Six men and an old lady……?

We are now finally in the theatre and gearing up for our first preview on Friday night. It has been so exciting for the actors to finally get on the set and get used to the new environment. There is always a little bit of adjusting to the set as although everything is measured out in the rehearsal room it is never an exact replica of what they will be working with on stage.

It was great to see the revolve working during our technical rehearsal as I have not worked on a show using the revolve in my time here at The Library Theatre. I am always surprised at quite how large the stage is and what one can do with it design wise.

This show would probably win the award for ‘most stress free technical period’ as we haven’t been rushed and the technical sessions have gone incredibly smoothly. This has a lot to do with the fact that the play is relatively short and doesn’t have a huge amount of technical requirements. Our deputy stage manger informed me that there are normally twice the number of cues in an average Library Theatre show.

One issue has been the actors moving off the large step on stage and in to the darkness in the scene changes. We have had to sort the problem of them ‘walking blind’ which one of the actors commented made him feel like a little old lady walking off the stage….!

Even at this stage there can still be changes made to the play. We have altered aspects of the blocking and there is always the possibility of trying new ideas during the technical rehearsal. During our runs of the play on stage I have had to make sure that I watch from different seats in the auditorium to check on the sightlines. As a result of checking, we have changed heights of tables and chairs and avoided putting large things on the desks that might block the view of the audience.

So we are now about to enter our photo call followed by our final dress rehearsal. We are looking forward to finally have an audience tonight and see what they make of it!