Easter rehearsal 8th April

Today we had an all-day rehearsal so we had a chance to run through the Acts deeply, mostly on Act One as this is the most challenging. We didn't run with the sound as we were focusing on tech another day, but we figured out the certain songs that were going to be used, so that those members of the cast could rehearse in their own time. This includes the songs 'Who'll Hold Your Paw When You Die', 'What's An Hour' and the 'Ceremonial Song'.

Me and Livvie also practised with the tricycle we are using for Jane, as it is quite difficult to pedal due to the child size of it. We need to remember the specific cues of when to start riding around the space as we usually start too early, meaning we become more tired from being on it longer. I think this scene is going to be very comedic because of the ridiculousness of it, so I feel more confident that if something with the trike goes wrong it will still come off as part of the act.

Furthermore, we did some last minute changes to some of the blocking/movement in scenes, largely to do with the lighting and where we can be exposed better. The Britney scene was still the most demanding for us based on the lines/cues. As a lot of the lines are very similar, some even repeated, it can be hard for some of the characters to recall where exactly parts go. For my character Ticket, I still want to shower a stronger contrast between this and the Mungaree, so I need to show bolder vocals and facial expressions to show leadership of the Dissocians. We kept going over this scene to ensure and grow our confidence.

We then began timing each scene to determine what the length of the whole play should be. After a run through, Each of these times were then cut down by a few minutes because of stopping and prompting if really necessary. It was helpful to do this because it brought us back to the importance of pace, reminding us that there needs to be a constant medium/high pace for Act One, as opposed to the slow, delayed pace of Act Two.

After this rehearsal I'm feeling much more prepared for the show lines and cues-wise, but I'm still slightly worried about how smooth parts of the Jane scene will run, But I'm usually more nervous about things that could possibly go wrong until the day of the show, when I switch into simply enjoying it. Plus, the other cast have their show first on the Wednesday which luckily gives me a chance to observe what it's like beforehand and how problems, if any, are overcome or quickly avoided.