Off-book…. not off-Hannah!

We’re a scary two weeks away, and it’s feeling good on stage. Now Tim’s focus has moved away from the rather fantastic Porter’s Lodge, and we have his full attention, we’re getting familiar with sound cues and finding out what they sound like in the theatre. Today we had some of the set to play with as well, and it started to feel a bit more real. 

Distressingly, every time I complain to someone that I’ve got too many lines, they just roll their eyes at me and say “well you DID take the part of the title-role, what did you expect?” – which is a fair point. It made me realise what Peter Crerar has been going through all these years :D. And in fairness to Peter, I have his words ringing in my ears nightly… “there’s no secret trick to line-learning. I’m not ‘good’ at it. You just have to work at it.” And that is what we have been trying to do…. We’re at a stage, I would say, where we each have a strong inkling of the GIST of the line, but not necessarily all the words, (he really does like his adjectives), and certainly not in the right order. 

We’re still playing about a bit with the characters, but they really are starting to “spring off the page now” (as it were) and we’re relaxing into them a bit more… as well as building confidence in each other. When you can nervously glare at your fellow actor, and he immediately picks up, and nods “I’ve got this”, because you left a prop the other side of the stage, and he grabs it wholly in character, you know you’re reaching a state of trust. 

We also met our hair and make-up back stage today, which was exciting! Leah sat through our whole rehearsal, looking only slightly perplexed, and even accepted a huge pile of flyers, which she’s promised to distribute around college “shamelessly”. We said that was a key requirement of a good flyer-er. 

And as for the very busiest member of our cast and crew, well, I hang my head in shame, and confess it now… it’s the prompt. She’s very long-suffering. She even had to project quite loudly over some banging going on in the back of the theatre today… we’d go, pathetically, “line???” and she’d give us the line, and we’d scamper over to her and ask her to shout it a bit louder. 

Have you got your tickets yet? Edith in the Dark, 6-8 December at The Undercroft in Hampton Hargate; available for £10 from Edith in The Dark | Eastern Angles 

All in the dark? Edith reveals all…

Our very own Edith, sometimes known as Emma Goldberg, sheds some light on Edith in the Dark rehearsals (so….many….puns)

I know, I know, it’s been so long since you’ve had an update… we must be keeping you in the dark, deliberately! And so much news you’ve missed! We have made it, with trepidation, through the whole play. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I’m terrified! Oh no, wait, that’s just because of the number of lines I have to learn. 

And then there’s been the whole Guasto debacle! Tragically, we lost a cast member. I mean, we didn’t “lose-lose” him. He didn’t fall behind the sofa. I hope. It’s just he had to pull out of the play unexpectedly. So we set up the search for a new young man for Edith to cougar over. (I mean, seriously, she’s shocking). We were inundated with wonderful offers, and thanks to all who got in touch. Sadly, many of you were then not able to help for one reason or another – “I’m in Thailand for most of November” was my favourite one. But we eventually found a very willing and gifted actor, albeit one that doesn’t entirely fit the age profile. But with such a good looking chap, it’s nothing a bit of Just for Men won’t fix! And Welcome Mr Guasto, AKA our very own Phil Lewis! 

So we have a cast and let the shenanigans begin. Phil and I have to exchange many a sultry glance while I’m trying to fix him with my allure. And failing. And corpsing. Hannah, who has kindly stepped in as prompt, is probably the busiest of any of us. We like to make the prompt feel valued. And I’ve learned a valuable lesson about why being wordy is incredibly annoying. I frequently have more admirable adjectives inserted into each well-honed sentence than an ordinary, plebian bloke would ever shake an angrily tangled branch of petrified rowan at. That’s all I’m saying. 

Oh and I get to push Phil over. So… more soon! 

Come and see Edith in the Dark at the Undercroft at Serpentine Green Hampton Hargate, from 6-8 Decemberat 7:30pm nightly. Tickets are £10 and are available here: Edith in The Dark | Eastern Angles

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly ye show?

Books down for Tales from the Porter’s Lodge and excitement and tension are in the air.

 

This week we had transitions, which is probably the most frustrating rehearsal in any play as it involves just the beginning and end of scenes and very direct directing. “You stand there, you walk that way, you cross the stage in this direction, you leave by this exit”….etc; very bitty and nothing to really get your acting teeth into. Still, it did give me a chance to do all of The Porter Interludes for the first time.

We have also had all of the sound cues this week (though not always as dramatic as they will be on a full PA rather than on laptop speakers) and they are adding proper tension and atmosphere to the three plays, while not distracting (hopefully) from the fabulous performances that the actors are working up to. As an unrepentant “techie” the sight of a fully programmed sound cue system fills me with disproportionate delight!

In other news, the set has been painted and looks brilliant, we are sorting lights and the PT has asked for some cast shots for the press release.

So, onward and upward and let’s bring this wood to Dunsinane!

Get your tickets early for Tales from the Porter’s Lodge at The Peterborough Theatre Function Suite (formerly The Broadway Suite) – October 31st to November 2nd, 2018.

Available through the website or on the door.

 

The spaces between the words

It’s not just the words, it’s the spaces between the words.

As the rehearsals for Tales from the Porter’s Lodge continue apace there is a real buzz building. The cast are now finding the people behind their characters and new nuances are appearing with each run through – we are digging deep for the emotional aspects that bring the stories to life for the audience and the tension within the tales is beginning to shine through.

Highlights this week (for me, at least) have been Matt and Tonia working through the emptions of bereavement, Kiera and Karl choreographing a tense dance around the stage, Rich and Sam enacting Romeo and Juiet and, especially, “Dead Millie”.

This week we have been working a lot on space: the space between the lines that leave us wondering what the actors are thinking, the physical space between characters on stage to highlight relationships (or their lack) and the space between the audience and the play (which may not remain a constant during the performance).

Even with scripts still firmly clenched in hands for some of the scenes, there are moments of tenderness, humour, goose-bump inducing tension and spine-chilling horror.

Get your tickets early for Tales from the Porter’s Lodge at The Peterborough Theatre Function Suite (formerly The Broadway Suite) – October 31st to November 2nd, 2018.

Available through the website or on the door

A director down – Edith in the Dark

Unfortunately, this week we were down a director due to illness, but we intrepid three soldiered on…mostly.

We quickly learned that blocking scenes without an outside input is awkward at best as actors suffer from an abundance of creativity; we all had different ideas about how a scene should flow and look.

Instead, we focused on what we knew and had done before; the opening scene is really coming together and dare I say it, I may even know my lines!

We had a play with one of the stories as we will be performing this in due time as part of some cheeky marketing.

I love the little breaks that the tales within the play give; they are often funny with a dash of slapstick in some places, but make no mistake, they are just a ghoulish as the rest of the play!

Get well soon Helen, and congratulations on being the PT Hero!!

Edith in the Dark begins

Alex Tyler tells us about the first Edith rehearsal

Let it be known, I love the Undercroft in Hampton; It is a cracking space and I’m glad Mask is finally making use of it for Edith in The Dark.

Right, mini-gush done. Everyone always says first rehearsals go well, I have been guilty of it in the past, but I actually mean it this time.

We only got through the first seven pages, but we are already mucking around with movement and basic blocking. Plus, Emma threw a book at me…with little prompting and no hesitation…

The script is wickedly dark and just as funny, and that’s only the first few pages of the first act! I wish I could see it, you lucky devil’s you!

Something wicked this way comes

Rehearsals for Tales From The Porter’s Lodge have begun in earnest and I’m already starting to get goosebumps.

As always, getting the cast together and moving about raises new ideas and possibilities for setting and characterisation. Some of the ideas are……challenging; I’m not sure that we can actually make actors disappear and reappear elsewhere without major rearrangements to the architecture of the Broadway Suite.

Elsewhere, Matt, Tonia and Kiera are already showing signs of being a wonderful family together – relationships between characters is one of the things Mask does really well – and Matt C has begun to bring back the characters in Henry Gladstone.

This is looking to be a terrific Haloween treat, so book tickets early for Tales From The Porter’s Lodge at The Broadway Suite; October 31st to November 2nd 2018.

Buy tickets now or on the door

The night before…

It was our final rehearsal tonight. The farce is farcical, the jokes are jovial, the mugging is muggy. I think we’re ready!

We had so much fun tonight (which is either worrying or great), there was some giggling on stage and plenty from the audience (director and prompt), which was a great sign!

I think a couple of things clicked for a few of us tonight. Ryan and I had a conversation with Phil about status and stillness, and we both tried to root ourselves a bit more tonight, which really felt like it worked.

The dances both seem to have come together as well, which feels fabulous. It’s so fun when we all get it right! For a company of non dancers we all feel very proud!

So, tomorrow we open at Crowland Abbey, then onto The Waterton Arms in Deeping on Friday and Moonhenge on Saturday.

Then next Tuesday we start in the park.

Here’s how this makes me and my twin feel

We hope you can come along and see us! Tickets are still available from http://www.masktheatre.co.uk

With scenery

Today we rehearsed with the door for the first time ever! There’s one scene where my Antipholus is locked out of his house and a bunch of hilarity ensues when (not his) Dromio teases him from inside his own house.

We have created an ultra special door through which we can have plenty of slapstick antics. We’ve been miming it for a while so it was amazing to have the actual thing, and it was great to see the scene come together. The physical comedy in this show is so important and it feels now like we’re finally hitting the mark!

We also ran the last two scenes, including the final revelation and the dance. It was great, felt super energetic and really good fun.

We open a week tomorrow (eeek!) at Crowland abbey and it feels like we’re really ready now.

We have a run on Sunday and then three more rehearsals next week. Good to get into dress and really get the pace up.

It’s an exciting but nervy time. We’re all keen and raring to go! But are you? Got your tickets yet?!

http://www.masktheatre.co.uk

From start to finish

Tonight we did a full run! Ooooh! And actually it went pretty well, considering it was the first time we went from the beginning all the way to the end.

There’s definitely still work to be done; some line insecurities and such, but on the whole it’s looking pretty snappy. We even ran the first dance without too much incident!

I know I’ve still got some character work to do. I’m definitely not playing enough of a prat. My Antipholus is a real show-off. A womaniser and a prat. I need to find some inspiration. Either I’ve got to start watching Love Island or I need to head down to Edwards of a Saturday night.

It’s a toughie, this play. There is lots of speaking. It does get confusing. The mistaken identities are all the same but they happen so many times it’s hard to keep track, even when you’re in it. We have to think. A lot. And I wonder how much of that thinking is still showing through.

However, it does feel like we’re in a good place. The music is fun, the scenes are fast paced (on the whole) and the characters are starting to come through really well now.

We open next Wednesday (unbelievably) – have you got your tickets yet?!

Once again this you can cheat the weather – book your ticket for any night (except Crowland) and then choose your show!

www.masktheatre.co.uk