Monday 4 February 2013

Getting dressed can be complicated. Tonight I found myself putting on a jacket and as I turned to face Hannah she was concealing a laugh. Now, in context, she had only recently told me that she was going to make more of the happy playful Miss Julie during the first act, before it all turns, well, a bit sour. So I thought she was acting.

I thought that the smile across her face was one of the playful flirting between a mistress and her footman.

How wrong I was.

I have had to take some basic training in buttons. I had no idea, but my jacket was lopsided and for most of the act she was playing opposite a man who wasn’t buttoned to the right holes. And so there was no new playfulness to her performance, just the cruel mocking laugh of a co-star happy for me to look the fool.

Oddly tonight, the usual loaf of bread was replaced by a large pretend cooked chicken. I wonder if somebody is intent on keeping me on my toes. Or stopping me from bursting out of my trousers after eating too much bread.

Come the end of the second act tonight we were pleased. The pace has shifted and the characters have finally taken on a life of their own. If a few months ago I thought I had to find a voice, now I know that that was never the case. You don’t need to find the voice, you need to find a purpose.

Audience now please.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

The Jolly Lion loves hanging around on set

With thanks to Helen Gould at the Village Barber Shop, Torquay, I now have a much improved head of hair for performance.

Personal fail of the week goes beyond not being able to do up a jacket. Tonight I forgot to bring a collar and still had troubles with the lapels of the jacket. Di-rector has compromised on my total inability to wear a costume and has allowed me to use a mirror on stage. Let’s hope vanity doesn’t set in. I could get completely distracted by my own beauty and forget that I am in a play.

The most interesting development this week has been the decision to take our tea break in the kitchen, rather than on set. It means that during the interval, it already feels like performance week. The chat in the kitchen is such a valuable part of performing at the Little Theatre – how lovely that it starts so early.

There was a bit of enjoyable losing self in lines and getting self out of trouble again. I wonder if I will remember to ask Christine what the lesson is during the run. I wonder how creepy we can take the sinister moments. I wonder about the improved pace.

And, wonders will never cease. One prompt. One. And I’ve still got two rehearsals to go. Oh, I know, there are people who think that even having a prompt at all is cheating. But this is me, with my track record. Now, how do I get it down from one?

If you haven’t already, it’s time to book your tickets. Feel free to join the Miss Julie event on Facebook, and invite all of your friends. Whilst you’re there, why not like TOADS at the Little Theatre and the Jolly Lion for all the latest upates.

The final part of the Jolly Lion’s rehearsal diary will be published on Friday 8 February 2013.

Miss Julie opens at the Little Theatre, Torquay on Saturday 9 February 2013 and runs until Saturday 16 February 2013 (with no performance on Sunday).

Tickets cost £11 and you can contact the Box Office on 01803 299330.

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: November

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: December

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: January (Part One)

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: January (Part Two)

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: February (Part One)

Friday 1 February 2013

The Jolly Lion hangs around on the set of Miss Julie.

Trousers! I have trousers. Proper ones too, you know, off the internet from a shop catering for folks wanting to look Victorian.

Page 32. I wonder if I will ever be able to learn page 32 of anything ever again. I wonder if the page of every script ever has impossible passages secreted away on page 32. Damn you page 32.

The ladies are being marvellous. We’re putting a bit of extra work into my bogey pages. Blimey I need it. But at the same time, I can’t help but think we’re nearly ready for an audience. The performance is lifting with every rehearsal. The prompt count is falling and the smiles at the interval and after the show are getting bigger.

There remain two lovely aspects of the production behind the scenes. Firstly, I’ve got Di Davies checking my pockets for coins (she’s put them in every pocket, so whichever one I reach for I’ll find what I need!). Secondly, I’ve got Suzy Miles on my side of the stage in those few minutes while music plays, before my entrance, being the most reassuring prompt since, well, the last one (but then, everyone knows the value I put on a good prompt!).

Sunday 3 February 2013

The Jolly Lion sits by Christine’s kettle, wondering if it will boil if he watches it

Hannah, Lisa and I sit in the auditorium and look down at the set. Technicians have lit the kitchen beautifully and are now having a council of war around Christine’s kitchen table. A script is being marked for cues, we actors look on in mild fascination at these people who are working tirelessly to ensure we look and sound perfect on stage.

At every step on the journey to opening night you meet somebody in amateur theatre doing a thankless job designed to improve the way people experience our performance. In the box office, time is spent selling tickets for the show, somebody will steward parking, the front of house staff will meet and greet, whilst behind the scenes our techies will press buttons, climb ladders, install ringing bells and climb more ladders, just to make the magic of theatre a playful reality. Press releases are written, posters are put up, leaflets are handed out. Coffee shops and bars are staffed to keep an audience fed and watered, and meanwhile, someone is boiling a kettle out the back for the rest of us.

And sitting in the auditorium with Hannah and Lisa, it feels like we are a small cast, playing and having great fun, but behind the three of us, we have so many people to thank for making the next couple of weeks a success. How can we acknowledge the work on costumes, hair, props, lights, sound, design for staging and publicity, through to the fully functioning theatre? It is a surprisingly big enterprise behind our cast of three.

Then the techies are ready, we are costumed and giving it our all. Some delightful switched words lead me to tell Christine she is a good woman who will make a sensible wife (stifle laugh as good and sensible should be the other way around), I get to experience the full horror of failing to get a cork out of a bottle (what technicals are for…) and then there comes the moment that allows everyone to descend into fits of laughter. The first time we try to realise the most dangerous moment of the play. The moment where (SPOILERS – THIS DIARY ENTRY WILL NOT BE REVEALED UNTIL THE END OF THE RUN!), which got so much laughter the stage manager had to step onto the stage and call a five minute break to allow everyone to regain their composure. Which serves as a reminder never to work with children or animals. How many times do we need to be told?

But it’s that laughter that makes me keep playing. I love it when it’s going right, but I also adore it when it’s going wrong. So whatever gets thrown at us through the next couple of weeks, stiff upper lip. We’re going to have a good time.

Now, if you haven’t already, it’s time to book your tickets.

The penultimate part of the Jolly Lion’s rehearsal diary will be published on Thursday 7 February 2013.

Miss Julie opens at the Little Theatre, Torquay on Saturday 9 February 2013 and runs until Saturday 16 February 2013.

Tickets cost £11 and you can contact the Box Office on 01803 299330.

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: November

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: December

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: January (Part One)

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: January (Part Two)

Monday 21 January 2013

Quickly quickly go the lines through a speed run of the play before we stop to tackle the second act at normal pace. The places where the lines are sagging are highlighted beautifully by this hot trot through the pages. What is supposed to take no more than half an hour takes, well, a bit more than that. But in the mix comes something new and exciting.

As we take on the second act for the second time tonight, there is suddenly a bit of shouty shouty. A raise in volume that will keep the front few rows of the audience on their toes. There’s also a new bit of creepy creepy – has Jean become a bit more of a cad over the weekend? Don’t forget those new moves… goodness knows where they came from, but as they turn up we’re being told which to keep and which to ditch.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

The lines must be looking good now, as our Di-rector seems to be emailing notes between rehearsals. If I’m getting notes, then there must be parts of the performance ready to tweak! Admittedly, one of the notes seems to be to learn the scenes with Lisa. Poor dear, she’s still waiting. Fortunately her scenes with Hannah look lovely and our first scene together works well, so I’m not a total villain. (Stop making excuses and learn the lines).

I’ve been through my spit and polish masterclass now as well. According to the website where a young boy picks up such training, it should take three hours to give a pair of boots a good polish. This is fine, but I have to do both boots in a page and a half of text, so, a couple of minutes then. Still, Hannah’s boots have been standing in for the Count’s boots now for a few weeks, and they’re looking quite spiffy after all these weeks of being polished. Particularly in my earlier efforts on those speeches, where a couple of minutes was more like a couple of days as I fought for the words. Some of the others have started to notice. No doubt they’ll all be queuing up to have their boots given the once over before opening night.

Friday 25 January 2013

Everybody is delighted by the preview in this week’s Herald Express. Cor blimey, Di-rector said some nice things about us. And if that isn’t enough of a lift, we’ve been taken down to the stage to see what Builder Paul and Builder Pete have been up to. No surprise that it has been a week of set building, and we can move in already. It’s always exciting to see a new set and this one is a beauty.

We’re heading down to the stage dragging as many props as Di Davies has managed to collect. Some of my favourite props don’t get to come down with us though. I’m finally being separated from my giant knife-come-pirate-cutlass which has been a source of great amusement. The fake bread has also been left behind – it seems I am soon to be trusted with real bread (prepare for untold bread related mischief).

Monday 28 January 2013

That’s it now. I’ve sent out my begging message asking everyone to spread the word about Miss Julie and it has created quite a stir, by far the most shared page of this blog in two years. I am so grateful to everyone who has helped raise awareness of our small cast show. [if you haven't had the chance to yet, follow this link and share it with anyone and everyone!]

The gloves may not be off, but the glasses are. If there’s going to be sexual tension and a romantic getting something out of an eye with a hanky we can’t have a hulking great set of frames getting in the way. It’s a good excuse to start wading through the contact lens mountain I’ve built since ‘As You Like It’ last season. (People tell you once you wear them you’ll never go back – bah, rubbish, I like comedy frames too much!)

Tonight’s rehearsal saw us reach breaking point and by the end of the night one of us was spread out over the floor of the stage completely shattered. It was the first time the moment had been tested and I doubt we can afford to get to the same point every night between now and the first performance. It does mean that one of the star turns comes with a health warning, ‘Handle With Care’. It’s all getting very emotional.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

You know it’s getting close when they start letting you act with real food. Suddenly I know I’m getting closer to best behaviour during these rehearsals, as I’m being given bacon as stunt liver and cranberry juice as a nice bottle of wine and I have resisted the temptation to deliver the line:

Times are changing.

I’ve even stopped saying “There was this one time… (at band camp)”.

But don’t be lulled into a sense that I’m taking it too seriously. Tonight I had to go and have a strop in the corner. Apparently getting stroppy at the front of the stage is too loud and distracting from Hannah’s performance. Who knew.

And now two members of the production team have supplied boots to polish during the long speech. I knew they all wanted a piece of the spit and polish training.

Read the next part of the Jolly Lion’s rehearsal diary here.

Miss Julie opens at the Little Theatre, Torquay on Saturday 9 February 2013 and runs until Saturday 16 February 2013.

Tickets cost £11 and you can contact the Box Office on 01803 299330.

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: November

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: December

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: January (Part One)

Monday 7 January 2013

I only have myself to blame. The break for Christmas and New Year has been a long one. Tonight I would tell anyone and everyone that I never want to set foot in a theatre again. Everything I had learned before Christmas has completely gone, I have been very lazy and not prepared enough for the first rehearsal back after the break.

I can hardly look Di-rector in the eye, but she says nothing. No lecture, no telling off. I default back to playing it for laughs because I know that I don’t know what I am doing. To add to the sense of shame, it is the first rehearsal our production team sees. They must wonder what we’ve been doing for the last two months.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

After the fright of Monday’s rehearsal it is back to the text and working through the unknown lines a page at a time. I’ve made myself a chart that I have on me at all times. Every time I have a page in my head I colour it in on the chart. Forget about finding characters, now it is just about learning lines. I can get further through it tonight than I could on Monday and having read the script through a few times, a lot of what we had before Christmas has returned, it was lost, but not forgotten.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Even in 24 hours it is possible to get another couple of sticky pages into your head. This is certainly my wobble week, so draining and my confidence has taken a serious knock. But every time I find myself in that rehearsal room with Di-rector, Suzy, Di, Hannah and Lisa I am torn between not wanting to let them down and not wanting to let myself down.

I can see that I am still not yet giving Lisa any accurate lines in the second half, which still isn’t fair on her. Meanwhile, Hannah is putting in the most powerful performance as Miss Julie and I wonder if I can come anywhere close to what she is doing. I know what I’ve got to do.

Monday 14 January 2013

Off come the pyjamas and on go the costumes as tonight is publicity photo night. We’re having to be pictured for press previews and programme shots and I am having to stand behind the girls so nobody can see the Victorian footman is wearing jeans (Note to self – buy some Victorian trousers!).

Miss Julie’s greenfinch is proving to be more than a little camera shy. In the meantime, plenty of rehearsal is now off book, so the whole thing is hanging together much better. If only I could be bothered to sit down and learn those two scenes with Lisa. At the moment she delivers two whole pages as if they’re a monologue. She’s not only got her own lines, she knows mine too. This means she’s saying hers and whispering mine to me like an onstage prompt. I will learn them, soon.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Gosh, this is not only good fun, it’s shaping up to be quite good. We laugh, we play sensibly. There are moments that are quite touching. The lines are almost there. Our act one is stronger than our act two, but then we’re pretty good on the last few pages, so all being well this isn’t a piece that will look under-rehearsed at the end.

It is here I should thank the staff of Cafe Nero in Torquay, without whom I would not have been able to sit quietly of a lunchtime and go through lines. Splendid beautiful people who make a delightful range of hot beverages, but always look disappointed when I ask for a cup of tea.

Sunday 20 January 2013

I am slightly distracted today. This weekend all I can think is:

That’s right, yesterday I met five Doctors under the same roof (Colin Baker turned up later in the day after rehearsing for The Woman in White that morning) and was happy to share stories of my happy day with anyone in earshot.

I know I was at a rehearsal this afternoon, but don’t ask me what happened. In my head it is still Saturday. Peter Davison is telling stories of performing ‘Legally Blonde’, David Tennant is signing as many ‘Hamlet’ items as Doctor Who, Paul McGann’s eyes light up as he recalls working with Penny Downie on ‘Helen’ at Shakespeare’s Globe whilst Sylvester McCoy is talking about a film I haven’t seen which is quite popular at the moment.

Never meet your heroes? Rubbish. A inspiring group of men who gave up a day to support Project Motorhouse – hurrah!

Read the next part of the Jolly Lion’s rehearsal diary here.

Miss Julie opens at the Little Theatre, Torquay on Saturday 9 February 2013 and runs until Saturday 16 February 2013.

Tickets cost £11 and you can contact the Box Office on 01803 299330.

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

Please Come And Support Miss Julie

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: November

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: December

Monday 3 December 2012

There’s a section of this play that is really coming together. We’ve been trying to build a bit of sexual tension, but being gigglers, it’s not easy. Fortunately, I have been struck by inspiration. As I stand behind Hannah Samuel as Miss Julie, I have to do something to show some sort of intent. What is a boy to do?

I have no choice but to draw on my own knowledge and life experience to help lift the tension – like any self-respecting Doctor Who fan, I thought immediately of that publicity shot from The Trial of a Time Lord. You know, the one where Colin Baker looks like he’s about to pull off Bonnie Langford’s head. If that isn’t the perfect positioning when standing behind someone, I don’t know what is. That’s it, I think, that’s the move!

Every trick I learn about acting I pick up from Doctor Who.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

I blank you. Now fill in the blank with your intention. Our Di-rector has given us a page of words to make us think about what we’re trying to do. Now I find playing Jean to be quite straightforward when it comes to his intentions. He is going to seduce Miss Julie. I seduce you. Di-rector insists I should make him a little more varied than that. Can’t help but be mildly disappointed, all this thinking is knocking the lines out of my head.

Except, this is a magical rehearsal where we’re not speaking the lines. Instead we have Suzy Miles playing Hannah playing Miss Julie and Di Davies playing me playing Jean. As they say the lines, we’re doing the movements. Suddenly we’re hearing the last scene of the play as if for the first time. Unfamiliar voices saying words I’m trying to learn, putting emphasis in different places, giving a new perspective, offering a reality check – this ending is so very moving. There are tears. There is silence. I wonder if I can persuade Di to deliver my lines from the wings whilst I just walk around the stage for the run – that would save me a bit of line learning in the coming weeks.

Monday 10 December 2012

We’ve got Lisa back! There’s nothing funnier than filling her head with horror stories of the things Di-rector has made us do in her absence. She’s much better at learning lines than I am (she’s off book, I haven’t yet started to learn the scenes she’s in – which is very rude of me – note to self, learn them for the next rehearsal).

She has a very long section of play pottering in her kitchen. And props, goodness me does she have to work with a lot of props. As far as I can see, I’ve got it easy as far as props go. Most things are brought to me or given to me – I’ve only got a couple of coins to worry about.

I’ve got to eat a plate of food in the early scenes. Rehearsing an imaginary plate of food and bottle of wine is great fun. I keep getting chunks of imaginary bread stuck in my teeth and getting a little sloshed through the course of the meal. I have also confused myself, as Jean talks to Christine in a completely different voice to the way I have been speaking to Miss Julie. Work to be done!

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Tonight my world took a funny turn. Every rehearsal is different, bringing something new to the table (and actually having a table – the sponge has gone). Each time we go through a sequence I feel like I am learning things about myself I never knew before. A bit of emotional involvement can be draining, but tonight I received a soap opera style bombshell that will have a knock on effect long after Miss Julie closes in February. I found something tonight that I will be able to use time and time again, a new look.

I suppose it has a lot to do with perspective and intention. I see new meaning in familiar looks and I see old reactions with fresh eyes. These rehearsals are making me watch, think and learn. What happened to the days when I was content to try and learn lines and remember where to stand?

Friday 14 December 2012

There are a couple of page long speeches in the first half that I quite enjoy. I’m doing a bit of boot polishing whilst telling a story from Jean’s youth. Each time I come to go through them, there’s one whole paragraph that I haven’t yet sat down to learn and I’m not sure why. I can see that others are finding my reluctance to learn lines a bit frustrating. By others, I mean everyone else.

I still have a script in my pocket that I try to hide on the table as much as I can to help get through the stickier moments. That’s still every scene with Lisa – who I must treat with more respect and actually learn the lines in her sections (Note to self – learn them for the next rehearsal).

I’m conscious that there’s a risk of getting a laugh in performance if I deliver some of the lines the way I’m learning them. Take “And I remember in particular once…” it’s a nice simple line, so why am I constantly saying, “There was this one time… (at band camp)” like someone desperately trying to recreate scenes from American Pie?

Monday 17 December 2012

The last rehearsal before Christmas and spirits are high. As we try to run through sections of the play we find long chunks that are already holding together nicely. It’s a cold time of year to be out learning lines though. I’m one for carrying a script on my walk to work and can often be seen on the Newton Road desperately searching for the next line.

At weekends I have been venturing out around the sea front trying to master the big speeches. I can pinpoint passages of the text to a range of places around Torbay and Exeter. Apart from the scenes with Lisa. I mean, I’ve learned the first one now. Sort of. Perhaps I’ll sit down to do it over Christmas. Or it’ll be a new year’s resolution.

The strange truth of learning lines is that you can always remember them at home or in the shower or on the walk to work or wherever you do your line learning (although I wouldn’t recommend learning lines in the shower – the pages of your script would get wet) but when you get into the rehearsal room, the mind chooses that moment to completely dispose of any hard work you might have done. Baffling.

Read the next part of the Jolly Lion’s rehearsal diary here.

Miss Julie opens at the Little Theatre, Torquay on Saturday 9 February 2013 and runs until Saturday 16 February 2013.

Tickets cost £11 and you can contact the Box Office on 01803 299330.

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

Please Come And Support Miss Julie

Miss Julie – The Rehearsal Diaries: November