Days 2, 3, 4 and 5

Flew by.  In the FB&TV office Lynda and Sally (Creative Assistant)- alongside other company activity- organised mail outs and got to grips with the huge workload mounting a major production inevitably involves.  My periods in the office are necessarily fleeting and always come with guilt attached;  while I engage in the exciting creative process in the rehearsal room next door the FB&TV team are doing the hard graft. 

Each rehearsal day begins with either a movement rehearsal or warm up and in our first session we established some key elements for the process.  Ben or James will always lead the initial physical limber with perhaps a game or two thrown in.  On day 2 we worked on relationship with Ben’s character OSKAR.  Each actor developed an activity with OSKAR using key words,  such as fight,  dance,  push etc.  The objective was two fold. Firstly physical barriers were broken and body communication was established,  secondly a ready movement vocabulary was developed which could be articulated at key points in the plays activity.  Limited speech and/or explanation was offered by me during this process.  In working with FB&TV’s actors words muddy intent and ‘doing’ rather than ‘talking about it’ is always the best route to development of performance.

Ben opens the play with an ‘ice sequence’ and he was the first actor up in the space.  His work was going to be a benchmark for process,  an indicator to the cast of how we work at FB&TV.  Using as few words as possible I communicated place- the surface of the ice- and walked Ben through possible activity for his scene- knowing that he will develop his own patterning post this initial stimulus.   I asked Al for the sound cue and Ben delivered his interpretation.  His work drew a round of applause from the cast and we were off,  working….

For the non FB&TV actors this style of work is new,  it’s to their huge credit that they have absorbed and worked within it.  While working through each scene Ben’s physical activity and lines are fed into the action with no explanation or delay to momentum.  Sound cues are played and worked with spontaneously.  The actors as a team have developed in the moment responses to each other,  wherever possible physical response whilst getting off the book at breakneck speed.

Astonishingly on day 3,  and well ahead of schedule,  we were able to run the first act.  One small sequence was lost by Ben but barring that he was accurate and thought through his relationships and moments with other actors.  Bradley,  Johnny,  Faye and Margaret also worked their way through the nuances in activity and text….so much text….wonderfully.

It was possible during the course of this run of Act 1 to have a good look at the shape and there were elements in the physicalised relationships that I felt needed to be adjusted.  Ben’s performance (as with all the roles) will necessarily be informed by those around him and there were relationships developing with OSKAR that were taking us down a wrong turning. Both ERICH and LISA were placating and soothing OSKAR,  stroking and indicating ‘care’ for him. In the big/little scheme of things-  so much a part of the work we do at FB&TV-  this signals OSKAR as a victim, or worse-  a child- the antithesis of his role and function in the play and the antithesis of the work our core company do with us,  as independent working actors.  In notes Ben spoke about feeling like OSKAR was ‘on the cross’ which was an indictor of the changes we needed to make.   I asked the cast to take the opposite stance,  to adjust physicalisations,  to value their lives above OSKARS and relate to him as the complex man he is.   I spoke to Ben about OSKARS strength and power.  All was understood and subsequently assimilated.  Fantastic. 

James delivered a magnificent understudy run of Act 1.  Recognising that we were ahead of schedule and that he had worked hard throughout the week the decision was made to do a run ‘for lines’ and that James should get a shot at rehearsing the lead role.  It gave Ben the opportunity to watch the activity and he subsequently picked up on some pertinent relationship dynamics.  Stories, probably apocryphal,  exist with regard to understudies plotting the downfall of the the ‘star’ (ALL ABOUT EVE springs to mind) and it had been reported that James had intimated over lunch that he was itching for an opportunity to step in.  James did a great job and it’s terrific to have him on the team.

As we enter week 2 we are about a third of the way into Act 2-  again astounding- and look forward to the week ahead.  Costume calls tomorrow and later in the week Angus Deuchar,  fabulous photographer with a history with the company,  is coming up from London to take rehearsal room shots.