Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 6

Patterns of Grace and the first draft of scenes 1-5!

Rehearsals started this week with a read through of the first 5 scenes followed by a brief discussion and feedback. Really great work was produced and a many impressed and excited face was to bee seen amongst the Heat&Light members. However, one question remained in our minds from scene 5’s life model class. With very little exposed. a painting unseen by the audience causes Grace a lot of distress. But what was painted? The question was asked by all.

Overall really interesting characters are now starting to blossom and a complete structure of the whole play has now been confirmed. However while we have a great first draft of the first half of the play Alexis went off to discuss with the writers about what changes could be made for draft 2. During this the cast and crew were given a breakdown for scenes 6, 7 and 8 and then split up to work on devising them. A key thing that came from the rehearsal this week was making sure each scene and each character had a direction. With this in mind everyone discussed and decided what each character wanted out of that scene, how they started and how they ended and what would actually be accomplished by the end of the scene.

When the writers returned they circulated around all the groups jotting down interesting ideas that had come out of this devising process. At the end of the rehearsal they were then sent off to work on rewriting scenes 1-5 and put together a first draft of the last 4 scenes.

With questions still on our minds about what was in that painting we were set homework to draw. Yes, draw! With the exceptions of the writers, who already have enough work to do, the remaining Heat&Light members have to bring in for next week a drawing/painting of what they think was on that canvas.

Exciting times at Heat&Light always and hopefully by next week we may even be able to post some of the fabulous artwork up.

Until next time...

Chosen Title!

After many debates over biscuits and voting through emails, the chosen title for Heat&Light's Autumn Season 2009 play is...

Patterns of Grace

With the title set in stone and a brief blurb written, the marketing team are now working away on designing fantastic flyers and posters. Only four more weeks to go so the pressure is on!

Rehearsal Room Images

Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 5

We begin week 5 with a performance of actors' monologues; some have been developed from last time, others are cheekily made up on the spot - regardless of this the standard of all of them is extremely high!

After this, Alexis Zegerman leads us through an invaluable character workshop. By considering the objects, sentimental and practical that a character might own we are able to gain greater access to a whole psyche, rather than just a brief situational description of the character.

Armed with a bony skeleton of a synopsis, writers and actors and non-acting cast members are split into groups to devise scenes for the rest of the play. This is the first time that we do not perform the day’s work to each other since we began. Today the actors and non-writing cast members are working solely as a canvas for the writers to experiment with. As a result of this any books were thrown, and biscuits were eaten. The evening finished on a super high glucose surf - I think many of us will agree that this was possibly not the best moment to have been let 'outside' among the normal people!

Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 4

With the theme of Body Dysmorphic Disorder very much underway, the writers each committed their vision of an opening scene to paper, and our week 4 session was spent bringing these off the page. From interiors of the unconscious to tales of the very conscious, this gave writers an idea of how viable each setting was. A school, a retreat, an institution and hellish game shows inside patients’ heads were all ideas which were performed by the actors, and considered by everyone involved in devising the play. The devising process is very democratic, and after a long discussion afterwards it was decided that elements from each scene would be included, and that Lara Stavrinou’s scene would be edited and added to by Sam Rodney to create the first of the play. We leave with the pressing task of creating a title which and synopsis which MUST be submitted to the press department next week.

Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 3

Week 3 and we are starting to get a clearer picture of the play.

We just had a really productive rehearsal and a final decision was made for our basic theme of the play to be Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

All research was collected together and discussed and it was fascinating to see the complexity of the disorder. However, with its complexity comes a real challenge for the company and the writers. Lots of questions were raised:

How do we portray BDD? Do we want to use the disorder in a subtle way or an educational one? How do we define the characters?

To help us explore these questions and find answers we worked on the written monologues, and after performing them we discussed what we thought was most effective. Firstly, the characters that had been developed helped us think more about the effects of the disorder and how each sufferer brings a different aspect to the understanding of it. Secondly, some monologues concentrated more on relationships with other characters then with the disorder. With this in mind we realised that the characters should not be defined by their disorder and that the play should concentrate more on the diversity of the characters, their relationships and their personal journeys. Overall, a narrative was beginning to develop that was not directed completely around BDD.

For next week the writers have to write a scene that could be opening scene to the play, but it should not directly mention BDD. The rest of the company have to do some research on BDD and real life stories about the disorder. From their research they then have to create a 30-second performance.

Recomended esearch::
www.thebddfoundation.org
Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall
Staying at Home: BBC Documentary by Stephen Wenstwood

Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 2

We began our week two session by rehearsing some monologues which the actors had written over the week on the theme of vanity. Some were extremely funny, and others made you want to commit suicide - some painfully realistic, others joyfully surreal. It was very encouraging to see how each writer's work was so diverse. As there are only five writers, most monologues were performed twice by different actors, and it was fascinating to see what different effects the same words could achieve.

After this, the actors presented their research they had gathered, also relating to vanity. After listening to some genuinely horrific stories (isn;t it funny how vanity always turns into destruction?), we soon retired to the bar for a stiff drink.

Rehearsal Room Notes: Week 1

What an amazing start to a new term!

Our first rehearsal has just finished and we have already got lots of material.

In preparation for our first week we all had to read one of Hampstead Theatre's current main house productions, The Fastest Clock In The Universe by Philip Ridley.

All was made clear in rehearsals as we were split into groups to brainstorm all of our different reactions and insights into the play. Following this each group then presented two themes that they found most interesting and could be a possible theme for our own play.

Vanity, beauty, relationships, abusive relationships, sex, love, age, insecurities, illusions of beauty, power of beauty, control and fear were just a few.

We then got to our feet and started to devise short scenes exploring theses themes and possible narratives further. So many diverse ideas and opinions came out and by the end of the rehearsal we had a strong direction to the start of our play.

For next week the writers have to write a short monologue exploring the subject of VANITY. The actors and crew need to find a story (newspapers/internet/word of mouth) which is in some way related to VANITY and to think in depth about the character at the centre of it.

Although it has just been the first week we have really got things moving and the whole company cant wait for next week.

Recommended play to read:
Wounds to the Face by Harold Barker.