The diary of the new girl.

It is our first week of public performances, and we all feel match fit – raring to go. We are ready to see where the laughs land or need work, figure out the acoustics with a full house, and get the full show rhythmically into our bodies.

Monday is Waggy’s birthday, we head for a big breakfast in Chicago (I’m talking eggs and hash and toast and pancakes big) then board the coolest looking train I’ve ever seen to head back to South Bend. A zoom with the professors for this weeks workshops, and we all plan a little bit before meeting in the Lobby to drive Waggy to a surprise destination (a fun games bar). Where we were met by Scott, Matthew and Cate and ordered tacos, pizzas, beers. The man running the music bingo that night recognised Sam, Anna, Cate and I from our incredible karaoke performances the previous week, and persuades us to join in the bingo. A faction of us break away to play pool, and the night ends with a basket ball toss competition (Waggy, the birthday boy, wins with 37 points in 45 seconds).

Tuesday is the start of workshops and we have our tech in the afternoon. Anna and Sam (tech 1 & 2), superbly set up and plot the whole show with Scott, Brian and Kadie-Sue. The rest of us arrive to cue-to-cue the show, run the storm in the new lighting state, go over some musical bits and finally, exhausted but satisfied, meet in the lobby to line run the whole play before stumbling to our rooms at 11pm ish.

We were all proud of our first public show on Wednesday, well paced, well received and well enjoyed by us – we felt like we were still figuring out some moments, but overall 5 happy actors readied themselves for the rest of the week. Thursday’s show was a bit slower, Michael mentioned the dreaded ‘second show syndrome’ and we were all being careful to not get complacent, putting clarity as a top priority, but as Anna wisely reminded us all – we need to trust the work we have done on clarity throughout this whole process and pick up the pace, a note that we all put into practise on Friday, and the show runs at a lick. Now we’re getting into the groove, we’re all sad to be leading South Bend; this feels like home now, but also excited to take our show to more places, and meet more people, tell our story to new audiences & to continue to play.

The diary of the new girl.

So much has happened since I last put pen to paper that I don’t really know where to begin. So, I’ll keep this blog like the perfect skirt, short enough to be fun and long enough to cover all the important bits.

Monday was full of admin and paperwork. We were all pretty jet lagged and only just managed to make it through an afternoon of rehearsals. We were taken out to a trivia night by some of the team, and although I felt like my eyes wouldn’t stay open at first, the energy in the group & the variety of questions kept us all on our toes. We knew all of the Irish music questions, and I slightly embarrassed myself by my confidence answering a question about Snow White. A lot of fun & beer was had.

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of being wide awake at 5am from jet lag and meeting the others in the hotel gym for a pre rehearsal sweat, figuring out how we make our storm more chaotic & enjoying the South Bend food scene (I had the best Mexican bowl & spicy margarita of my life). I took a trip to Trader Joe’s and immediately fell in love – can they come to the uk please?!

The theatre at Notre Dame is truly spectacular, great acoustics & a gorgeous playing space. By Thursday we’re having lots of fun & do another run through of the show, where we find new things, we play.

Peter & Scott watched our showing on Wednesday and their confidence in what we’ve come up with filled us all with joy. A few notes to work through on Thursday, we head out to the brewery and I experience my first (and definitely not last) beer flight.

Even starting to write about Friday leaves me feeling a little emotional. We did our first preview at Westville correctional facility, the floor was dusty & the stage is anti-raked, the acoustics were terrible – every word echoed, we knew we had to be on the top of our games. And we were, slowing down the language, articulating & making sure every thought was clear, it was a necessarily muscular show, in a 30° room with no air con, and it was two of the best hours of my life. We got a standing ovation, and the q&a with the prisoners afterwards showed how much they had understood, and taken away from the performance, their questions were intelligent and kind. The themes of freedom, power, love, revenge, forgiveness stayed in the air well past the final line.

I’ve always loved theatre, its magic & ability to transport the audience to another place, seeing a story that might resonate on a deep level, might make you feel something, change your way of thinking. When you become an actor, leave drama school & start working, there’s a trap you can easily fall into, where you forget about what theatre is truly about, and silly things become important (the ‘name’ attached the show, the theatre you’re playing, who’s at the press night blah blah blah) and this prison showing (in Sam’s brilliant words) was like when you recalibrate yourself on google maps. It brought us all back to the power of good story telling, keeping it simple & clear, the connection between the audience & the players. The words. The play. Each other.

We drove into Chicago, which made me nearly cry again, Scott took us for a delicious meal, which made me actually cry, and then we went to the house of blues for some live music. Sam managed to persuade Anna and I to finish the night with a pickle back – honestly disgusting, but also a highlight of my weekend. The other highlights included: the art institute, a Pilates class, vegan ramen, accidentally joining a half marathon that was taking place along Lake Michigan, the DuSable museum, Anna stamping on a wasp while we ate lunch on the river, swimming in Michigan lake, the architecture boat tour. Chicago has a piece of my heart. Now back to South Bend to continue the Tempest.

The Diary of the New Girl.

Pardon? Week 5? Are you having a laugh? 10 minutes ago it was day one, and now we’re in the final week of London rehearsals? Bile rises in my stomach at this thought as I cycle the treacherous roads in south London, a tube strike meaning road rage is at an all time high this week. This rehearsal process is reminding me a lot of marathon training – we are all in need of a lot of sleep, food, caffeine, we’re mentally and physically tired but also gaining strength, stamina and working our imagination, craft & voices like muscles. It’s hard but it’s worth it, we’re about to enter race season.

Monday sees us run the first half in the morning and the second half in the afternoon, we note down moments that need work and individually note things we need to remember to remember (where a prop is place, perhaps – or if a line was slightly in the wrong order, who’s hat is that? Etc). It’s looking in an alright shape and on Tuesday we work through all these gnarly bits, smoothing them out. By Wednesday we’re ready for our first showing to the associate directors, but Waggy helpfully reminds us all that this is a showing of where we are at, and not a final, polished version of the thing. I exhale slightly.

We did do the showing but, to be honest, I can’t really remember what happened as I was so full of adrenaline and cortisol my brain has mostly blocked it out. It happened – that much is certain. A lot of our feedback was positive, and the main note was that because we have done so much work on clarity and sense of the story, we now have the opportunity to release all of that, trust that the work is done, mess it all up a bit, make it weirder, wilder, let go of the reigns and enjoy it. We can do that. We head to the Brixton brewery and enjoy beers, crisps & pizza, desperate to switch off but totally unable to. We get told off by the people behind the bar for playing our ukulele’s and practising some songs. They obviously didn’t realise it was a group of THEATRICAL GENIUSES at work. 

Packing the suitcase and trying to get it under 23kgs was arguably harder than dissecting act 4. We’ve somehow managed it though and head home at the end of the week to pack our own suitcases, say goodbye to our family & friends & try to sleep a little. 

So, here I am, sitting on our American Airlines flight, about to take off, typing up the last few sentences of this weeks blog. We met at Heathrow Terminal 3 and hugged dramatically like true luvvies. Waggy, Anna & Michael kindly take some of my clothes from my suitcase as I am * gulp * 5kgs over the maximum weight. My shoddy packing skills revealing that this is, in fact, my first rodeo. We whisk through security, spray perfume all over ourselves in duty free and head straight for a fry up, coffees and an airport pint. I keep feeling embarrassed at how excited I am but the gang reassure me being “cool” is overrated, and what’s the point in life if you can’t feel joy, right? In next weeks blog I’ll let you know at what point in the 7 hours 30 minutes flight the excitement leaves my body and is replaced by boredom, but in reality, looking at the movie selection, that’s unlikely to happen. Fasten your seatbelts, we’re ready for take off. 

The Diary of the New Girl.

“Are you playing my aboriginal clackers?” – the quote of the week, from Michael (playing Alonso & Stephano), which sent us all into hysterics. Laughter has been a big theme this week in the rehearsal room, which is a useful tool as a company. Sometimes when a group of people care so highly for the work and the play, laughter can be the first thing that leaves the room – not for us. We laugh about Michael’s guilty pleasure T.V. Show (Take Me Out presented by Paddy McGuinness), we laugh at Waggy’s (playing Prospero & Antonio) love for his cats & halloumi sandwiches, they laugh at my self proclaimed incredible knowledge of Taylor Swift, we laugh at moments in the play that don’t make sense yet, we laugh when we feel silly trying something. In this room laughter equates to acceptance, and love, and safety. Note to self – carry this out of the rehearsal room into my life.

The opening quote of this weeks blog came from one of our two musical half days this week with the wonderful Tom Chapman, we added texture to scenes and transitions using bells and shakers, imagining an island full of snakes and magical creatures. We try on all our costume, create props lists & discuss important things to bring on tour. We rip pages out of books and make bottles that look like they’re made from the bark of a tree and buy metres and metres of fabric. Sam and I play with a jacket until it’s just right. We dissect the Ariel speech in Act 3 and as we gradually make our way through the beats & meaning, the sense of what Ariel is trying to achieve becomes clearer, and although there are moments when I feel vulnerable or (to be totally honest) rubbish, the other four kindly and intelligently communicate their thoughts in a way that makes the notes land on me, and I am (hopefully and slowly) beginning to access them.

We stagger the second half for Jenny Higham, who helpfully comes in to be on book, take some pictures & give notes. Miraculously, we make it through pretty unscathed and Jen seems really pleased with what we have so far, giving some really helpful thoughts and points for us to work on. We all found the stagger so helpful, each knowing what we need to work on individually and as a team now. Anna has tears in her eyes and says she’s moved by how proud she is of us all, and I am relieved I’m not the only one holding back happy tears.

By the time Friday rolls by we’re all exhausted, hopeful & happy (the dream triumvirate for a good week). Final week in the rehearsal room next week, first stagger of the whole play, and more laughter.

Special mention for this week goes to Michael for his genius idea to get Adrian off stage in act 5 – when you watch the show, keep a look out!

The Diary of the New Girl.

Monday was a bank holiday in the U.K.- so an enforced 3 day weekend, which, to be honest, we all needed. It’s hard enough to learn one part in a Shakespeare play, but we’re all playing 3-5 parts each, and although we are all pretty much off book, we’re too busy making the thing during the day and too busy doing life (washing, eating sleeping) in the evenings to have time to go back over anything, so the extra day meant we all came in on Tuesday having rested, gone over any decisions we’d made last week, and having revisited the text, raring to go again.

This week has been a lot of going over the scenes for a second, more detailed time. Making sure what we’re saying makes sense to us, and to anyone listening. Deciding relationships between characters, objectives and intentions. Carefully combing through our combined craft toolkit to discover the best blocking for story telling, whilst also keeping it feeling free and flexible. About 30 minutes is spent on how best to mime carrying a pile of logs. I love my job. 

The week passes in a blink of an eye and by Friday we have a minor panic about being at the end of week three, but we talk about it. Sharing that we all feel similarly enormously helps, and we reassure each other that we are in fact making good progress. We try on some costume pieces, wondering if that shirt looks too beachy, or those shoes are too heavy (I’ve never had more respect for costume designers) and talk about hat colours and styles until none of us quite frankly want to see a hat ever again. Terrifyingly, we know we need to revisit act one scene one, the dreaded storm, that we have all been putting off, knowing it will be a big challenge. “Why a challenge?” you might ask. The answer is multi fold – the storm opens the whole play, I can’t remember which of my cast mates poetically put it that ‘if we get them here, we’ve got them’; start with a bang and audiences can immediately be in the palm of your hand, the ball is in the air (the challenge is then to keep it there for the whole play). There are only 5 of us, no set and minimal props, so we have to rely on imagination and audience suspending their disbelief. It’s a famous scene, and the title of the play is ‘The Tempest’, the pressure seems almost too much.

We dive in, plunging into idea after idea, and gradually something begins to come together… we keep changing and trying and choreographing until we create a ship, sea, storm & shipwreck with nothing more than a rope and ourselves. We finesse and add detail and practise until we collapse, tired but very satisfied and that big scary thing is now not very big and not very scary. We are eating the elephant. And we are eating a lot of chocolate biscuits. 

Pub, pizza, sleep & back in for a Saturday rehearsal to work on a couple of moments we’ve not had time for yet this week. We are patient and kind to each other, knowing we’ll only have one day off before week 4, but still manage to wade through a lot of work, and keeping the work we do at a high standard. Next week will no doubt bring more fear, more success, more hats, more elephants, and more biscuits.