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.
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