It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

Tonight at rehearsal I was such a btich! We have a dance number in the play that a few of the actors are not committing to. One of the problems is that it has a slow melody but a fast beat and they are trying to dance to the beat rather than the melody. So, whilst we were waiting for some of the actors to show up - lateness is still a problem - I played the musce on repeat. Myself and two of my actors - the two that are committing the most to the production - started danicing to the music - a very natural response for me. After dancing for a bit, I taught one of the actors some diaphragm stretches and the other actor came over to join us. Afterwards, she told me she did so tacitly entice the others to join in; I intentionally did not tell them that they should get up and move since I was waiting to see hot long it took them to get bored of sitting around doing nothing. Eventually, I stopped the music to have a wee hissy-fit at them for wasting time. I also told them they shouldn't have to be told what to do since they are adults and they are all experienced enough to know that they need to warm up. Throughout the rest of rehearsal I thought I was being a bitch - which I was.

Oddly, however, I don't like being a bitchy director. Although I think I become too much of a friend to the cast. I need to find the middle-ground and be authoritative without being too bitchy. In this situation, I was so exasperted at the cst for constantly coming to rehearsals late and then - when they finally arrived - not working independently but needing to constantly have my eye on them. I realise that rehearsals do not go the way I plan them, but I am often caught on the fly because I have to suddenly changed my plans to make the best use of those actors that actually show up. I am aslo concious that I call a full-cast rehearsal and don't use dome actors because we get stuck into a scene that we didn't plan to do because someone was late or - even worse - didn't show up at all that we don't get to do the parts which need doing.

I also made the cast be off-book tonight. I had previously told them we wouldn't be doing this until Sunday but have since realised that this would be leaving it far too late. Most of them took to the idea but some were more resistant - we did have a prompt available. In this, again, I was flexible. One actor came upt to me when I said we would be rehearsing her scene and - very passive-agressively - asked me if we could not as she didn't know the lines at all. I gave her the option of reading the lines before we rehearsed the scene; she gratefully accepted this offer. I am just a bit frustrated that the actors aren't being flexible enough and are putting up too much resistance. Having said this, they did work a lot better after my little hissy-fit.