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Backstage Blog from the Production Department
September 1st, 2010 No comments
Due to an alarming interest in the backstage blog here we go again just to avoid sorting out the set store in the rain!
With just a week to go we’ve just done the final checks on the Spend Spend Spend! set prior to its paint call. With the overlays done (by Nelly and Jen) we now know we need to permutate it into four versions to fit in all the venues on the tour. So, Nelly and Tom (the builder) are working out which panels are removed/added so we can let Laura (scenic artist) know, so she can make those areas blend well with no obvious joins.
The next time we will see it is as Matt, “Moody” (our touring carpenter), and I load for the fit up next weekend hoping that we’ve “marked up” the set well enough. This is the identification on the back of each item which indicates where it is to be situated on the stage. Being well marked can save a lot of time on the “get in” as without being told, the crews unloading the trucks will know where to place the set as they bring it in, avoiding a lot of double handling. Our main concern is storing all the bits of set that we don’t need for the run at The Watermill but will join the main set on its first move to Guildford. (which is why I should be tidying the stores!)
Most shows have an element of set that we have adapted for touring, normally because of cost. With Spend! it is our roller shutter, which every show last year gave us a “Phew it worked” moment.
As Scotty would say “the motors will nay take it Captain”. The size of the shutter we needed was oversized for the built in motor in the roller. The company advised me that frequent opening and closing would cause an overheat and it would trip out, so to just leave it for half an hour to reset. The plan was only to use it twice during the show so there shouldn’t have been a problem.
This was fine until the start of the technical rehearsal where, as we had been rehearsing the same section a couple of times, the shutter got half way down and clunk, it stopped – tea break then. Inevitably the occasions when the shutter was to be open or closed per show turned into over a dozen, including a fast up and down twice at the end of the show for the finale.
So now, for the revival of Spend! We have a new roller shutter. However, we will be testing it at stupid o’clock next Sunday night when we get the set into The Watermill and are bracing ourselves for another “phew” moment. The new shutter, though less technical, is slightly bigger than the one we used last year so we have devised a “cunning plan” to make it fit The Watermill stage.
Hopefully the next three months will give us fewer of those “phew it worked” moments!
Lawrence T Doyle
Production Manager
Behind the scenes at The Watermill Academy
August 17th, 2010 No comments
When I was younger I was in the Junior Youth Theatre at The Watermill, then the Senior Youth Theatre, then the Young Company. Now I’m just about to enter my second year at RADA, so I hoped to be able to offer at least some useful advice to the students on The Academy in my role as Assistant. But the Academy was absolutely bursting with brand new ideas and techniques that I’d never come across! I hope I didn’t get too distracted from assisting by making notes of my own!
The mix of 6 girls and 5 boys were aged 16 to 22. The Academy aims to give them skills, tips and techniques for those hoping to audition for drama school or thinking about acting as a career. During the week, all of the 11 participants had to prepare and learn a monologue to present on the final day.
Beth Flintoff (the course leader) systematically went through all eleven students and worked on their individual speeches. On top of Beth’s experience, the Academy had a myriad of guest teachers throughout the week, working on stage combat, movement, and singing. On Tuesday, for instance, Luanna Priestman, an actress and movement teacher, ran us through a number of exercises such as choreographing whole dances from natural everyday movements. It was absolutely fascinating and so much fun!
After a group evening trip to Copacabana on Tuesday, the Academy students were lucky enough to meet up with a few of the cast for a Q&A session the following day. The actors talked about how they were first drawn into acting and a little about the drama school audition process— which I know from experience is not only brutal but nerve-wracking one. But it was immensely useful, particularly for those interested in musical theatre. And I found it really interesting just hearing about their launches into their careers. (For the record, I would really like to be Basienka Blake.) Listening to the students afterwards, though still daunted by the huge prospect of auditions and all the unexpected pitfalls that an acting career offers, I think everyone was buzzing. Sort of like an electrical brush with the real thing.
By far the biggest challenge for the Academy group was the audition panel. One by one, they went in to perform their speeches to a small panel. I was privileged enough to sit in on the auditions and it was amazing to see how much everyone had progressed. On the final day, they presented their speeches in front of an audience in the Watermill Theatre itself. They have all achieved something absolutely brilliant— I really hope they feel the same. I know I’ve learned so much from this week; I look forward to introducing the new games to RADA! I’m so excited to see where they go in the future.
Ailsa Joy
Backstage Blog from the Production Department
August 5th, 2010 Comments (2)
We’ve been shamed by the other departments to start a backstage blog. Here in the production department even that is preferable to doing the Spend Spend Spend! tour overlays, (this will be explained later – read on).
The theatre has started The Dress Circle – an opportunity for supporters to enjoy closer relationship with artists, performers and directors at The Watermill http://www.watermill.org.uk/individual_donors_watermill_circle.html So, a collection of ladies with glasses of wine sat in the front row of the circle waiting for us to start the dress rehearsal of Copacabana. This gives people a further insight into the workings of mounting a stage show and when I saw them in the interval they did not seem too shocked by any language or arty strops.
The dress rehearsal is the first time we put the show up to its running speed and in a mode where we behave as if the audience is there. It’s now that any gremlins come to light. Normally this will be the silly things we take for granted having only closed a show a couple of days before, like the cue lights having gone from the stalls entrance, (we use a traffic light system to start the shows in places around the theatre we can’t cover with a member of the stage management team), or sometimes working lights, mirrors and headsets have been moved. These though, are generally only minor irritations considering what has happened over a “Fit up” weekend.
After the last show on a Saturday night everything is taken out of the theatre, sets to be recycled or stored, costumes and props returned to where they’ve come from and all the lights taken down and repositioned for the next show. In order to do this we normally have to take out a couple of rows of seats and the side door off its frame (yes there are no large loading bay doors) no matter how big a set that comes in we have to make it fit through a normal door. All of this is done with only three Watermill staff, the remainder an array of freelance, casual and volunteer crew without whom we could never make it. Why they do it is a mystery to me! It surely is not for the money and generally the stress level is quite high and the hours very antisocial, but the humour is always good, given the eclectic mix of professions that are helping. We have people who work in IT, the motor trade and even a local farmer (who had to leave at 1am as he was lambing).So we work with some unique stage terminology that we all understand. Most theatres use ‘prompt’, ‘side’ and ‘stage left’ – few use ‘upstream’! One of the reasons we are unlike many other theatres is that we are very much part of our community. I know that people won’t be offended if I ask for their support both practical or by supplying us with goods or services. This blog gives me a chance to thank all those who help out as often we get things to late to include our thanks in the show programme.
Spend Spend Spend! is returning to us before a national tour and already Great Shefford Social Club have lent us a collection of small bar stools that look great for the period (60’s retro northern is still very strong in parts of Berkshire!) and John at Whittle Woods is tracking down some more engineered oak so we can add to the set floor for touring. Though we are looking for about 24 square meters of grotty pub carpet, a couple of beer engines (hand pumps) and old metal based pub tables and high stools.
On a seasonal note we are already onto Christmas! (Hayley, the designer, has given us set and prop breakdowns) and we are trying to create something eye-catching to help market the show. Those who have been to Copacabana will notice the subtle flashing LED palms outside the theatre (it was Craig’s idea!) they were featured on the Gadget show and supplied by Festive Lights normally costing £999.00 each (please check their website). They kindly sponsored us with a lot of the cost but I would still like to get about £400 each for them to put towards production costs of forthcoming shows. However as our Christmas show is Treasure Island we would love to keep a palm tree for a display. So as a Dragon would say, here is my offer. For £500 I will make you an Island! If you are a company we will put your sponsorship details on a sign on the island to be seen by thousands of people who visit the theatre. Please contact either Production or Stage management for further details.
Oh yes, now to the overlays. This is the practice where we work out where we put our sets on all the stages we visit whilst on tour for Spend Spend Spend! We need to take into account what the sightlines will be like, where there are the flying bars above needed to support the scenery and position the lights and work out how we mask the rest of the building so the audience can not see all the quick changes occurring in the wings. Also just how much extra flooring and “grotty” pub carpet we need to make the show look just as good as it does here.
Lawrence T Doyle
Production Manager
Kupenga Kwa HAMLET – preparing for the tour
August 2nd, 2010 No comments
On a bright Thursday morning I went to the Oval House Theatre in London to talk to the Zimbabwean company, Two Gents Productions, about their version of Hamlet, which is touring our rural venues and playing at The Watermill in November. I’m here to watch a practice run so that I can start work on our educational support for schools. There is that slight tension in the air that always comes before an important final rehearsal. They have recently returned from Zimbabwe where Kupenga Kwa Hamlet met with success, but they’ve been making big changes since then and it’s their last rehearsal day before flying to Poland to perform in the Gdansk Festival tomorrow. ‘I suppose we’ll have a few hours to rehearse in Poland before we perform,’ Arne, the director, muses. ‘Perhaps you can talk on the plane?’ I suggest optimistically. He beams.
The distinctive ‘township’ style of Two Gents relies entirely on the charm of its two performers to work. But charisma is something that Denton and Tonderai have in spades. The two of them play all the roles with total confidence, switching from Hamlet to Ophelia as casually as if they are sipping cocktails by the pool. The audience is the third actor in this production: fellow conspirators with Hamlet one moment, and meek subjects of the King the next. As Arne and I are the only audience members for this runthrough, I begin to feel as though I have quite a large role to play. It’s a hot, airless rehearsal room but the sounds of traffic on the road below fade away as Denton’s Hamlet suddenly turns to me and says thoughtfully: ‘To be, or not to be, that is the point.’ It’s impossible not to be simultaneously moved by the beautiful muscularity of the poetry and swept up in the action as we hurtle through a four hour play in 80 minutes.
Later, we go for sandwiches in a nearby Portuguese cafe (clearly half of London has fallen for this company: even here, the three of them are treated like celebrities). We talk about the choices they have made in the production and how it will go against expectations. The text is taken from the First Quarto: a kind of rough and ready draft of Shakespeare’s plays, taken in note form during the first performances, before a full script could be put together. It’s not normally used, but that ‘rough and readiness’ suits their style perfectly: the unexpected quirky humour and a good-natured irreverence towards this famous play means they have made it their own. I can’t wait to see what our audience will think of it. I guarantee you’ll never look at Ophelia in quite the same way again…
Beth Flintoff
Learning & Participation Director
Copacabana – fourth week of rehearsals
July 21st, 2010 1 comment
Week 4
Firstly, I must apologize for the delay of week 4’s blog. This is due to how utterly hectic the last week has been.
Week 4 started with us all being hot-seated by Craig. This is an exercise which helps us with character development. We start building a back-story to all our characters and find out how they are all connected. Individually, we have to enter the space as our characters whilst everyone else interviews us and asks us questions. These questions can literally be anything. This is such a good exercise, which adds another layer when it comes to putting the show back on its feet.
We have also had the luxury of using the staircase in the rehearsal space. The staircase is a huge part of the set so it is vital we get to grips with it sooner rather than later. Every actor’s worst nightmare – a staircase and 4-inch heels.
We continue on with the rest of the week gradually going over the show and adding more detail to scenes, occasionally completely changing what has previously been blocked. It’s always interesting revisiting certain areas of the show, especially after all the character work we have recently done. As a company, we come to realize that original choices that were made weren’t necessarily the right choices. This is the joy of the job though. Being able to experiment with ideas.
It is very noticeable that we open in a week’s time – everyone is starting to feel the pressure. Time is running out and we are all aware of how much we still have to do.
Friday is the first day we run the whole show. This is always an interesting one. After the run you begin to realize how much you still have to do and work at. Although, saying that, the run goes quite smoothly.
Next week is tech week and that’s a whole different story. This is where we find out if all the quick costume changes etc are really possible. I can’t quite believe we have come to the end of the rehearsal period. It’s been a real rollercoaster of a ride. Mind you, after all this sweating in the heat, we are all feeling slightly more confident when it comes to wearing our rather skimpy showgirl costumes. I’m looking forward to getting the show up and running and seeing it all come together.
Laura Pitt-Pulford (Lola La Mar)
Copacabana – third week of rehearsals
July 7th, 2010 No comments
Another hot and busy week. Craig’s mission is to get Act 2 on its feet. It’s a real rollercoaster of a ride for Lola. Act 2 is full of drama: kidnapping, drugs, violence, but, for those looking for romance, there’s plenty of that too.
The week commences with the cast learning the choreography to ‘Ay Caramba’. My character doesn’t appear in this number, but I’m starting to wish she did – the choreography is fierce. It’s going to be a great opener to the act.
Tuesday’s an incredibly long day. Rehearsals continue on into the evening and, by the end, we all decide on ‘one’ quick drink before bed. Oh dear…‘one’ drink soon turns into another…and another…and another. We all have to let our hair down at some point, right? Well, that’s what I tell myself as I polish off my final glass of wine and stumble into a taxi.
Wednesday morning is a joy! There’s nothing better than waking up with a stinking headache and a weak stomach, knowing you’ve got a full day’s rehearsal ahead of you. Nevertheless, we all carry on with rehearsals in a very professional manner. No time for hangovers in our schedule!
We manage to get through a run of Act 2 on Friday afternoon. It’s a short act which covers the majority of action in the plot. By the end of the day, we’re absolutely shattered and desperate for a couple of days off to digest it all.
Now the basic blocking is there, the work really begins. From next week we will start to dissect the piece and colour the characters. Bring on week 4!
Laura Pitt-Pulford (Lola La Mar)
Copacabana – Second Week of Rehearsals
June 28th, 2010 No comments
End of the second week! Two stone lighter and a body full of bruises. What a week it’s been. We’ve spent our time putting Act 1 on its feet – which, I might add, has been very successful. Of course, the heat hasn’t helped. As lovely as it is to have the sunshine blazing through the rehearsal room, it does mean that, when it comes to setting the dance numbers, the room turns into a sauna of hot, sweaty bodies. Attractive, eh?!? Copacabana’s not short of dance numbers – that’s for sure! The heat coupled with the upbeat and demanding choreography has meant that, as each day passes, we find ourselves wearing less and less clothing. One evening, Cassie and I even went as far as rehearsing our tap routine in just our bikinis.
Talking of bikinis…mid-week I was sent to have my first costume fitting. Wow! Let’s just say I suddenly appreciated all the dancing I’d been doing. The costumes are rather – how can I put this? – SMALL! I say no more. You’ll just have to buy a ticket and come to see the show. However ‘small’ the costumes are, they are all very beautiful. The wardrobe department certainly have their work cut out.
Overall, another exhausting, but great week. Our tea breaks are no longer spent basking in the glorious sunshine, but staying in the rehearsal space, practicing like mad, desperate to retain all the dances Craig has been setting. However, everyone seems to be rising to the challenge and, on Friday afternoon, we were able to do our first run-through of Act 1.
Now I’m off to soak my aching muscles in a long bath and prepare for week 3.
Laura Pitt-Pulford (Lola La Mar)
For show information and to book your tickets go to What’s On
To find out more about director, Craig Revel Horwood visit www.craigrevelhorwood.com
COPACABANA – FIRST WEEK OF REHEARSALS
June 18th, 2010 No comments
First day of rehearsals are always rather nerve-wracking. Walking in to meet the rest of your cast. These are the people you will be spending the next few months with (and, of course at The Watermill, live with). They all appear a lovely bunch and as the first week goes on my initial thoughts are confirmed.
There really isn’t much time to breathe when it comes to rehearsing for an actor/musician show. Within the first hour we have meeted and greeted, had a tour of the theatre and are sat down playing the opening number. Yes, it really is that quick! It’s amazing how quickly you get to know each other. The first week has been mainly sitting around our music stands learning the music and singing through the numbers. It’s unlike any other process – normally you don’t get to hear the band until your tech week, but here we have the joy of a band from the word go.
After each day I am absolutely ready for my bed. Although I find myself lying there thinking about how much there is to learn. It’s very hard to switch your brain off.
On Wednesday we put the music stands aside for the afternoon and Craig, our director, decides he is going to put our tapping skills to the test. This consists of us all standing in a circle and individually copying his steps. Sounds easy right?! Ha!!! I think we are all ready to get back behind our music stands.
Thursday is another day of music learning. The sun is beaming outside, so every tea break is a dash for the door to catch a few rays and top up the tan (and who said actors were vain?!) Luckily I get the afternoon off which means I get to lay in the sun – whilst learning my lines of course!
Friday we start to put the show on its feet. From the beginning of the show we begin our blocking. This is always an exciting day as this is the day we can start discovering our characters. So… overall a great week. Lots of hard work, but looking forward to moving onwards into week two.
Laura Pitt-Pulford (Lola La Mar)
Brontë sisters swimming and an excitable Bear.
April 28th, 2010 1 comment
It is a beautiful day, so warm that it could be mistaken for July. We have been eyeing up the millpond for several weeks, waiting for a day warm enough to brave the water and today was perfect. After baking ourselves in the garden, Lizzie (Emily Brontë) was first in… we were very impressed that she managed to keep smiling despite the fact that she was subjecting her body to mean temperatures. I was next and rather less elegant than Lizzie-Emily in my pond entrance, I opted for the rope swing route. Fantastic fun! Swimming against the flow of the millrace is like being on a treadmill as the force of the water is so strong that you can’t move anywhere. We had no option but to keep moving which helped to keep us warm. After a little persuasion, Kristin (Charlotte Brontë) swung in to join us. The millpond was full of numb Brontë sisters. The resident Watermill dog Bear was very confused as to why there were people in the millpond and not ducks and drowned our yelps with barks that quickly drew attention to our now not-so-secret swim. We did our best to persuade the others to join but as we were clearly covered in goosepimples, we were fighting a losing battle. I am not sure how long we stayed in for, but long enough to blow the cobwebs away and feel fresh for our show this evening.
Flora Nicholson (Anne Brontë )
A new website, a new venture.
April 20th, 2010 No comments
A new website, a new venture. Our new site going live coincides with the start of our collaborative project with leading theatre company, Shared Experience , The company is now in rehearsal for our revived production of the award-winning show, Brontë . We’ll be using the new blog to give you an insight into the work going on in the rehearsal room through the eyes of the actors. Nancy (Meckler) the director, is using an extended rehearsal period to develop further the skills of the young cast (David Fielder excepted – a very distinguished and wonderful actor, playing the role of the Brontë patriach and who many of you will have enjoyed seeing in our recent production of ‘Heroes’). In her early years as a director in the States, Nancy worked in a very similar environment to that which we have at The Watermill, where the cast and creative team live and work together onsite in the relative tranquility of a rural theatre. Having built a distinguished career as a director and artistic director she is as delighted to be returning to her theatrical roots and we’re excited to have her working with us. Keep checking the blog for an update on how Brontë is developing and for a behind the scenes look at all aspects of life at The Watermill.
Hedda Beeby
Artistic Director
