Wednesday 29th May
Cast and creatives met today for the first time since the auditions at the start of May. There has been a long build up to this RND week and there was a general sense that everyone had been looking forward to getting going with the project.
We wanted to use these three intensive days to allow the cast to become really familiar with how we wanted to work and also with each other. Our focus’ will be :
- ENSEMBLE
- STORY TELLING
- PLAY
The cast is a healthy mixture of people that we have worked with/ never worked with before. I have learnt that this is the nicest way to go (if possible), as the new actors bring fresh things to the table and the actors you are familiar with, are familiar with you and will help speed up the process.
Jon lead the initial hour at the start which was dedicated to exercises which promoted ensemble work. We warmed up and then set up some trust – tasks which meant that actors had to get close quickly. Some of these were:
- Jumping at the same time
- Clapping at the same time
- Group knotting and untying yourselves
- Group knotting and then moving across the room
Our table read through then lasted took up most of the session. Im not a huge fan of read throughs, especially if the text is not something that everyone finds accessible. So in order to keep it productive we did it scene by scene and then recapped the story/ major themes and discussed any character developments and decisions.
As the actors will never be “off-stage” and mutli-role, we wanted them to get a sense of how quick these changes were. We decided that when you were “acting” in the scene you were sat at the table; otherwise you would be standing and contribute by listening. We gave each character their own chair to provide clarity as to who was involved.
This session was hugely helpful. We had not heard a full run through of the lines and discussed sections which needed editting. We have managed to cut the character of LE BEAU out by delivering his news in the form of a letter which Celia reads. Touchstone will then give Le Beau’s warning to Orlando to leave (after the wrestling match). The decision to do this was so that we keep the story flowing and not to allow any opportunity to confuse the audience.
As YOU Like it 