It’s here at last, after all the planning, rehearsing – online and in person, travelling, organising, writing and re-writing. Whew!
The play has evolved quite dramatically – and comically – since Brisbane. What a difference it makes playing with different people. I am so glad this is the kind of company Thunder’s Mouth Theatre is. There is no standing still, either creatively, philosophically or intellectually when you work this way.
Our tech run went well, I just love Space 55. It seats 50, the audience on risers, with a small stage area, black curtains at the back. Just perfect for Dame June to spring up and down, chatting to the audience, wandering at will into and out of the dark spaces of the mind, playing with, for and about Shakespeare’s language, and dealing with whatever events the evening happens to throw at her. Good luck, June!
Now, I’d better get those posters ready to stick up in the lobby, and drop around to the other venues I’ll be visiting over the next three days. Better late than never – I trust.
Today was quite a day, in the scheme of things. I was invited to sit in on Micha Espinosa’s voice class at ASU, indeed, I was given a mat, a zafu and a ball and invited to join in, so I did. It was wonderful. Relaxing, invigorating, inspiring and revealing in equal measures.Then I was invited to lead a class. It was an honour to step in to help out, as the scheduled teacher was suffering from laryngitis. This was an undergraduate class, first year students, still getting to grips with the basics of voice work.
Time and again, I found myself quoting June Bloom, rephrasing her words so as not to freak myself out! The past few weeks I’ve been concentrating on promoting the narrative side of the play, June’s story, her relationship with her son, the challenge of dealing with the intrusive stranger. Today it was far more important to highlight June’s mission in life, which is to promote the value of the voice in performance, and to demonstrate by example how it contributes to the life of Shakespeare’s texts.
After lunch, Lauren picked me up and we set off to find Estrella Mountain Community College. I was disappointed to discover that it is not actually up on the mountain, but I assume one of the mountains that form the backdrop to the college is indeed Estrella Mountain!
Lauren arrives at Estrella Mountain Community College
Backdrop to Estrella Mountain Community College
The Plaza Gallery
Estrella campus
Our Phoenix director Angela arrived, Lauren and I changed into our cossies (that is Australian for ‘costumes’) and we did a dress run in the Plaza Gallery, the venue for our performance on Thursday. We are doing a slightly shorter version at Estrella, to fit in with the college timetable, but hopefully we shall revert to the full version for the Fringe performances.
We were pretty darned pleased with ourselves. The room is quite lovely, an octagon with a high ceiling and a fantastic acoustic. There are lots of opportunities to absolutely send the voice out ringing the rafters (metaphorically speaking – there are no actual rafters). I’m looking forward to rediscovering our play in the company of students thinking they are attending a lecture…
Yesterday we had our first rehearsal, together at last in real time, and in real space.
It’s hard to quantify the difference, but I’ll try. We no longer need to rush back to the computer screen when we feel the need to make a strong point to each other, or just remember that the other person can’t see us if we move too far away from the webcam. We don’t have to stop and restart Skype every time the sound or vision goes down. We don’t have a constant whistle in the background!
Lauren and Angela
Most significant of all, is the sense of the unique human presence in the room, and the particular energy emanating from that individual presence. It has an effect, physically, on the performers – and I suspect the director also – that is just not there when working online. This is a challenge for the emerging medium of live, online performance, if it is also to be developed and rehearsed online. It has something to do with the very essence of live theatre.
Of course, it’s possible to compare online performance with film and tv. But in those cases, the performers were present in real time and space when they were filmed. To create performance from scratch, with only the possibility of working online is a whole new ball game, and I look forward to seeing how it evolves – preferably from the inside!
