Let the countdown begin! Tonight marks our third-last performance of MISSING -- the antepenultimate show!
Given the smooth way we slipped into this final week, the run almost seems too short. Tuesday our show took another step forward, with a warm and encouraging audience drawing confident, expansive performances from us. The highly disciplined circumstances of our production's making kept us all respectful and carefully accurate -- now we can carry all that, and ALSO add what we have learned from our performances of the last three weeks.
Major help in this regard was provided by our student audiences and talkbacks. I've already mentioned the great questions from our audience of Brampton students last week. Last Saturday night, our playwright, Florence Gibson, announced that she would be addressing drama students from Fanshawe College, London, after the show. Others would be welcome. Several of us joined Flo on stage for a revealing session.
Hearing her speak reminded us of some of the special challenges of MISSING. Unlike the usual aim of laying out a story step by step, MISSING celebrates a world of ambiguities -- uncertainties that seem to spread through the story like expanding wave circles on a pond, colliding with each other and changing with each interaction.
One amusing note occurred early in the following question period. The opening of MISSING includes a time of darkness when only night sounds are heard, many of them created vocally by the actors. "We were doing those animal sounds in class just the other day!" enthused one of our students, obviously delighted that these apparently childish games had a place in real theatre. Of course, such devices are an essential part of this sort of storytelling, childlike elements that manage to convey a more sophisticated message. If you can feel the night around you through these simple means, your susceptibility to the atmosphere of the play has been established before a word of text is spoken.
What's interesting in MISSING is the wide range of atmospheric effects employed. The guidelines set by director David Ferry are very broad. The actors create some relatively complex sounds using vocalizations and/or props. including the scraping of a restaurant grill, the sound of French fries in a deep fryer and (a group favourite) the boiling-over of a pot of vegetables. But some effects are recorded as sound cues -- car motors, barking dogs, telephones on a rural party line. The soundscape even includes non-realistic background sound as well. A multiplicity of means are used to convey these sounds to the audience. The preshow music (selections from Canadian 'seventies bands) is played through several small, wired portable radios, fixed with duct tape at various points around the theatre space, while "regular" sound cues can be heard through backstage or upstage speakers.
The variety of these approaches, I believe, again reinforces the spine of a play that deals with ambiguities, where rules and conventions are constantly called into question. In a similar way, lighting cues are sometimes realistic, with shadows apparently thrown through doors or Venetian blinds, and sometimes emotionally based, as when two married characters quarrelling are seen within a pattern of (prison?) bars.
Questions in audience talkbacks about these elements remind us how much support, both naturalistic and subliminal, our sound and lighting designs provide for the themes of our play -- not to mention the beautiful woven-wire sculpture that dominates upstage centre!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Bannerman Bloggination Redux
What is it about this play MISSING that keeps us all on tenterhooks? It's two weeks today since we opened (after three preview performances), and only NOW are the insistent voices in my head beginning to fade. Like a successful jingle heard over and over again, or the tune from a musical you're working on that won't let your mind rest, elements of our production keep popping up in those anxiety-inducing dream visions that occur in the twilight between sleep and waking.
Recently I dreamt that I received a phone call while pounding rock music filled my home (which happens in MISSING, but not to me). I was offered the lead in a production I suddenly knew I had read for the week before (in dreamtime). Just as I was trying to explain that I was already committed, my wife urged me to "get the dates", because another actor could take over my present duties.
How does this relate to MISSING? Simple. In our play virtually every character is caught in a paradoxical, morally ambiguous trap, subject to equal and opposite emotional pressures. In my dream, the two overriding prerogatives of my life, work and family, are at war. What do you do when there's no right answer? Each character in MISSING tries to find a suitable personal solution.
Further, I would argue that this tension is manifested in the structure of the play as well, in the opposing challenges offered to the actors. As we began our work, we were all concerned with our characters, while taking peripheral note of certain choral sections of the script. Within two days, playing a character seemed a snap compared to the rhetorical demands of the choral set pieces. Sometimes linear, more often fragmented and chaotic, these lines defied logic and resisted memorization. Yet it was virtually impossible to stage them effectively until we were all off book.
Ultimately, all was well --but our varying attitudes and approaches to this challenge were instructive. Some performers found these words unnecessary and intrusive, and yet mastered the technical demands quickly. Others felt these interludes were an integral part of the piece, and should be considered as part of a dance that included many different steps and rhythms.
This dichotomy of styles, I think, enriches and informs ALL of MISSING, while also representing PHYSICALLY the PSYCHIC tensions of the characters. And THAT'S why live theatre is for experiencing, and not just for reading.
Recently I dreamt that I received a phone call while pounding rock music filled my home (which happens in MISSING, but not to me). I was offered the lead in a production I suddenly knew I had read for the week before (in dreamtime). Just as I was trying to explain that I was already committed, my wife urged me to "get the dates", because another actor could take over my present duties.
How does this relate to MISSING? Simple. In our play virtually every character is caught in a paradoxical, morally ambiguous trap, subject to equal and opposite emotional pressures. In my dream, the two overriding prerogatives of my life, work and family, are at war. What do you do when there's no right answer? Each character in MISSING tries to find a suitable personal solution.
Further, I would argue that this tension is manifested in the structure of the play as well, in the opposing challenges offered to the actors. As we began our work, we were all concerned with our characters, while taking peripheral note of certain choral sections of the script. Within two days, playing a character seemed a snap compared to the rhetorical demands of the choral set pieces. Sometimes linear, more often fragmented and chaotic, these lines defied logic and resisted memorization. Yet it was virtually impossible to stage them effectively until we were all off book.
Ultimately, all was well --but our varying attitudes and approaches to this challenge were instructive. Some performers found these words unnecessary and intrusive, and yet mastered the technical demands quickly. Others felt these interludes were an integral part of the piece, and should be considered as part of a dance that included many different steps and rhythms.
This dichotomy of styles, I think, enriches and informs ALL of MISSING, while also representing PHYSICALLY the PSYCHIC tensions of the characters. And THAT'S why live theatre is for experiencing, and not just for reading.
Post made by Laurie Murphy, Factory Theatre:
MISSING's Andrew Gillies wins theatre award in Halifax for his work as an actor. Congratulations from all of us here at Factory!
Chronicle Herald, May 24, 2009:
The 10th annual Merritt Awards recognizing excellence in Nova Scotia theatre production were presented at a gala ceremony Monday Night at Neptune Theatre, hosted by actor Charlie Rhindress.
...Outstanding performance by an actor in a supporting role: Andrew Gillies as General Burgoyne in The Devil’s Disciple, Neptune Theatre.
For article in full, click http://thechronicleherald.ca/Search/9011123.html.
MISSING's Andrew Gillies wins theatre award in Halifax for his work as an actor. Congratulations from all of us here at Factory!
Chronicle Herald, May 24, 2009:
The 10th annual Merritt Awards recognizing excellence in Nova Scotia theatre production were presented at a gala ceremony Monday Night at Neptune Theatre, hosted by actor Charlie Rhindress.
...Outstanding performance by an actor in a supporting role: Andrew Gillies as General Burgoyne in The Devil’s Disciple, Neptune Theatre.
For article in full, click http://thechronicleherald.ca/Search/9011123.html.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Bannerman Bloggination
Let the Bloggination begin! Or I suppose I SHOULD say, "continue". I"m impressed by the frankness and lucidity of David Ferry's previous notes.
I am, however, a completely different Guy. Guy Bannerman, in fact. Still, it's good to have a forum to discuss our performers' experience of MISSING -- and we may have a few opinions on the rehearsal process, too, already chronicled by our fearless director.
We were reminded about that very process today, when an enthusiastic audience of Brampton teenagers asked us how long it had taken to perfect our scene changes. Sighs and groans were our response, as we relived those hectic last days. With any new script, there are bound to be necessary last-minute decisions that lend added challenges to the final rehearsals and first previews. Although we did absorb some minor line additions and cuts from Florence Gibson, our transitions developed into a master class on tightening and restructuring.
David Ferry had already instituted a convention of overlapping the endings and beginnings of scenes vocally, while necessary movement of set pieces was carried out. This alone was not enough to support the accelerating flow of the play towards its conclusion. Ultimately David developed a convention that froze the largest set pieces (the diner counters) in one all-purpose configuration, and combined this with the gradual stripping down of the stage picture by eliminating pieces of furniture from familiar locations. For example, a fight that used the large farmhouse table as an integral element was restaged in an empty space.
There was even a humourous element to the proceedings, as a chair needed by one actor missed being set by another actor. A clever improvisation covered the mistake -- and was almost immediately incorporated into the "official" version. Art includes accidents!
I am, however, a completely different Guy. Guy Bannerman, in fact. Still, it's good to have a forum to discuss our performers' experience of MISSING -- and we may have a few opinions on the rehearsal process, too, already chronicled by our fearless director.
We were reminded about that very process today, when an enthusiastic audience of Brampton teenagers asked us how long it had taken to perfect our scene changes. Sighs and groans were our response, as we relived those hectic last days. With any new script, there are bound to be necessary last-minute decisions that lend added challenges to the final rehearsals and first previews. Although we did absorb some minor line additions and cuts from Florence Gibson, our transitions developed into a master class on tightening and restructuring.
David Ferry had already instituted a convention of overlapping the endings and beginnings of scenes vocally, while necessary movement of set pieces was carried out. This alone was not enough to support the accelerating flow of the play towards its conclusion. Ultimately David developed a convention that froze the largest set pieces (the diner counters) in one all-purpose configuration, and combined this with the gradual stripping down of the stage picture by eliminating pieces of furniture from familiar locations. For example, a fight that used the large farmhouse table as an integral element was restaged in an empty space.
There was even a humourous element to the proceedings, as a chair needed by one actor missed being set by another actor. A clever improvisation covered the mistake -- and was almost immediately incorporated into the "official" version. Art includes accidents!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sneak Peek of MISSING with Kyra Harper and Shauna Black
"It takes a writer as skilled as Florence Gibson to juggle the multitude of realities that are on the table in Missing..." - Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
BUY NOW at www.factorytheatre.ca
Call: 416-504-9971
NOW PLAYING TO APR 5
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
director's notes 8
Sorry for my absence since Thursday last, it was Captain Crunch time at the factory.
If you follow this blog you likely know theatre and the absurd process we follow to get a play opened..I suspect if one had 3 months to stage a piece one would still feel unprepared for opening--but I say, give me the three months and we'll see.
Starting with the Thursday 10/12 hour call it truly felt like a race..and like the man pushing the rock up the hill, I felt like a bull trying to herd us all across some imaginary finish line. I also had two projects I am serving as dramaturge/director on getting ready for the Passe Muraille BUZZ week..so Saturday and Sunday morning before Missing rehs found me rehearsing those, and yesterday I started rehearsals for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.
The actors and designers and stage management and production crew spent last week madly scrambling to get the play to where it needs to be for an audience. In the process it really is true that you end up making lightning decisions..cuts, shifts, re-blocking. On Weds we looked at the major set image and it seemed it would never be what we wanted (a large wire sculpture) but by Sunday it was there. I had a wild desire to end the play with falling leaves..nice image but it didn't work well and more importantly was meaningless in the end. I had thought that a radio broadcast the character does to plead for his wife to come home would impart the right sense of isolation if it seemed that we observed it from the rear of a broadcast booth only
hearing him via a series of portable radios behind the audience..but it was strangely static..out with the mic and the idea.
Saturday I re-blocked the whole of the second half of the play so the pace and flow of the play would be better serviced..it helped but we had a dress that night so it was pretty scary for the actors.
Sunday's first preview was relatively smooth and we got to a time we liked, but I sat there seeing only what wasn't working for me..a dangerous time for a director..you can be so hard on yourself it can be counter-productive.
Yesterday I suggested a further re-ordering of scenes and some cuts to Florence and spent the evening after Judas rehearsals working them out and communicating with the designers and actors and stage management how they would work and how we would rehearse them today for tonight's preview. Off to morning rehearsal of Judas and then into the theatre for a couple of Missing hours, then watching again tonight with our second audience.
Next up..observations about my second recent experience directing a non linear piece by a feminist author (36 Views was the other one)--what I have learned.
If you follow this blog you likely know theatre and the absurd process we follow to get a play opened..I suspect if one had 3 months to stage a piece one would still feel unprepared for opening--but I say, give me the three months and we'll see.
Starting with the Thursday 10/12 hour call it truly felt like a race..and like the man pushing the rock up the hill, I felt like a bull trying to herd us all across some imaginary finish line. I also had two projects I am serving as dramaturge/director on getting ready for the Passe Muraille BUZZ week..so Saturday and Sunday morning before Missing rehs found me rehearsing those, and yesterday I started rehearsals for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.
The actors and designers and stage management and production crew spent last week madly scrambling to get the play to where it needs to be for an audience. In the process it really is true that you end up making lightning decisions..cuts, shifts, re-blocking. On Weds we looked at the major set image and it seemed it would never be what we wanted (a large wire sculpture) but by Sunday it was there. I had a wild desire to end the play with falling leaves..nice image but it didn't work well and more importantly was meaningless in the end. I had thought that a radio broadcast the character does to plead for his wife to come home would impart the right sense of isolation if it seemed that we observed it from the rear of a broadcast booth only
hearing him via a series of portable radios behind the audience..but it was strangely static..out with the mic and the idea.
Saturday I re-blocked the whole of the second half of the play so the pace and flow of the play would be better serviced..it helped but we had a dress that night so it was pretty scary for the actors.
Sunday's first preview was relatively smooth and we got to a time we liked, but I sat there seeing only what wasn't working for me..a dangerous time for a director..you can be so hard on yourself it can be counter-productive.
Yesterday I suggested a further re-ordering of scenes and some cuts to Florence and spent the evening after Judas rehearsals working them out and communicating with the designers and actors and stage management how they would work and how we would rehearse them today for tonight's preview. Off to morning rehearsal of Judas and then into the theatre for a couple of Missing hours, then watching again tonight with our second audience.
Next up..observations about my second recent experience directing a non linear piece by a feminist author (36 Views was the other one)--what I have learned.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
director's notes 6
The dynamics of a cast are always fascinating.
For me the challenge is in reading the dynamics well.
I never know.
I try to create a free-flowing or at least somewhat loosy-goosy working environment so people can have humour and feel free to talk, but it seems to me that the culture of theatre is still infused with a sense of hierarchical nature of older theatre traditions.
The director is the boss..and of course in a fundamental way you are..you are the one that gets to say "here not there" and "let's cut that" etc. so no matter how often you try to encourage open discussion..some people remain sceptical.
My spouse is working on this and she thinks I am totally full of fertilizer in my belief that I allow the free flow (word to the wise, be careful working with those who know you as intimately as a spouse, they can be a hard sell), however I retain the right to disagree with her.
The challenge with doing a big dense project in a limited number of weeks is that you have to move so fast, often it is hard for others to keep up with you (I have been living with the piece for years, they have been on board for weeks). So as I bull my way to the finish line (well really the start line)I have to keep looking around to make sure I am not leaving a trail of injuries.
We got to two scenes past half way in the QtoQ last night and have another five hours today..hopefully we will get to a run.
As the actors acclimatize to the set and lights and sound, the next step is to get back to the text and the relationships and also to make sure they get runs in for the flow. My needs also include expanding on the visual conceits I have tried to create and to the overall meta-theatrical approach to the piece.I am changing aspects of the set as we go and also I want to check sight-lines, volume of actors and keep the plot points clear to an audience.
Then --are there cuts I can introduce without creating panic?
I am really looking forward to acting again.
For me the challenge is in reading the dynamics well.
I never know.
I try to create a free-flowing or at least somewhat loosy-goosy working environment so people can have humour and feel free to talk, but it seems to me that the culture of theatre is still infused with a sense of hierarchical nature of older theatre traditions.
The director is the boss..and of course in a fundamental way you are..you are the one that gets to say "here not there" and "let's cut that" etc. so no matter how often you try to encourage open discussion..some people remain sceptical.
My spouse is working on this and she thinks I am totally full of fertilizer in my belief that I allow the free flow (word to the wise, be careful working with those who know you as intimately as a spouse, they can be a hard sell), however I retain the right to disagree with her.
The challenge with doing a big dense project in a limited number of weeks is that you have to move so fast, often it is hard for others to keep up with you (I have been living with the piece for years, they have been on board for weeks). So as I bull my way to the finish line (well really the start line)I have to keep looking around to make sure I am not leaving a trail of injuries.
We got to two scenes past half way in the QtoQ last night and have another five hours today..hopefully we will get to a run.
As the actors acclimatize to the set and lights and sound, the next step is to get back to the text and the relationships and also to make sure they get runs in for the flow. My needs also include expanding on the visual conceits I have tried to create and to the overall meta-theatrical approach to the piece.I am changing aspects of the set as we go and also I want to check sight-lines, volume of actors and keep the plot points clear to an audience.
Then --are there cuts I can introduce without creating panic?
I am really looking forward to acting again.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
directors notes 7
This email from a friend while in TECH REHS,It made me laugh:
Okay, what's the dealio,
Monday, March 2 was your last entry. It's now Wednesday the 4th. Soon it will be Thursday. And not a new blog in sight. What gives? You busy?
C'mon, I'm on pins and needles. Will Dame Harper finally come out of her dressing room and, once more, unleash a torrent of venom upon her castmates. Will Chris Stanton finally come clean with his obvious hard of hearing. Andrew Gillies is Albanian (please, does anyone really buy that British thing) Fiona Highet only took your gig so she could meet me.
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS has nothing on you guys.
eves x
Moving the play into the big room we will play in from the small room we were rehearsing in, is as usual fraught with danger, uh, challenges>in this director's mind it is akin to moving from jumping off the parachute training tower to jumping from the plane way up there.
Looking out to the abyss below I think "I hate what I've done to the play--what the hell was I thinking, jesus these poor actors, that's not what the set maquette looked like, how come the lights look so bright/dark".
As usual waking up this morning at 4AM I thought "I can cut the doors, the backdrop, the foley sndfx"etc etc.
I am about to restart the QtoQ and we are already in scene 4 (out of 16) with a mere five hours to go. The actors are remarkably good humoured and patient, I am characteristically demanding and assuming everyone is inside my head..so I am trying to give everyone lot's of "Attaboy's/girl's (my friend Paul Eves of above email once wisely said that all actors want occasionally is a couple of Attaboy's now and then).
I will try to post something of interest tomorrow regarding the play and the process and not something born out of fatigue and self loathing. Cheers.
Okay, what's the dealio,
Monday, March 2 was your last entry. It's now Wednesday the 4th. Soon it will be Thursday. And not a new blog in sight. What gives? You busy?
C'mon, I'm on pins and needles. Will Dame Harper finally come out of her dressing room and, once more, unleash a torrent of venom upon her castmates. Will Chris Stanton finally come clean with his obvious hard of hearing. Andrew Gillies is Albanian (please, does anyone really buy that British thing) Fiona Highet only took your gig so she could meet me.
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS has nothing on you guys.
eves x
Moving the play into the big room we will play in from the small room we were rehearsing in, is as usual fraught with danger, uh, challenges>in this director's mind it is akin to moving from jumping off the parachute training tower to jumping from the plane way up there.
Looking out to the abyss below I think "I hate what I've done to the play--what the hell was I thinking, jesus these poor actors, that's not what the set maquette looked like, how come the lights look so bright/dark".
As usual waking up this morning at 4AM I thought "I can cut the doors, the backdrop, the foley sndfx"etc etc.
I am about to restart the QtoQ and we are already in scene 4 (out of 16) with a mere five hours to go. The actors are remarkably good humoured and patient, I am characteristically demanding and assuming everyone is inside my head..so I am trying to give everyone lot's of "Attaboy's/girl's (my friend Paul Eves of above email once wisely said that all actors want occasionally is a couple of Attaboy's now and then).
I will try to post something of interest tomorrow regarding the play and the process and not something born out of fatigue and self loathing. Cheers.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Directors Notes 5 (a video)
This is Andrew Gillies and Fiona Highet in MISSING Rehearsal playing Ian and Carol
Interesting few days leading to a second stumble through for lights on Saturday. The challenges for actors on new plays are particularly volatile in that as we discover more and more where the play sits or how it technically and thematically plays out, there are often text changes, cuts, shifts, and re-assignment of choral lines as well as blocking changes. It becomes clearer and clearer to me that Florence has written a world that is disintegrating for the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) alike. Also the world of the community (chorus) is such an essential aspect of the piece that as we struggle with actor operated scene changes of furniture and props, we have discovered that the worlds increasingly overlap and eventually collide (especially for the cop Carol). This needs to be reflected too in the lighting and sound design so daily calls to the designers to discuss how we manifest this. Pieces of "furniture" from all three worlds invade one scene. Actors finish one scene as another actor begins theirs. In my minds eye I feel like a camera is constantly zooming out from an ECU to reveal a world in the background.
Interesting few days leading to a second stumble through for lights on Saturday. The challenges for actors on new plays are particularly volatile in that as we discover more and more where the play sits or how it technically and thematically plays out, there are often text changes, cuts, shifts, and re-assignment of choral lines as well as blocking changes. It becomes clearer and clearer to me that Florence has written a world that is disintegrating for the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) alike. Also the world of the community (chorus) is such an essential aspect of the piece that as we struggle with actor operated scene changes of furniture and props, we have discovered that the worlds increasingly overlap and eventually collide (especially for the cop Carol). This needs to be reflected too in the lighting and sound design so daily calls to the designers to discuss how we manifest this. Pieces of "furniture" from all three worlds invade one scene. Actors finish one scene as another actor begins theirs. In my minds eye I feel like a camera is constantly zooming out from an ECU to reveal a world in the background.
Friday, February 27, 2009
directors notes 4 (some pics)
Director and actor Emma Hillier (Michelle)
Andrew Gillies (Ian) Natalie Gisele (ASM) Sherry Roher (SM)looking towards director for some kind of answer to something.
Recording session Sound Designer Chris Stanton (foreground): L-R:Fiona Highet (Carol) Kyra Harper (Janine)Emma Hillier (Michelle) Guy Bannerman (Freddy)Andrew Gillies (Ian)Shauna Black (Elaine)
Alan Van Sprang (Trevor)
Directors Blocking notes!
Fiona Highet (Carol)
recording for Missing Chorus tracks:Sound design Chris Stanton (foreground): l-r: Kyra Harper (Janine) Emma Hillier (Michelle) Guy Bannerman (Freddy) Shauna Black (Elaine) Andrew Gillies (Ian)
Andrew Gillies (Ian) Natalie Gisele (ASM) Sherry Roher (SM)looking towards director for some kind of answer to something.
Recording session Sound Designer Chris Stanton (foreground): L-R:Fiona Highet (Carol) Kyra Harper (Janine)Emma Hillier (Michelle) Guy Bannerman (Freddy)Andrew Gillies (Ian)Shauna Black (Elaine)
Alan Van Sprang (Trevor)
Directors Blocking notes!
Fiona Highet (Carol)
recording for Missing Chorus tracks:Sound design Chris Stanton (foreground): l-r: Kyra Harper (Janine) Emma Hillier (Michelle) Guy Bannerman (Freddy) Shauna Black (Elaine) Andrew Gillies (Ian)
director's notes 3
Mamet has this analogy about acting in one of his books that I like. He says (and I paraphrase) "If you are getting brain surgery, you just want the doctor to make a good clean cut, go in there fix it, sew it up well and make you better. You don't give a shit about how he feels."
Yesterday was a challenging day for me..one of those days where you feel you are letting your actors down. One of my actors was having difficulty with some lines and no matter how many times I tried to explain where I thought the character was coming from, why the character was saying what they were saying, what the character was "feeling", I just couldn't get the light bulb to go on in the actors eyes.
So once more I felt that uselessness of a director when confronted with that divide between what is so clear in my mind and what is unclear in the actors mind.
I believe my job as a director is to facilitate the creative process of telling a story. ideally to create an atmosphere in the work place where all of us can be as creative as possible. But when that facilitation breaks down I feel that the "failure to communicate" begins with the "warden".
My response to my actor (at least in my head) is: "that's your job..to figure out why you are saying what you are saying." That is at the core of the imaginative process of acting..making choices, bold choices, trying them on and discarding them if need be, but above all committing. As an actor myself, I know the frustration of saying lines that don't seem to have a connection in a play..but I also know that especially in a new play, there are things that will not make sense, and things that need full commitment from the company to see if they fly. I know at times that what we "feel" is really irrelevant. What we need to do is make a good clean cut (and I don't mean text cut although that is sometimes the answer and too often the actor's default request "It must be the line that doesn't work, not me.")--make that cut, sew it up and let the patient go home.
I think that, unwittingly, many of our actors, especially those that make a living doing TV and Film, become anesthetized by atrocious writing that we are allowed to change on the set to "make it work". This often leads to a tendency to think that "my character wouldn't say that" instead of "that's the line, make it work".
This is why Mamet got so aggrieved by what he calls Hollywood "huh" acting. He wants the actor to just say his words. If he is doing his job..the thing will fly,if he hasn't then it won't, but let the writer own it.
Back to my actor..I don't want to suggest that this was going on in their mind or behavior, not at all..but my failure to help, leads me to question not just my process and its failings but the whole process of how we rehearse plays..as I said yesterday, a world premiere done with three weeks rehearsal.
Today, hopefully I can give better facilitation--I want to help, but I also want actors to take full responsibility--I can't expect that unless I do too.
DIRECTOR TIED UP BY INABILITY TO ANSWER ACTORS QUESTIONS:
Yesterday was a challenging day for me..one of those days where you feel you are letting your actors down. One of my actors was having difficulty with some lines and no matter how many times I tried to explain where I thought the character was coming from, why the character was saying what they were saying, what the character was "feeling", I just couldn't get the light bulb to go on in the actors eyes.
So once more I felt that uselessness of a director when confronted with that divide between what is so clear in my mind and what is unclear in the actors mind.
I believe my job as a director is to facilitate the creative process of telling a story. ideally to create an atmosphere in the work place where all of us can be as creative as possible. But when that facilitation breaks down I feel that the "failure to communicate" begins with the "warden".
My response to my actor (at least in my head) is: "that's your job..to figure out why you are saying what you are saying." That is at the core of the imaginative process of acting..making choices, bold choices, trying them on and discarding them if need be, but above all committing. As an actor myself, I know the frustration of saying lines that don't seem to have a connection in a play..but I also know that especially in a new play, there are things that will not make sense, and things that need full commitment from the company to see if they fly. I know at times that what we "feel" is really irrelevant. What we need to do is make a good clean cut (and I don't mean text cut although that is sometimes the answer and too often the actor's default request "It must be the line that doesn't work, not me.")--make that cut, sew it up and let the patient go home.
I think that, unwittingly, many of our actors, especially those that make a living doing TV and Film, become anesthetized by atrocious writing that we are allowed to change on the set to "make it work". This often leads to a tendency to think that "my character wouldn't say that" instead of "that's the line, make it work".
This is why Mamet got so aggrieved by what he calls Hollywood "huh" acting. He wants the actor to just say his words. If he is doing his job..the thing will fly,if he hasn't then it won't, but let the writer own it.
Back to my actor..I don't want to suggest that this was going on in their mind or behavior, not at all..but my failure to help, leads me to question not just my process and its failings but the whole process of how we rehearse plays..as I said yesterday, a world premiere done with three weeks rehearsal.
Today, hopefully I can give better facilitation--I want to help, but I also want actors to take full responsibility--I can't expect that unless I do too.
DIRECTOR TIED UP BY INABILITY TO ANSWER ACTORS QUESTIONS:
Thursday, February 26, 2009
director's notes 2
Chris Stanton came to rehs yesterday (Sound Designer) and we played with foley sound created by the actors to blend/mix with recorded sound. This kind of meta-theatrical approach (actors on stage watching actors perform, creating scenic and aural shifts/support for the action) is at the core of the kind of theatre that I learned working with James Reaney and Keith Turnbull years ago on Reaney's Donnelly trilogy. Reaney referred to it as "Kanuki Theatre". I love it, but I always end up questioning my love of it because we live in such a cynical age when it comes to such simple theatre traditions. Audience and practitioner alike has been inundated with so much "realistic" drama via TV and film that the predominance of "naturalistic" theatre in the Toronto theatre scene at one point became, for me, suffocating.
Anyhoo---it was fun to try and replicate the sound of a pot of burning turnips and the sound of Janine (played by Kyra Harper) scraping the grill in her cafe..the sound of potatoes deep frying (popcorn kernals poured into a steel bowl).
We are spending probably way too much time for the actors' taste trying to get the scene changes moving smoothly and briskly (see post #1) and I feel that old pinch of time trying to make sure that I give the scene work enough time and attention. NOTE to self--make sure you do!
Three weeks rehearsal for a new play--how does this country's theatre survive this way. Flo is fantastic support in rehs but there is so much to learn about the play and so much tinkering text wise to make sure it is "right". It is tragic that our theatres consistently do not have the infrastructure and funding to commit to a six week rehs period for new plays---if only the arts councils and foundations had a fund for new productions that specifically focused funding to additional weeks of rehs of new works. So much is at stake for the writer..we are a country for the most part of one production for new plays..the ones that get picked up are so dependent on strong first productions to make that impact.
Anyhoo---it was fun to try and replicate the sound of a pot of burning turnips and the sound of Janine (played by Kyra Harper) scraping the grill in her cafe..the sound of potatoes deep frying (popcorn kernals poured into a steel bowl).
We are spending probably way too much time for the actors' taste trying to get the scene changes moving smoothly and briskly (see post #1) and I feel that old pinch of time trying to make sure that I give the scene work enough time and attention. NOTE to self--make sure you do!
Three weeks rehearsal for a new play--how does this country's theatre survive this way. Flo is fantastic support in rehs but there is so much to learn about the play and so much tinkering text wise to make sure it is "right". It is tragic that our theatres consistently do not have the infrastructure and funding to commit to a six week rehs period for new plays---if only the arts councils and foundations had a fund for new productions that specifically focused funding to additional weeks of rehs of new works. So much is at stake for the writer..we are a country for the most part of one production for new plays..the ones that get picked up are so dependent on strong first productions to make that impact.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Missing Rehearsals-director's notebook 1
We had our first stumble through for lights on Sunday and it was, as usual, a terrifying experience for the director. You see your progress, but you also see how far you have to go. The choral work in the play is beautiful but of course it poses real stylistic challenges. We have four distinct worlds in the play that the designers author and I have to navigate..the budget and space challenges of a smaller theatre are always to be considered. We have to go rapidly from a highway cafe with counters, tables, stools and food to be cooked to a farm house kitchen to an urban apartment to a porch to a field or woods. Gillian Gallow has designed a fluid and impressionistic set and we are using the "chorus" to facilitate all scene shift..though we have kept props and set pieces to a minimum we still have to rapidly gave the impression of a different set..no turntables, flies with flats, IATSE crew of 5 to change the scenery, so it is a real exercise in imaginative staging.
The actors have all done really good work and though we are still addressing dramaturgical questions with script changes they have all kept a great humour and are totally committed to finding the truth in each scene.
Chris Stanton brought in a cd of mid 70's tunes by Canadian bands to listen to for pre-show music and it was great to listen to The Stampeders "Sweet City Woman" knowing that actor Alan Van Sprang's (Trevor in the play) father was in that band.
Jody Richardson's songs written for the production are great..I can't stop singing them.
The actors have all done really good work and though we are still addressing dramaturgical questions with script changes they have all kept a great humour and are totally committed to finding the truth in each scene.
Chris Stanton brought in a cd of mid 70's tunes by Canadian bands to listen to for pre-show music and it was great to listen to The Stampeders "Sweet City Woman" knowing that actor Alan Van Sprang's (Trevor in the play) father was in that band.
Jody Richardson's songs written for the production are great..I can't stop singing them.
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