Bob Frith's VEIL BLOG REHEARSALS 2008

GO TO BLOG FOR:

FEBRUARY 2007
MARCH 2007
APRIL 2007
MAY 2007
JUNE 2007
JULY 2007
AUGUST 2007
SEPT 2007
OCT 2007
NOV 2007
DEC 2007

1.03

Just over a year ago I started this blog, and now it’s the time for it to end.

Last night was the opening of Veil, although we previewed it on Thursday. I’m a little too tired to say that I can view Veil objectively. On Thursday evening I was worrying about the projections laptop crashing as it had in the final rehearsal that afternoon. It didn’t, except for one short frozen image, and the audience – mainly teenage – were totally absorbed. The performance was excellent – everything and everyone working with a tremendous sense of ensemble.

Last night the show wasn’t quite so totally in control, but was solid and impressive nevertheless. I even found myself relaxing and enjoying the story as it unfolded, despite having watched scores of versions of the same thing. The reaction of the audience was highly positive (although the man from ‘The Stage’ had somehow been mislead into believing that each Act told an entirely separate story and was understandably confused - until I explained). One or two people told me it the best thing we had done. Perhaps – but it’ll take some time to know.

Thank you to everybody who has stayed with me on this journey. If you ever get to see Veil then let me know what you thought of it.

Bob Frith

26.02

Our final tech day at LBT, and it went smoothly, allowing us to run useful chunks for the performers – and everyone and everything meshed together brilliantly. Of course there’s a list of things to look at in more detail, but the big picture looks good.

So tomorrow we’ll look at those details and then run the whole piece. I’ll film it and then we’ll look over the film. If it’s necessary we’ll run it again (we have the theatre until 10 at night). Then Thursday we’ll have a slightly later start and put in a final run with notes before the first public performance starts at 7.30.

23.02

Yesterday the team packed up the set, props, costumes and masks into our two hired vans. I went shopping to buy last minute costume and props. On Monday we move into the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, where we spend three days adjusting things to a fully equipped theatre space, and on Thursday we open for business. We call it a ‘Preview’ but in fact tickets are sold to all-comers as per normal. Then there are shows on Friday and Saturday; after that the tour proper begins…..

Our second run (last Thursday) helped Richard and Julie set light and sound cue points, and they are almost there with cueing. The films are in place, although some need finessing; the final film footage needs further thought – it doesn’t quite hit the mark. But the performance was a little flat and uninspired. The performers at this stage are tired, and it’s easy for them to coast, waiting for an audience. A similar thing can happen with general discipline – arriving late for sessions and so on. This has caused Tess, our Tour Manager (and one of the performers), some headaches. It’s a difficult position for her – she is very much one of the team, but is also responsible for their punctuality and general professionalism.

Most of the performers are doing well, and a few are beginning to really ‘push’ their roles, finding new details that fit easily within the overall narrative. This is what I would expect – Alison, Loz and I have almost given all we can. Now it’s over to the cast, so it is disheartening for us when we see anyone giving less than 100%. Still, yesterday was very focused; the company have a break this weekend – I’m optimistic that we’ll really hit our stride when we get to Huddersfield.

20.02

The day we ran the whole show for the first time.

The past few days we’ve been working on the weaker sections – there has been a major change 20 minutes into the first Act; a tightening up of the story-telling in the difficult sections that involve leaps forward in time. But this has paid big dividends – the narrative runs well now, and there’s a consistency in the pace and rhythm that helps give the whole piece a sense of purpose. Another challenge has been the signal breaking up whenever sound and film were running together. We’ve had two days of this when it has been very difficult to gauge the effects of fades in and out because of the freezing and jumping of the projected image and the sound. Still, today Julie seems to have the upper hand – whatever she has done to the laptop, it’s beginning to behave. Vanessa has delivered the puppeteers ‘default’ costume – they look great, and have been made with her usual style and high quality. Unfortunately some don’t fit, and Alison has had to work at home, putting in extra panels and hoods to finish the job.

Anyway, we’ve run it – and it’s solid. Everyone has worked very, very hard, and now we’re beginning to see the beyond the cueing and timing to the story inside. A good day.

15.02

A week of big mood swings for me – I started out on Monday wanting to run the complete show for the first time. But after seeing the first Act I abandoned that idea. It had looked and sounded creditable last time we ran it, but this time it was featureless and flat. One big difference was that Julie had, in the interim, installed Richard Owen’s draft light settings and cues as well as Loz’s music cues, and neither of these were synched together. Previous to this Julie had been manually improvising the lights and sound and this had begun to provide the necessary structure within which the performance narrative was beginning to emerge. Now, with a new system and new instructions it wandered all over the place. That night I felt anxious – 6 weeks of focused work and that’s all we’ve achieved!

Something like this occurs with just about every production I’ve known. The end is in sight; you expect a sprint to the line; but next time you look up it’s further away than before. The solution to the problem is usually the same too – putting in precise and synchronised punctuation of lighting and sound cues. So that’s what we started doing – painstakingly going back to the beginning and working through; and that took up the rest of the week until late this evening.

In the course of doing this the performers were able to run and re-run their parts; and that was very useful too. Everybody gained – everybody left feeling good. The performers should now have a solid platform on which to hone their performances, and we’ve almost a week to do it. Every performer goes about this in a different way. Tess already has experience of the way we work, and working with our masks which has clearly helped her; others seem to work fairly intuitively, feeling their way into the character and the music, although clearly this masks a wealth of experience and technique. Others have a more formal approach – wanting to understand the motivation and personality of their character first. This route seems harder – and we have seen some struggles to find those qualities. All of this is especially hard because everyone plays 3 or 4 different characters, hopping around madly from one character to another in seemingly random order. The performers who manage easiest are probably those who first look at the story we’re telling, and what it’s asking of them, before they look at the inner motivation of their character. Like a puppeteer manipulating their puppet – except that most of the time the role of puppeteer and puppet is merged. Whatever, everyone is making great progress – and this is an ensemble piece; every performer being equally important.

 

8.02

The second Act has thrown up some problems. The mechanism to support the winged bull should have been designed way back - for the technical rehearsal period in October - but the problem has only just been resolved (thanks to Jonny). The timing requirements to lift this big prop in to (and out of) place on stage have therefore only been looked at this week. The impact has been to change earlier blockings (the position of the performers on stage) and forced us to modify a number of things at this rather late stage. In turn this has affected the music and the cues.

We've also had a problem with a performer not being able to hear the music cues through his mask, which is padded around the ears. Loz has put in more prominent musical 'signposts' to help the cueing, but the problem hasn't been solved. I may have to drill a hole in the mask through the ear. In general cueing is the biggest issue now, and for the performers this will be the focus of their work over the next two weeks.

Still, there's much to be delighted by. The basic blocks of the storytelling are all in place - we've just the last 2 scenes to work through - and they are looking/sounding good. Inevitably all slightly out of focus, but clearly the structure of the piece is working well. The production is running at just under 2 hours - one hour the first Act, and 50 minutes the second, which is pretty much exactly the estimate I made at the writing stage.

6.02

Today was worth noting. We ran the first Act for Richard Owen and for the first time I felt that the magic started to show through . Loz’s music is great; the voiceovers work well; the performing beginning to happen; and there was enough lighting to get a sense of how it might work. I think everyone felt good after that. Then I spent the afternoon with Richard and Julie looking at the film of the run and discussing lighting. Alison worked with Tracy on her tantrum scene…and its aftermath. They ran it for me at the end of the day – very strong, and touching.

4.02

We ran the first Act twice. The architecture is in place, and 95% of the music. This is an interesting but difficult time in rehearsal. The substance is there, but very little magic. That will come from working with the performers to create their characters more fully; clarifying precisely where the narrative focus is at any moment; and articulating the musical axes around which the story unfolds. At this moment it’s like having a novel, but without the punctuation. Reading it soon becomes dull and monotonous. The main missing element is lighting, and although Julie is now able to give us some very approximate states, until Richard Owen comes up with something more detailed I’m nervous about setting exact on-the-second timings for any of the transitions.

We had a group visit from Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield today, including Victoria Firth the Director. LBT is where we’re opening Veil in less than 4 weeks time and it was great to be able to show them around the set and discuss progress on the production. LBT is very excited about hosting Veil, and we're equally grateful to their collaboration in the project - enabling us to have a production period on their stage before opening. This was going to be the arrangement with The Dukes, Lancaster, that had to be abandoned because of funding issues on both sides.

1.02

We’re now at the stage when we can run sections of the first Act. Although we’ve only had 3 full days this week working on the show; one of the members of the cast had to attend a funeral, and today has been a day to familiarise the cast with driving the tour vans, as well as catching up on making and costume. Still it has been a full-on week, working late most evenings. Jonny has been heroically working in the (extremely cold) back garage finessing the set carpentry; Ali has been hard at work publicising the tour – this morning we recorded a podcast that should be up and running on the website in a few days time.

There’s also been some anxiety among the cast as to the rehearsal process. For most of them we follow an unfamiliar trajectory; one that, as Loz said, is closer to the process employed in creating music-theatre than drama. It means that the precise and time-consuming plotting of music and blocking (stage direction) comes before detailed work with the performers on their character and development. In fact this isn’t totally ignored - there's always a degree of work taking place shaping the characters. But it isn’t the first priority at this stage, and this is often alarming for a performer. To compensate we are now spending the first session each day on mask and character work, usually led by Alison.  

Katherina, en route to an interview in Leeds, dropped by on Thursday afternoon and watched rehearsal. One section she saw has a group of refugees fleeing from a town under mortar attack. The images of people carrying young children running and ducking for their lives are very strong. Nabil, who was brought up in an area of Iraq close to the border with Iran,  reminisced that whenever there was a bombardment this sound always made him throw-up as his family ran from home to their shelter.  

25.01

The company are now through the second stage of working on Veil. We’ve put music to everything; done a fairly precise blocking; looked at the masks and costumes – usually in performance; and are just beginning to put some lighting into the mix. In places where the physical action totally determines the momentum of the narrative we’ve also undertaken relatively detailed work on the physical performance.

This week we’ve concentrated on the second act. In contrast to the first act, it’s very much about the states of mind, and the emotional relationships, of the main characters. This has meant having to identify the key moments where the story moves forward and to what motivates those developments. It’s also continually necessary to relate back to events in the first act. We don’t have words to do this, so the precise use of objects and accurate placing of musical themes – rather like leitmotifs – becomes the key to good story telling.

The cast has worked hard. The day starts at 9.45am prompt, with 30 minutes of both individual and group warm ups. This immediately runs into rehearsal which finishes at 5.30pm. Between there's 45 minutes for lunch and two 20 minute tea breaks. I try and work to this schedule as much as is practically possible. I’m looking at how the storyline unfolds in terms of meaning, and at the physical and practical ways we use to achieve it. Alison has generally concentrated on details of movement. This double act has worked well, and on the whole we’re slightly ahead of schedule.

Each evening I update the script, adding in the days discoveries. The underlying architecture of the script remains the same but much of the detail has changed. This may seem an odd way to work, when the script can be pulled apart and reassembled each day. For me it’s important to separate the writer from the director; but most of all it’s about recognising what’s important in the script and what isn’t. If the underlying framework of the story is strong enough it’s easy enough to make big changes to the way it’s told.   

18.01

Second week of rehearsal. The first Act has been worked through in more detail; blocking with some accuracy and working to the music. The biggest problem we’ve come across, by far, has been manoeuvring the scenery, particularly the high flat screens used to create the house. Jonny Quick is working on all the carpentry, improving the stage assembly systems - but these screens are 3.5 metres high and unless the performer carrying the thing is taller than six foot, the carrying centre of gravity is inevitably top heavy.

I think of these moveable stage objects as puppets. In part because even moving flat screens can nuance a narrative – are they fragmenting as they come apart, or is the process smooth and inevitable? Do they suggest buildings as they move around the stage, or perhaps obstructions? The director has choices to make that can help suggest the way a storyline is developing. But as with any puppet, the way the object is designed and built will have a big affect on what the performer/puppeteer can do with it.

David Edmunds, the Production Manager visited this morning – he was able to see our first attempt at linking together music with the blocking in some sort of run. Of course it was very rough; costumes and masks weren’t used for a start, but I could begin to see the shape emerging. The fact that the music is so well developed is a real asset for the performers; soon we’ll be able to start taking cues from the music. Before that happens, however, there’s just the small issue of the Second Act to get through.

 

 

12.01

The first week of rehearsal has been an excellent start. The aim has been to move through the whole piece in sequence to work out a rough blocking, as well as get a physical handle on how the stage story unfolds. This was done efficiently by the cast, and it enabled us to look more closely than I had dared hope at two of the possible problems with the piece – the issue of scene changing with a such a small cast, and how to approach the pivotal scene that involves a potentially difficult and violent physical attack.

The cast, who have also had to get to know one another during the week, have really impressed. The four sharing a rented farm nearby has probably helped this process, and the level of interaction with Alison and myself as directors, as well as with one another, has been very rewarding in terms of developing a deeper understanding of the material.

On Wednesday we were able to do an Italian run of the First Act; and on Friday the same with the Second Act. At first there was some bemusement as to what this meant – my understanding is that it originates in commedia, and it’s a run through of the material with certain clearly defined ‘internal’ objectives. ‘Internal’ in the sense that it functions for the cast and director rather than an imagined audience, so the energy level and focus is pitched inward. Our runs were to identify if we had left any holes in our rough blocking and note-taking, and to begin to look at what the backstage timings and needs were – for example was there enough time allocated to change costumes and mask throughout? Whatever the roots of it, this approach can be a very useful rehearsal tool, although everyone involved needs to be very clear about the rules of the particular session.

Next week we go back to the beginning of Veil, and start looking at it scene by scene – adding music, and some lighting. Erik is dropping by with the rough versions of the filmed sections. For the first time the precise timings and choreography will really begin to matter…

 

 

7.01

We’ve started! The group of performers met up at 9.45 this morning. Zoilo had flown straight from Spain; Tracy, Frances and Nabil arrived last night and stayed overnight at the farmhouse they have sensibly rented together above Bacup. Tess came in on her usual drive along the M60 from Stockport.

The morning was spent meeting Loz, Julie, Emma and the office staff; going through administration; brief notes on procedures and the tour; and finally I ran through the script giving a scene by scene description and a short analysis of the storyline. After lunch we went straight into rough blocking through the story, quickly covering the first four scenes. We combined this with looking at masks and costumes, making some changes, and noting jobs to be done/things to be found.

There was a good mood. We dealt with things briskly, but with humour. Nabil was already able to help with his observations of Iraqi life. Just how women beat the dust from their abayas, or how a man travelling through the desert might carry his things on a stick – water, a kettle perhaps, and so on…. this will be very useful.

I’ve come home now, feeling very pleased; looking forward to tomorrows session – and thinking that this seems a good group of people.

 

 

2.01

Rehearsals start on Monday (7th), and for the few days left we'll be working to ensure that they start smoothly. There's still painting work to be done, both of masks and puppets as well as staging - but the bulk of it is ready. There's also filming to be completed by Erik, who will be doing some blue wall filming tomorrow, using Tess (our Tour Manager/performer) as the subject. Loz has still plenty of work on the music and voiceovers.

The first week of rehearsal will be a quick trip through the script. The performers will try on their masks and costumes, take notes, and roughly mark through the action. Once we get to the second week we'll go back to the beginning and start work in more detail - even trying some rough lighting states and music. The music is especially important because action and music will need to be synchronised together very precisely - to the second, in fact. The performers learn their notes, rather than their lines (there aren't any), so when we return to a section they know exactly where they need to be on stage, and what the sequence of actions is.

 

READ AN INTERVIEW WITH BOB FRITH ABOUT VEIL HERE.

GO TO BLOG FOR:

FEBRUARY 2007
MARCH 2007
APRIL 2007
MAY 2007
JUNE 2007
JULY 2007
AUGUST 2007
SEPT 2007
OCT 2007
NOV 2007
DEC 2007

CONTACT BOB FRITH bob@horseandbamboo.org

 
Cool Bloglistings BAYAREAKICKS here: Air Force 1s