Ten weeks! A whole ten. That a lot of weeks. More fun and games this morning with our Chameleons; though thin on the ground today as sickness seems to have struck. Better this week than the performance though we suppose. Still, the show must go on and so in the absence of the cast we needed to finish the play as planned, we rerouted and decided to rehearse the show as best we could from the start- with people in costume. There was also no Ben or Miles this week so with myself and Ella at the reins we launched into another week of madness through the wardrobe.
Before we got started on the rehearsal we had some down time with the cast. Sat together we talked about the show and about how everyone felt about it. The past few weeks have been very intense and we wanted to allow the cast some time to actually talk about the show and air any concerns they might have. This was important for everyone; we encouraged everyone to give honest opinions about how they felt. Many felt excited. Many felt nervous. Most of the concerns were about lines, some were about the order of the scenes. These are common things to be concerned about; and teaching the Chameleons that it is alright to feel this way helps to tackle those nerves which might otherwise get in the way.
Back to rehearsals and we decided to have a mini dress rehearsal. With so many cast this term we wanted to use the reformatted plan to allow everyone a chance to try on their costumes, The cast have been very patient waiting on these and while this was a far cry from the dress rehearsal we thought it would be a chance to try everything on without the added stress of the full run (everyone can enjoy it more this way). The cast are looking fab all dressed up and again we're excited to see it all come together on the Cygnet stage in a few weeks.
Following on from some of the concerns our Chameleons raised at the start, we decided to perform a run through of the show focusing on everyone entrances and exits. This helps the cast to learn the scene order, and going through at a relaxed pace helps everyone learn which side of the stage they should be on at what time. It's a bit of a dull admin task, but figuring this out is an important part of the show running smoothly.
After the runthrough we decided to finish with a game. The shape game is a great way to get the group on their feet and creating; so we decided to play that. Varying themes appeared this week such as objects from a forest, under the sea and creatures you would find in Narnia (many wolves, centaurs and tigers featured).
So we're on the home stretch now. One week of rehearsals. One dress rehearsal, and then finally the performance. Where does the time go? The cast are working tremendously hard on this show and it is looking fantastic. As always we are impressed by their efforts and very excited to stage the final battle next week when hopefully everyone will be feeling better. Until then take care and stay warm.
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