Rehearsal: Week Four

Hi, all! 

Michael, here, taking on the responsibility of blogging our fourth week of rehearsals. This week represents a tricky foray into the blogosphere, as we get closer and closer to the showtime and strain not to give away any secrets! Suffice to say all that can be revealed will be revealed.

Over the last three weeks we have been experimenting, writing and delving deep into Ernest’s Scrapbook to discover more about this fascinating character. However, this has been a week of getting down to the nitty gritty of “The Man Who Thought That The Moon Would Fall Out Of The Sky” or as all the cool kids are calling it “TMWTTTMWFOOTS.”

Monday was spent revisiting the work we had shown at “The Greenhouse” scratch night on Thursday night of week three at Arts Centre Washington, and revisiting our timeline of Ernest’s life. There are so many incredible stories to tell we were almost overwhelmed with where to start.

However, like the devising troubadours we are, we jumped in and over the course of the week have explored many great moments in Ernest's life, including his birth, his first words, his first suit and his first day at work. We have also tackled the relationship between Ernest and She, as well as really focusing upon the moon itself.

George hits the bottle to escape books and letters. 

Meghan demonstrates greater powers of organisation. 

We have been using lots of really interesting but challenging techniques to draw the best out of the material we have found and written, including:

Rule-based improvisation - Improvising around text or ideas where one or both of those improvising have been given specific instructions or rules to employ. Usually neither person is aware of what the other has been told to achieve, which can lead to often bewildering but also magical moments in the rehearsal room.

The “Yes Yes Game” - where we improvised scenes using only the word “yes” or alternatively, “no.” Again, really challenging, but it really makes you think of how other elements of performance inform what you are communicating to the audience.

Scenes with an agenda - This was taking the same piece of text and replaying it whilst changing the emotional context. It’s amazing how easily a scene that has been constructed to be joyous can become fraught with the same text.

Mark Calvert providing a strong foundation for North.

It hasn’t all been work, work, work, though. We’ve had a pile-on in which our director Mark Calvert managed to prop up all of North, with the exception of yours truly, who elected to take a photograph instead! We helped our dramaturg, Susan Mulholland (or “Su-Mo” to her nearest and dearest) to celebrate her birthday with party food and prosecco, and witnessed a rather showy display of walking by her little boy, who celebrates his first birthday today!  

We also unearthed the world’s greatest and most fiercely contested  “Dodgeball” rivalry, played out between Ben Stiller-inspired factions of the North company during our regular morning warm-up. Although dogged by accusations of cheating, poor sportsmanship and above-the-shoulder cheap shots, the action was exciting, fun-filled and thoroughly warming! Special mention should go to Maria Crocker, whose commitment to the cause was second to none, and who took more than a few bullets for whichever team was lucky enough to have her.

On Thursday night , we watched our own Alice Blundell perform a slice of her one woman show as part of "First in Three" at Northern Stage. There was a lot of great work on show and Alice did herself and North proud. Well done to everyone involved!

As we head back to HQ at Northern Stage for the final furlong, we have to say thank you to the wonderful folk at The People's Theatre who have been our hosts for the past four weeks. 

We essentially took over a working rehearsal room, adorned its walls with our thoughts and images, reduced its dimensions daily as more and more equipment and proppage arrived to help us find our way and we have been made to feel nothing less than very welcome during our stay. A great theatre, with great people. They’re showing King Lear from 12th-16th March, and it’s sure to be worth a look! 

Finally, we need to thank you for reading and supporting us through this adventure, but remember to book your tickets for the show! There are various multi-buy deals available to grab a few friends and bring them for a terrific night! And remember you can also see us at the Stockton Arc on March 20th!

See you soon, 

North

North_NS