40 walls
Devil is in the detail, most fun when we are going with it.Like the bit where we are not engaging with the audience but operating on the timeline. the jumping from that to story to story teller talking to audience is odd but if handled right could be interesting. I don't know if adding bits was bad idea, just felt that some of it was rather unclear as a story & that the way it was written too selective in terms of types of words. I do think the entry needs to cut my story off almost in mid sentence, should it cue from beginning of last sentence.We felt like.. heroic explorers
40 walls
Cut in almost like the sharp cut in a sketch show.
'And now for something completely different', like another scene being dragged across?
Run Thru
It was good last night. Thanks for the attention to detail, Peth/everyone. The Youngest, in the story, is ignored, but then comes into favour. I loved it that we danced without Linda - even though we had no boxes. I love it that we'll be heard loud and clear, by the audience. Quite like the evolutionary progress from coal, eventually to room 7's books, then to better things. Can't wait for a run thru!
Fences
Want to see Colditz with fences. Does Ed leap over them? It's interesting that we now have to carry bags en route to work. Very realistic. If I have a long string, I can make an outline of the square of my room. The Old Man does not have a notion, every time, of what test he's going to set, and just makes them up! Is the Youngest old enough to find a 'loving companion'?!
What!/Dong
Made a note of the changes made last night. The band plays really loud when the second lift scene taks place - thus, can't hear Sam's phone music, plus his 'what?!' What does Maureen's glove-wearing signify? Why are the gloves worn? Why do we take such an interest in that? Why do we start searching when we do? Why might the text of the story be found on our bodies? Questions, questions! Looking forward to Dong night . . .
Registered User?
I'm abit concerned about this terminology, "registered user". Doctor Theatre..... regular fix, it's all too close to the bone. By the way just to add further 'why' to Mohammads list, why do real jaffa cakes have darker chocolate than Sainsbury's basics?
Ian
Looks like Muhammad & I are dueting on line. Today, Saturday, you like changing things Peth, is this too keep cast on toes or all just result of creative process?
It does seem to have been a more open process & I think this is good. Everything suddenly seems very close...
Come on young uns put something on line!!!
We can do better!
Feeling fatigued at the end of a long session. Somethings seem much clearer, some positive some bad. it does make more sense but familiarity also can breed contempt & we need to be wary of that. Everybody needs to be 100% focused on the story. We have to look as though it is new & marvelous everytime we see it. If we don't it will look naff. We need to know our lines & to be audible the audience won't understand if they can't hear it. They won't get it & they are paying so we need to be as professional as we can be. qwe have to say the lines as though we care about what they mean. If we are jumping fences & trespassing we need to appear scared, remember if we had been caught we could of ended up with a caution from the police or at best a severe telling off from family, in my case a good few slaps would have resulted. People reading the story lines need to sound desperate to know what happens next. At the moment we don't. People dancing need to be well practised & confident a sloppy performance will be a wasted opportunity. I know I need to practise my box dance, & I will be doing it tomorrow. Everyone needs to sing. half the cast aren't & it is wrong of us to rely on the professionals. We can do it but if we don't it will be embarassing & this is a team effort. So we need to help each other. We can do it but only if we all do it.
First Night
Monday, 30 July: It was great to get thru the 7 hour slog. I think we see the glove-wearing because we're tired and hallucinating! We're fed up with work and like to lose ourselves in a fairy story. My trousers won't stay in place, and keep slipping down to under my waist! Nice to work with Dong actors. Good luck everyone - let's make it a super First Night . . .
Great start
A good start, but now we need to build on it. If this improves as much as other shows have then it could be top.
Last year good nights were sometimes followed by a dip, because people didn't keep the standard up.Today was good but it could be better, how? Well thats what the notes will tell us. I know I could be tighter on all the dance routines & the new stuff & that we could alltighten up on the points at which we all do something together, for exampe freezing when the trouser leg story is found. We could probably get the pace better as well, the slow start etc.
The hard bit will be doing things as though we haven't done it before, as though we are the characters living it for the first time. That means reinventing ourselves so that it seems frresh real & not retelling that we have to slog through. Again people are paying & the big pay off tonight was hearing how much they'd enjoyed it all. Every audience needs to get that feeling, it is something that should seem unique, new, that story should still grip us all. Luckily we can all learn from each other. What a great team, especially the professionals & the technical & front of house. I went in worried about how we'd respond to the audience but everybody seemed to put the extra in.