The
company have had workshops in dance music and circus skills and are now ready
to begin rehearsals.
They have seen pictures of the set and costume ideas and are aware of how
important every cast member will be to this touring production.
MEETINGS
This past week has been a week for technical meetings. The lighting meeting
resulted in the need to hire special lighting in order to be sure that each
venue was able to produce the vibrant and colourful show that is needed.
We have in the set lots of white surfaces and each actor will have a white
umbrella and a torch which in turn will help to create the magic that is part
of this show' s message. Godspell is about a transformation that happens when
people find out how to trust themselves and one another with the simple but
collossal truths at the core of St Matthews Gospel on which the show is based.
Therefore we are searching for simple ways of transforming a simple space
into a magical one. That is the whole point of 'theatre' anyway.
PROJECTION
Today I had a meeting about the projections that we want to use in the show.
We decided on simple photographic images from world events which bring the
messages about feeding the poor etc bang up to date. I don't want the show
to be so busy with images that the message becomes confused but if we select
the perfect moments to bring home how relevant the story is in todays world
then projection will make its own contribution to the whole visual story-telling.
BUILDING THE SET
On Monday the builders will begin to make the central step formation and the
9 boxes which we will have in rehearsals from Monday 20th January.
DESIGNERS VISIT
On Tuesday 21 and Wed 22nd Giuseppe and Emma our designers will be coming
to rehearsals armed with torches and umbrellas. They will also attend a production
meeting at the Everyman Theatre along with the theatre's and our technical
team. This meeting will give us all a chance to run by the Everyman staff
our plans for the technical week and hopefully uncover any potential snags
well in advance.
SOUND
I have to meet the sound designer early next week to see how much my requirements
will cost.
REHEARSALS
They begin on Monday at Park Campus TC007 at 7.15pm and I can't wait!
Sheila M Mander
When
we started back we were able to use the large set of white steps, the 9 boxes,
12 umbrellas and torches.
These were marvellous to use in rehearsal but required the whole cast to carry
them from the chapel to the rehearsal room and back again at the end of the
evening – and the steps were HEAVY.
Immediately the umbrellas and torches began to be used in the story telling
and with the stimulations that the props created the cast became very creative
at finding links with the gospel stories and their world in 2003. Soon there
was an
excitement that comes when a cast begins to find ownership of the rehearsal
process.
Gareth our MD, was not available for the first 4 weeks so we began to block
the show and play about with ideas before we'd learnt the songs. This is not
the way I usually work but it gave us a chance to experiment and develop the
piece.
Fiona began working on the dance elements so that when Gareth was able to
join us there was an enthusiasm and feeling for the 'feel good' quality that
we were aiming for in the first half of the show.
Now we are into March and the songs and dances are beginning to take shape.
There are 10 rehearsals before the Easter break and the pressure is on to
meet deadlines.
It was decided that we would use as many radio mics as we can afford and Simon Spry from the Everyman Theatre will enjoy working with the 6-piece band. Matthew Meyey, a freelance theatre practitioner is going to bring along a powerful projector and operate it for us. One of the students Paul Cartridge is going to operate lights under the supervision of Michael Hall the Everyman Theatres chief electrician who is our lighting designer.
Sheila
M Mander