Rehearsals
I think it’s always hard for a writer in rehearsal, for many reasons.
Currently, I am surprised that lines are still not learnt 100%, mid way through rehearsals, but that’s the way these things go. Does a nyone have any opinion as to when actors should be off script?
So much is in flux, I don’t think there’s much more I can say.
On other matters, I’ve won a BBC World Service commission to go along side the R4 one, so that’s good. Yay!
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2 Responses to “Rehearsals”
I strongly feel that actors should be told quite clearly when they are expected to be off script at the very beginning of the process as proper work beyond blocking can’t really be done until lines are learnt in a conventional style play. This is up to the director of course and not the actors who will work at the pace they feel comfortable with. The director should be able to guage early on how each individual is coping with their particular work load and help them toward a co-ordinated book-down moment. Lack of clarity from a director about when this moment should be is often the cause of what may appear to be laziness in the actor who may well feel that that he/she is doing other valuable work on feeling the arc of the play, internalizing character, exploring relationships etc.
I have witnessed an actor being sacked at the end of a rehearsal process for not being on top of a script when he should have either been helped or sacked near the beginning. This was crappy direction and the writer and other actors were all badly served.
So long as they’re mostly off the book by the last few days… hope it goes well. See you there in the first week – will let you know. S