Time and Place

As we move through the last third of the rehearsals for The Mousetrap it's interesting to ponder the country manor murder canon to see how the scenario is cliched and what we need to make this work. The play is a period piece, costumes, furniture, accents are all of another time and place.

The current crew discussion is about the carpet sweeper. I am pretty sure there wouldn't be a vacuum cleaner. I don't believe it would be a plastic sweeper, and given the war that it is not likely to be metal one either, so the hunt is on for a wooden one.  I'm not sure they had bakelite even. Given it is carried through and referred to we do need to have it.

Other issues are the gun, the script says revolver and I think that's what we need, while currently we have a German or US automatic.

Getting the right couch has been a constant worry.  Would one of the characters be eating an apple in winter?  Is the manor on a sewerage system, prompted by the line about the downstairs water closet? When did rationing finish? Were there still travel issues and what papers were people carrying? How did phones work in those days? What music were they allowed to play on the radio?  All playlists were approved by the Ministry of something.

As well as this verisilimitude the crux for the show though is getting attitudes and behaviour right.
English stiff upper lip, the mores and customs are now quite foreign to us, whereas 25 years ago we knew the conventions and rules a lot better.  One of the issues is the rapid rise of US television here. I read recently children here see more American Tv than anywhere else in the world, including the US.  Downton Abbey is a welcome arrival.

The deference to the upper class and the class system are further from us than ever before.  We are rapidly creating a new class system but it is closer to Dallas than Agatha Christie.

The early discussions on men standing for women as they entered the room,  women not shaking hands with men, how to sit on a chair were just the start.

The younger cast members haven't seen a lot of the old murder mysteries. The whole issue of how people react and defer are all a little complicated.

If we are to succeed in this work we can't let the audience think... 'That's wrong'.

The characters, their attitudes and movements need to fit.  And this is a part of the work in the next 3 weeks.

The Posterous Failure

Originally this blog was on posterous.com but posterous are 'pursuing other opportunities' or somesuch euphemism for shutting down.  Since I wasn't paying I understand, but hey could have asked.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Rehearsals progress.

The big picture is good, stunning characterisation is appearing as the script becomes more familiar and the company develop the story. One or two stunning vibrant characters suddenly appeared last week, and in ways I wasn't expecting.  Today one even ramped up more. It's feeling very good.
I'm talking now about a company approach in my discussions with the cast.  In my mind, in a strong production, sections of the audience leave saying a different actor gave the best performance, so that all of them rank as producing excellence. It's not a contest but if all aspire to create a character in context that appeal to those that see it and is memorable and real, then you have created a  work of performance art.

Key challenges include, the onstage murder, making a badly written resolution to the play work,  the relationship of the couple in the play, not over doing the humour, getting the levels of emotion at the right pitch, making a long potentially turgid second act flow and drip with tension.

At the beginning it was clear for this play to work we have to achieve the spine tingling horror of a thriller, with a script that can sag into cliche and all the worst aspects of bad performance.
Oddly enough I nearly organised a showing of Jaws to focus on the menace of what you can't see as the terror is the suggestion plus the audiences imagination.  The modern cinematic approach is to show everyone everything as graphically as possible, theatre can't and nor should it try. 

Little challenges throw up as we go.  

- The lack of flats (standing panels used as walls etc... for the set) was one issue which has now proved to be a good thing, as more of the church will be the set.

- Getting all the actors assembled is a modern perennial now, work, illness and other activities get in the way. Easter may prove to be a problem.

- the vocal issues around accent, projection, and idiom- hardly a surprise with a 1950s English play in an era where microphones are used for everything.

We have less than a month before performance, the mice are going up the clock, and I'm confident as I can see how they run.  

The other actor II

Background:

Saint Michael and All Angels was the first church in Christchurch. the original building was a makeshift schoolroom-cum-church so small that people were likely to hit their heads on the beams. Its early history, closely connected with that of a young settlement, vividly illustrates the problems of colonial life. Yet, by the late nineteenth century, St Michael's with a fine new church in the heart of a growing town, was the leading Anglican parish in the Diocese of Christchurch, perhaps in New Zealand. Its worship and life were typical of those aspired to by many Anglican churches in New Zealand for the next fifty years. From 1910 however St Michael's diverged somewhat from this model. It became, and has remained, a sometimes notorious example of Anglo-Catholicism in New Zealand.

St Michael's is a Late Victorian Gothic building combining elements of the French fourteenth century gothic, and English Medieval styles. It was designed by William Fitzjohn Crisp and is one of the few buildings known to be designed solely by Crisp. The church is constructed entirely of Matai timber (native black pine) on rubble stone foundations. St Michael's is one of the largest timber churches of its style in the world and possesses a warmer atmosphere than one you would find in a stone building. Such a massive timber building requires an intricate framework, with pillars carved from single trees supporting nave arches and huge tie-beams in the roof structure. Structurally the church has changed little since completion in 1872, the only alteration being the 1896 removal of a tie-beam and secondary arch to give a better view of the east window.

Who are you?

And last week the actors all answered this for the characters.
It's a question that pops up in the play several times, but is never answered definitively.

Even in the case of the murderer(s) some details were still unknown.

What I found valuable was
a) the level of detail the actors had come up with, and how specific they could or couldn't be
b) what the specifics were.

The script goes so far ; it tell us who people are as far as the script goes.
Now the actors create the characters. It is their creative talent and craft that make this production: The Repertory Mousetrap April 2013 - the art form it is.

I'll ask the cast again to tell us some character background and add questions to find the bits we can't see, but may need to make this production truly authentic.

There is more to discover.  And the depth of the issues in the characters will take us closer to the truth.

Progress

It's nearly the time for scripts down.

The actors are making a great go at some rather fiddly bits of text.
There is a hint of some avoiding the nastiness of the play.

The next week will show how we are settling in as we'll be at a month till opening on Wednesday.

The media publicity has proved a struggle.
The advertising is looking very good.

The side of a bus

Shhh it's a secret

There are many issues and ideas I feel like discussing with people about this production. Unfortunately some of them become spoilers. In fact most of the issues lead to suggesting or giving away something. For example the actors are playing characters who are in many cases hiding something.

To discuss the journeys or issues we have to work on always leads to some truth or lie in the play. One actor is looking at a very incriminating secret that impacts on their performance all the way through. Even their presence at Monkswell Manor is an issue.

Another is hiding their knowledge for reasons that become clear. But there is very little else I can say. What is interesting though is the process of sorting out how equivocation is treated in performance without giving anything away and without giving anything undue weight either as a clue or a red herring. The team are approaching his well. Tomorrow's rehearsal will include an introduction of characters by the actors. The introductions will include information in creating a consistent past that leads them to the time and date of the murder, also it will help explain their equivocation if they are innocent. The rehearsal may also include actors changing parts to see how we can play with motivations and responses and build on the frame we have.

We'll also return to looking at issues of time, that is manners and social mores in 1952 England. For example men standing when women enter the room, how people sit, and is cross-legged acceptable, and class issues.

The Mousetrap -some bits and pieces

Some interesting bits and pieces:

• It is over 60 years since it opened, the first performance was  25 November 1952.
• The West end production has had over 25,000 performances.
• Remarkably it broke the record for the longest run of a play in the West End way back in September 1957.
• The original cast included Richard Attenborough.  There have been too many famous actors to name but Kiwi Alice Fraser was Mollie in the 21st year of the play (1978).
• Up until 2010 outside of the West End, only one version of the play could be performed annually.
• Agatha Christie thought it might run as long as 14 months.  It was originally a short story then a radio play.
• Each year the cast of the West End production has changes but by tradition at least one actor stays on each time.
• Canterbury Repertory Theatre was to have produced the first NZ production in 2010- but the earthquakes mean this will be the 7th production.
• Tom Stoppard's play The Real Inspector Hound parodies many elements of The Mousetrap, including the surprise ending- I've directed Hound  and the connections are interesting.

Going Like Clockwork

The experience directing every play is unique, and not in ways I expect.

This one, the script requires strong continuity attention, more so that the Real Inspector Hound, or any of the Shakespeare's, Ayckbourn's or others I've worked on. The recent plays I have started with 'shaping' not blocking per se then into detail work. Macbeth, the neo-panto, the one act plays, and Fringe Festival plays have all lent themselves to this approach. The Mousetrap hasn't.

The play is more like a clockwork device that has to be calibrated and then wound up, the complex issues around the characters and their relationships and attitudes require precision. Rehearsals seem to need a blocking and detailing approach right from the start.

This week we were going to have Act 2 shaped. We still might. There are a few section that need rehearsals of 2 hours for 2-3 pages. This week rehearsals will include, the first small group discussions, a visit to the venue, the setting of the March rehearsals. Next week the characters will be invited to introduce themselves in a rehearsal designed to complement the group work. The group work is to help the actors understand each other, and build trust and teamwork. The character introductions is designed to develop this further.

Today (Sunday) the rehearsal was, again, brilliant. At one point I thought again how pleased I was at one of the casting decisions. Sometime you can't but help thinking you've got it right. There's a lot to do, a lot, but the team on and off stage are really strong. Each rehearsal leaves me buzzing. Ang the Prod Man (:p) and I tend to debrief after each one. She has been working on the set issues, and I'm very happy for her to get on with it. I'm really impressed with the ASM Jess and we get the SM tomorrow. Some parts of the play are far too good with actors already flashing brilliance in moments of profound performance.

The charm is wound up!

The other actor I

Having done work with performance outside traditional theatres and in non theatre spaces I've become used to using them.

I've tried to approach these spaces as if they are actors in the play and see what they can bring to the production. Wellington Fringe festivals had me using empty offices, a tv studio, cafes, a travel agent and writing plays for an empty office, a cinema and an auction house.

The Elmwood Auditorium, a disaster of a space, I used in different ways, including having a 30m deep stage for Macbeth. St Michael and All Angels Church is another case. I know this church better than any other, having been to school there, (including school services once a fortnight when I was young and once a month for he last few years) and being in the choir on Sundays for 4 years and being an altar boy and then thirifer for 2. My father's funeral was there and I've been to other funerals and weddings. It suits The Mousetrap, set in a Monastery the wood panelling and church features add to the production. But it's a pig In terms of many features for this script. The challenge is to use the space effectively, without proper wings and issues getting from one side to the other of the stage.

I want to see how we can make the silent cast member a star of the show.

Setting The Mousetrap

Aside from the many bad puns directing Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap will be in good taste.
The ultimate in country house English murder mystery productions this is an exciting challenge.
But first some background
The play has been running for 60 years and over 25,000 performances in London.  The old rules stipulated that while the West End production is running only 1 other show can be performed anywhere in the world and all productions must be professional.
Some time in 2010 some of the aspects of obtaining rights changed and every highschool in the US seems to have put it on badly.

Canterbury Repertory Theatre was to have the first NZ production, scheduled for Nov 2010. But the earth moved, the world changed, the theatres collapsed and somewhere between 6 and 10 productions have been held up and down NZ, including a High School in South Canterbury. Perhaps the biggest insult was the Australian production that toured and in their publicity gave away a part of the mystery presumably because they were devoid of other ways to be noticed.
As there are only 4 remaining theatres in Christchurch I'm aware of, we're performing at a non theatre venue: St Michael and All Angels' Anglican church. This is fantastic as it looks like an old Monastery in some of the features so that will work well.  More on the venue another time.
Our performance dates:  11 till something later in April.

This production.
At the time of writing it's the first week of rehearsals. The auditions threw up actors that took my breath away. I went in with some ideas of who and what I wanted and this was thrown to the wind. I will return to this as well in another post.
First rehearsal as Wednesday. I made the decision to start the rehearsals at the end not the beginning of the play and it worked very well, apart from one actor in hospital. I've never seen or heard of rehearsals starting at the end of the play but given the issue of how characters need to react to each other this seemed a good place to start. 
I wanted to make sure we all know and understand where we're going and get the appropriate equivocal, enigmatic or complex reactions identified before we go back and sort out Act 1 through. And to know the character arcs.  When I was doing one play some years ago I remembver not getting to the second act till halfway through rehearsals and not having a full script I had no idea how it ended.
Today I met the woman doing hair and make-up and I also met with the designers for the poster and art work.  Faith had a lot of ideas and the look for hair and make-up is promising.
The brilliant ideas the designers (G&A Nelson) presented was hinged on a Noir theme.  Given the aim is to have the audience's spines tingle this is looking like a great direction.
I'll come back to Repertory and how good they are, and the cast and these issues later but this is a great start.  Angela the production manager has been fantastic and I just need to get her to pencil in the 'what the hell are we doing and why?' week in sometime in March. Only pencil though it might not be necessary.