and a trunk!
I had every intention of writing daily, but it hasn't happened. Consumed by directing, producing and production managing. We are at the end of week two of rehearsals, having done a first run through on Tuesday. Hannah called the run through "After the End - the Cloud Street version" Cloud Street was a 6 hour show that Belvoir Street performed some time ago - brilliant. Our run went for 2 hours ten - it felt longer - the show will be 90 minutes.
I've had some unique conversations over the week. The character of Mark wanks whilst talking to himself, comes, cries and wanks again, still crying. I've never talked an actor through a wanking scene before or given a demonstration of what I thought it could be! I felt a bit shy even though it was my partner Nick, who is playing Mark, who I was talking it through with......
I've been struggling with the trunk since the run. Everything in the shelter is in a trunk, that is chained and locked. The writer has written that it lives under the bunks...but this doesn't work for our show - everytime the actors have to get something out of it the audience is going to get backs and bums. And why is it chained and locked? What type of chain is it? Is the trunk chained to something? I'd had the actors moving it around the space, as needed per scene...but this didn't seem to work either....we've had it fixed down stage centre and now off to the side! I really want to crack it - where it is, how it gets used and what it looks like. It has to store tins of food, rice, a gas cooker, dungeons and dragons, apples, energy bars, first aid, water, plates, mugs...there is a lot to fit in there!
Rehearsals are tiring for the actors - they are on their feet for nearly 8 hours...just the two of them. I am going to reconsider the structure of the rehearsals so they aren't working at such an intense level for such a long time. They are very generous. I'm going to schedule in some character work into rehearsals - the piece really lends itself to the actors being able to create fully fledged characters - and to know them profoundly.
I've just written to Dennis Kelly (oh the joys of working on a living writer's play) about an interpretation of one particular line. We've come up with 2 possible interpretations - both which work - but want to know what he thinks the character's thoughts are. The line consists of three unfinished thoughts.
It was funny today, we were shaping a scene, and trying different options. Nick said "I feel really cramped here", and I moved the table slightly. Then when I sat down I thought - 'hang on, isn't that a good thing...it is a nuclear shelter'. The playing space is a 5m circle. So yes you would feel cramped. The use of the space and how the space makes the actors feel is important.
Imagine being locked up in a bunker for two weeks!
I've had some unique conversations over the week. The character of Mark wanks whilst talking to himself, comes, cries and wanks again, still crying. I've never talked an actor through a wanking scene before or given a demonstration of what I thought it could be! I felt a bit shy even though it was my partner Nick, who is playing Mark, who I was talking it through with......
I've been struggling with the trunk since the run. Everything in the shelter is in a trunk, that is chained and locked. The writer has written that it lives under the bunks...but this doesn't work for our show - everytime the actors have to get something out of it the audience is going to get backs and bums. And why is it chained and locked? What type of chain is it? Is the trunk chained to something? I'd had the actors moving it around the space, as needed per scene...but this didn't seem to work either....we've had it fixed down stage centre and now off to the side! I really want to crack it - where it is, how it gets used and what it looks like. It has to store tins of food, rice, a gas cooker, dungeons and dragons, apples, energy bars, first aid, water, plates, mugs...there is a lot to fit in there!
Rehearsals are tiring for the actors - they are on their feet for nearly 8 hours...just the two of them. I am going to reconsider the structure of the rehearsals so they aren't working at such an intense level for such a long time. They are very generous. I'm going to schedule in some character work into rehearsals - the piece really lends itself to the actors being able to create fully fledged characters - and to know them profoundly.
I've just written to Dennis Kelly (oh the joys of working on a living writer's play) about an interpretation of one particular line. We've come up with 2 possible interpretations - both which work - but want to know what he thinks the character's thoughts are. The line consists of three unfinished thoughts.
It was funny today, we were shaping a scene, and trying different options. Nick said "I feel really cramped here", and I moved the table slightly. Then when I sat down I thought - 'hang on, isn't that a good thing...it is a nuclear shelter'. The playing space is a 5m circle. So yes you would feel cramped. The use of the space and how the space makes the actors feel is important.
Imagine being locked up in a bunker for two weeks!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thanks Adelaide Festival Centre
Oh I am so glad that Adelaide Festival Centre's Inspace program has supported this project by providing us with an airconditioned rehearsal room! I think I have 24 hour access -so if this weather doesn't get cooler - we'll be "rehearsing" 247. It was 45.7 degrees in Adelaide today! Thanks AFC - who knows where we might have ended up without you!
How would you feel knowing a nuclear bomb has gone off and most, if not all, of your friends could be dead? This is how the play starts.......Mark (Nick Pelomis) telling Louise (Hannah Norris) what as happened as she wakes to find herself four foot underground in his nuclear fallout shelter - A vivid detailed description of their journey to the shelter inluding a shocking image of a burnt woman trying to lift herself off the ground and a piece of her elbow falling off.
I struggled at times today - finding the right balance of wanting the actors play and explore - go with their intuitions, make their own discoveries and knowing when it was time to stop and go back over a detail, a beat, a tone. It is a lot of work for them. On stage the whole time - in rehearsals the whole time - either talking or listening to one another. I admire them. The actual shape of the scenes that we have worked on have formed really quickly - and we ran the first act (of 4) at the end of the day. I've probably said it before and I'll say it again. It is a very intense piece, with few moments of release. They are trapped in a 5meter circle. They can't get away from each other. They are very different people thrown togoether in a very tense situation. They have diffferent political beliefs - they see the world very differently. They are opposing and in some way conflicting through most of play. We must find the nuances of this tension, chart the build - consider the piece as a whole and the arc of the play. Of course we can only look at the piece as a whole once we have built it - pieced it together. This is also when the actors can experience their character's journey in the entire piece.
I realise that I ask a lot of questions - try to understand an actors choice first - before suggesting or guiding them in a diffferent direction (if needed). I also believe that good actors bring different perspectives to a moment, as they are living it - even if they haven't made a strong choice either way about something before running a scene, a moment - if they are alive and present, listening and reacting, then they are usually right.
First runs of scenes, script in hand, managing props, discovering character, becoming aware of the space, exploring new accents and trying to find a truth in what you are doing is tough work. Today Hannah and Nick did all this and more.
How would you feel knowing a nuclear bomb has gone off and most, if not all, of your friends could be dead? This is how the play starts.......Mark (Nick Pelomis) telling Louise (Hannah Norris) what as happened as she wakes to find herself four foot underground in his nuclear fallout shelter - A vivid detailed description of their journey to the shelter inluding a shocking image of a burnt woman trying to lift herself off the ground and a piece of her elbow falling off.
I struggled at times today - finding the right balance of wanting the actors play and explore - go with their intuitions, make their own discoveries and knowing when it was time to stop and go back over a detail, a beat, a tone. It is a lot of work for them. On stage the whole time - in rehearsals the whole time - either talking or listening to one another. I admire them. The actual shape of the scenes that we have worked on have formed really quickly - and we ran the first act (of 4) at the end of the day. I've probably said it before and I'll say it again. It is a very intense piece, with few moments of release. They are trapped in a 5meter circle. They can't get away from each other. They are very different people thrown togoether in a very tense situation. They have diffferent political beliefs - they see the world very differently. They are opposing and in some way conflicting through most of play. We must find the nuances of this tension, chart the build - consider the piece as a whole and the arc of the play. Of course we can only look at the piece as a whole once we have built it - pieced it together. This is also when the actors can experience their character's journey in the entire piece.
I realise that I ask a lot of questions - try to understand an actors choice first - before suggesting or guiding them in a diffferent direction (if needed). I also believe that good actors bring different perspectives to a moment, as they are living it - even if they haven't made a strong choice either way about something before running a scene, a moment - if they are alive and present, listening and reacting, then they are usually right.
First runs of scenes, script in hand, managing props, discovering character, becoming aware of the space, exploring new accents and trying to find a truth in what you are doing is tough work. Today Hannah and Nick did all this and more.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Revealing - Day 2
Analysing a script with a group of people can reveal not only so much about the underlying themes of a play but also so much about the individuals who are contributing to the discussion. As you try to identify with characters’ feelings and motives there are times you draw on your own experiences to make a point clearer – make the rest of the group understand where you are coming from. Even if you do not vocalise what you are feeling, or memories that you have in relation to what you are discussing, it becomes personal. In some ways deeply personal as you consider your own politics, your own demons, your own life experience – our views on life shaped by our past and our own individual journey in this world.
I am not particularly guarded when it comes to talking about myself, or using an example from my life to demonstrate a point – but if an actor I am sharing with this hasn’t had the same experience – then I wonder if it is of any use. It is probably more useful for them to draw on an experience from their own life. But then again today’s discussions demonstrated that you can learn things from stories and hearing other people’s perspectives.
It is a bleak play. I have to create a very safe rehearsal space for the actors. The piece does require the actors to go to very dark places, physically, emotionally and mentally.
Great theatre for me is when I learn something about the human psyche that I hadn’t previously considered or see the world from a different perspective. Whilst these characters on some level seem very familiar, how they react and behave under the play’s circumstances are not. Today we will begin to do more detailed work on the piece. I am undecided as to whether to begin a general shaping of the play and then go over all the details, the moments, or whether what this piece actually requires is it to be built moment by moment. I will start the day with a very useful technique that I observed Mike Bradwell use when we were rehearsing Little Baby Nothing, at The Bush. It allows the actors to instinctively explore the stage space. The director reads every line of the play whilst the actors are on stage. The actors move as they believe they would, navigating their way through the play and the space, without scripts in hand. I have used this exercise before and surprisingly it blocks the play without having to block it.
I am not particularly guarded when it comes to talking about myself, or using an example from my life to demonstrate a point – but if an actor I am sharing with this hasn’t had the same experience – then I wonder if it is of any use. It is probably more useful for them to draw on an experience from their own life. But then again today’s discussions demonstrated that you can learn things from stories and hearing other people’s perspectives.
It is a bleak play. I have to create a very safe rehearsal space for the actors. The piece does require the actors to go to very dark places, physically, emotionally and mentally.
Great theatre for me is when I learn something about the human psyche that I hadn’t previously considered or see the world from a different perspective. Whilst these characters on some level seem very familiar, how they react and behave under the play’s circumstances are not. Today we will begin to do more detailed work on the piece. I am undecided as to whether to begin a general shaping of the play and then go over all the details, the moments, or whether what this piece actually requires is it to be built moment by moment. I will start the day with a very useful technique that I observed Mike Bradwell use when we were rehearsing Little Baby Nothing, at The Bush. It allows the actors to instinctively explore the stage space. The director reads every line of the play whilst the actors are on stage. The actors move as they believe they would, navigating their way through the play and the space, without scripts in hand. I have used this exercise before and surprisingly it blocks the play without having to block it.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Day 1
I felt the most relaxed I've felt for a long time today - being back in a rehearsal room, surrounded by a small team of artists, ready to bring Dennis Kelly's script to life. I've been living with this play since July 2005, when I saw the original Paines Plough/Bush Theatre production performed at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. I remember vividly how I felt after seeing it - although the details of the production are now a little cloudy, I remember thinking I want to direct this play. I was certain of this. Not because I thought I could do it better, or produce an entirely different interpretation, but because I wanted the opportunity to work with 2 actors on such an intimate and powerful work. I was mesmerised by the performances I saw and capitivated by the story - I still had questions unanswered as I left the theatre, which made for a fascinating discussion the following day at work. It was actually more of a heated discussion than I had imagined it would be. I had wrongly assumed that my co-workers would have also been blown away by the production. This was not so. There were a few who were repulsed. Others loved it. I thought it was one of the best pieces of work I had seen since I had been living in the UK.
I feel alive tonight. I have spent the last two years working as the Artistic Director of Adelaide's Feast Festival, providing a platform for other people to make art. Creating art is an entirely different experience which has so obviously been missing from my life over the last two years.
I didn't have any "day one of rehearsal nerves" and felt as prepared as I could be. I have assembled a very talented team of people to work with, all who brought new and interesting ideas to the table. Wendy Todd, the set designer, arrived with the set model box - and this made me smile from ear to ear....really...I was thrilled to see it. After some months of developing the design for the show we had to rethink our initial ideas last week - due to budgetary constraints - and I'm glad we did - as this design captures the essence of what I want the audiences to see and the actors to feel - it is claustrophobic, clinical, cold, sparse....it confines the actors - protecting them and trapping them simultaneously.
The play is set in a nuclear fall out shelter. Within the shelter there are bunks, a table, a chair and a trunk. My challenge at the moment is to discover where the bunks work best in the space. I still need to play around with where the furniture is placed. Something I will experiment with when the actors are up on their feet.
We are working through the script, filling back stories, working out the time-line of the piece, clarifying character motivations, discussing the politics of the piece, and the time, discovering the rythym of the text. The actors are making strong choices in accents and their first read today confirmed my faith in their abilities and the strength of the writing. It was great to hear other people laughing at the script.
I'm also producing the work - so I am getting a little obsessed with ticket sales, and am checking sales reports far to often. Tonight I went to write up a letter to accompany a direct marketing mail out about the play....but that felt too much like what I do in my other job.......800 tickets to sell...that's my target.
Bring on tomorrow I say!
I feel alive tonight. I have spent the last two years working as the Artistic Director of Adelaide's Feast Festival, providing a platform for other people to make art. Creating art is an entirely different experience which has so obviously been missing from my life over the last two years.
I didn't have any "day one of rehearsal nerves" and felt as prepared as I could be. I have assembled a very talented team of people to work with, all who brought new and interesting ideas to the table. Wendy Todd, the set designer, arrived with the set model box - and this made me smile from ear to ear....really...I was thrilled to see it. After some months of developing the design for the show we had to rethink our initial ideas last week - due to budgetary constraints - and I'm glad we did - as this design captures the essence of what I want the audiences to see and the actors to feel - it is claustrophobic, clinical, cold, sparse....it confines the actors - protecting them and trapping them simultaneously.
The play is set in a nuclear fall out shelter. Within the shelter there are bunks, a table, a chair and a trunk. My challenge at the moment is to discover where the bunks work best in the space. I still need to play around with where the furniture is placed. Something I will experiment with when the actors are up on their feet.
We are working through the script, filling back stories, working out the time-line of the piece, clarifying character motivations, discussing the politics of the piece, and the time, discovering the rythym of the text. The actors are making strong choices in accents and their first read today confirmed my faith in their abilities and the strength of the writing. It was great to hear other people laughing at the script.
I'm also producing the work - so I am getting a little obsessed with ticket sales, and am checking sales reports far to often. Tonight I went to write up a letter to accompany a direct marketing mail out about the play....but that felt too much like what I do in my other job.......800 tickets to sell...that's my target.
Bring on tomorrow I say!
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