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.
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