Progressing...

Today I had a meeting with my supervisor and the head of Theatre Studies programme about my masters for next year. It is fantastic that they both are really excited about my project. One resounding good thing to come out of the meeting was that I have already prepared with my 453. Because I have already done something similar before, I am forewarned about the pitfalls I may face so have some idea of how to stave said pitfalls off before they arise.

I am particularly aware of what happens when I start the rehearsal process too early. I remember with my 453 that I went into the rehearsals before I had done enough of the background research. This meant that I was not aptly prepared for apprehending the process properly; this is something I am eager to avoid with my MA.

Gobe's Programme for 2009

I would like to see the Globe Theatre not pay out the large amounts we have in royalties previously next year. It seems to me as if we should be focussing on plays that are out of copyright - Shakespeare, Restoration Comedies, Victorian Melodrama - or new plays by local playrights. I think it would make a really fun programme.

Should We Put Action in Gradually?

The play is becoming a bit stale. Some of the actors are simply doing the same thing over and over without experimenting and trying something new. I just gave them some advice this evening – also because they have tomorrow night off and I don't want then to lose the show totally and so come to performance on Tuesday and have difficulty getting back into it.

Hector's hand- gestures are also getting a bit out of control. I think it may be a useful thing in future to start with no action at all – i.e. say scenes statically – and then bring the action into it. Thereby we can start with nothing and make sure the actions we introduce are necessary ones. I think we run the risk with The Winter's Tale off getting empty actions proliferating the stage instead of useful actions that are endowed with the emotion of the scene.

Inhabit My Space

I have been reading Anne Bogart's And Then, You Act ostensibly as preparation for my MA but also because it is actually rather good. However, tonight I came across the following passage:

"If you supply a complete world with all the details, then the audience has nothing to do but accept the illusion and become passive" (76).

This comes from the chapter entitled “Magnetism” which examines how fantastic theatre contains empathy, entertainment, ritual, participation, spectacle, education, and alchemy.

This quote resonated with me whilst giving me some approval. I have realised that I usually provide very few of the details. My sets are usually sparse – particularly those for The Maids and The Winter's Tale – which allows the audience to exercise their imaginations to put their own localities onto the sets which they see.

This view of theatre also hints at a way to create productions using queer theory. Since the queer is often a space in the text – the space which is inhabited by those things which it is not polite or too dangerous to talk about – we can use this space on the stage. By dropping some hints that allow the audience to read queer in a production, we can stage things which some members of the audience may not normally be willing to confront. In this way we can subtly work against homophobia in the world rather than challenging it openly and thereby inciting resistance in the audience.

Help the Techies

My techs are finding it difficult to follow the changes in lighting states during the play. I have relatively new techs who don't really understand why the lights are changing. I was thinking today that anyone with theatre experience would understand the philosophy behind technical work. For those that are new I feel it takes a little more time to explain why we change the lights when we do. Particularly during my productions – where the lighting states are very much impressionistic - I need to spend some time explaining to my crew the reasons behind my choices so that they can then understand why they are doing what they are doing and this will, hopefully, make it easier for them to understand how they are to change the lights when they need to.

Understanding the why also helps them feel the times when they need to modify the states ever so sightly if they make a mistake. Perhaps this is something with which I shall have to experiement with some first years next year.