Tuesday (Open Day...)

Today we opened our (so far) tightly sealed rehearsal doors and let two very generous outsiders in. I think we were all a little apprehensive; it’s always difficult when you make and nurture material to hold it out and see if it stands on its own two feet. So after coffee, cigarettes, a croissant and a warm up our visitors were upon us. Those in attendance were Rosie Klich, a lecturer at the University of Kent, Richard Turney, a close friend of ours and avid spectator of our work and Lindsay Sparkes, a drama student at the University of Kent studying directing.

We had decided yesterday to show them a cross section of Postscript as it stands at the moment, including pieces of material we were happy and confident with and others that were much rougher. We ran through the lamp choreography (which has clearly become the beginning or one of the beginnings, in our minds), the lovers, the telephone, the dance and lastly, the writers. In the name of clarity and the joy of being concise I shall summarise the feedback we received and the discussions we had with Rosie and Richard.

On a very positive note they loved our use of darkness and said this is a unique aspect of the work. The solos and duos which happen in a single light were thought to be very emotive and captivating for an audience and Rosie said this is what she really likes about our work. Concerns and questions which were raised included the issue of sight lines, we will be performing on a thrust stage and as much of the action is very small we need to be aware of what the audience can and can’t see. I think the most important piece of constructive criticism we received is that we can afford to slow down and take our time with all of the material. Overly concerned with creating pace we were, without realising, rushing the actions, the words and the lights instead of enjoying what we are doing and allowing the audience the time to enjoy it to. We entered into quite a lengthy discussion about the shape of the show, the beginning, the ending and the overall effect we wanted to create. All incredibly useful stuff really. So a big THANK YOU to our viewers today, Rosie, Richard and Lindsay.

It was of great benefit and we entered the afternoon with energy and optimism and a drive to make things better. The realisation we could afford to slow things down and play more made a huge difference. This afternoon we tried to run pieces of material together to see how and whether they fit together. Surprisingly (?) it went well; the show is starting to take shape which feels really good. It is still a case of trial and error though, putting things together, taking them apart, tightening and polishing. This is where we will continue tomorrow. And who knows, by the end of tomorrow, we may well have the show, in an order, that works and that feels right.

On a super positive note our lunch was interrupted today with some incredibly good news, it has been confirmed that we will be performing at The Quarterhouse in Folkestone on Saturday 6th June!!!!!!

I shall leave things there for today.

Laura