How do you change the wrong time on a rehearsal room clock which stands three metres above the floor without a ladder or any other means of feasible access?  Engage actor Johnny Vivash to lift actor Faye Billing to whip the dial around.  

Energy,  creativity and adaptability have been watchwords on and off set during week one of rehearsals.   We’re one day ahead of schedule,  committed, inspired and satisfyingly tired.

In order to best explain the weeks activities it’s necessary to introduce our cast of characters-  in and out of the play-  who battled into day 1 of rehearsal on a very snowy morning.

Cast

Johnny Vivash (the clock lifter), plays the dark DR. KATSCHER.  Faye Billing (the clock fixer), plays watchful LISA- Hospital Administrator.  Bradley Cole plays ERICH,  a Doctor trying to escape the inebriated car crash of his life.  And Margaret Fraser plays FRAU POPPENDICK, a believer whose dreams are shattered.  Ben Langford,  FB&TV actor and featured artist,  sensitive and focused, plays OSKAR,  long term resident at the hospital,  and  James Munton,  ambitious but ever gracious, is a  FB&TV student and Ben’s understudy.   An absolutely terrific cast.

Creative team

Kevin Jenkins is the Designer.  Laurence Kaye is the Composer and Musical Director.  Keith Forryan is the Lighting designer.  Al Orange was the Stage  Manager-until an out of hours broken arm mid week-  a very sad departure at an early stage of the process- we send her all best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Day 1

Seemed doomed before it began.   Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on ice,  and all roads into Huddersfield were a dance with disaster.   Thankfully I’d met all travelling actors for a drink the night before in the Head of Steam and knew they were in digs within reachable distance of the theatre.   My FB&TV co-director Lynda Hornsby lives in a particularly ice prone area and it seemed at one point she wouldn’t be able to make it in to the read-through.  The Stage Manager was stuck as trains had been cancelled and the Designer and Lighting Designer were both battling the roads.  A three week rehearsal period leaves no room for ‘snow days’ and these were worrying times.

Ultimately- with only a fifteen minute push into the schedule to allow for delayed team members- we began the work.  The entire company sat in a circle,  the round space established in the centre.  Introductions were made and I spoke briefly about the plays’ journey,  its inception and the company’s objectives.  HYPOTHERMIA concerns the holocaust of learning disabled people in Nazi Germany,  and with this production FB&TV aims to examine the events theatrically in a way never attempted before,  in a text based play with one of our learning disabled actors-  Ben Langford- at it’s heart.  

All of the actors had been briefed to the effect that being virtually off the book on day one was desirable.  This is an unusual approach as actors usually need time to assimilate understanding of text and journey through the early rehearsal period.  The actors had also been forewarned that unlike the usual read-through,  seated with book in hand,  we would be working dynamically,  on our feet,  from the read-through onwards. There are two reasons for this. In order to ensure full engagement for Ben and for him to develop an understanding of his journey and relationships a physical approach is necessary,  eye to eye,  hand to hand,  from the outset.   Secondly a three week rehearsal period flies by and scripts are an encumbrance in a process which demands full body engagement.

The actors had embraced the brief fully and were able to get up and move the script in a meaningful way.  On occasion I stood with Ben in the circle and communicated his lines and activity and on many occasions I didn’t as he was able to play off his fellow actors.  The script read well and clearly and the actors had obviously spent a lot of time solving the text.  A tangible sense of excitement was in the room.  The play worked and the cast was right. The writer was pleased that the script would run exactly to time,  at two hours to include a fifteen minute interval.  A brief feedback session was held.   It was evident to me that any attempt by the actors to ‘play’ the script or drive the dramatic arc was counter productive and took away from the innate strength of their characters and the plot.   I spoke briefly about the need to take the opposite choice,  to bolt down the normality of the situation and dialogue and to resist riding the drama.  The territory we are inhabiting is by its nature charged,  and nature needs little help.

Kevin Jenkins,  the Designer,  presented the set model.  We are using two vomitories (exits) and the main playing area is a raised rectangular floor on which two desks and four chairs represent the front office of the Andernach Hospital for hereditary and incurable diseases.  A discussion was had with regard to the utility of the desks,  can they be leaned against?  Jumped onto? Pulled around?  Kevin spoke about the snow which surrounds the playing area and the birds feet imprints which represent the runic symbols for life and death-  the kind of extraordinary attention to detail which is a hallmark of Kevin’s work.   Kevin indicated the final ‘coup de theatre’ which- with Keith the Lighting Designers input-will amaze the audience in the final minutes of the production.  The actors articulated the excitement I had felt when first seeing the design.  Costume drawings next and Johnny and Margaret saw their Nazi uniforms for the first time-  both will be made specifically for them.  A moment of hilarity followed when Bradley’s drawing was presented,  his character had a large pot belly and Brad asked where Kevin had found his photograph.  (In actuality Bradley hasn’t become corpulent in spite of an instruction to tuck in over Christmas- further work required!).  A discussion was had with regard to hair for men and women in 1940. Ben had his hair cut short a month ago in preparation for his role and will once again be bravely facing the clippers- number two rather than number one being determined as the appropriate equipment setting.

Laurence presented his score next.  Speaking firstly about his inspiration,  Schubert and Kurt Weil among others, he played us through the cues for the whole production.   ‘Ice sequences’ are a lynchpin of the sound plot,  when characters engage in the swimming competition beneath the ice,  and these rhythmic sections are truly chilling.  Counterpointing this darkness Laurence has written many sections with dance-like or comedic qualities which in completeness provide a rich and deep feast for the ears.  The score is tremendously impactful,  wonderful to work from,  and the whole company spontaneously applauded post the presentation.

Towards the end of the day we had a brief discussion around themes and research findings.  Actors had already been briefed as to the dynamic nature of the process and that in order not to exclude Ben and James verbal dissection of script and theme would be kept to a minimum.  This was to be the only occasion to sit around and talk rather than get up and do.   We discussed euthanasia and Nazism before Ben and James indicated which characters they liked and disliked in the play-  a starting point for development of relationships.  The first pauses began to punctuate the talking and the decision was made to call it a day and adjourn to the pub.

First read-through’s and first days are always a mixture of nerves and excitement,  providing as they do the opportunity for all elements and people, script, actors, music and design to meet for the first time.  Like any first date expectations are high and best clothes are worn- without any guarantee that a long term fulfilling relationship will be a consequence. In this instance the dating went well and each datee allowed themselves the idea of a satisfying courtship followed by a tumultuous wedding day consummation three weeks into the future.