The week began with bump in on Monday during our curriculum day which wasn’t really a curriculum day, not that I am complaining, I would much rather spend my holidays doing theatre anyway. Beginning with the long train ride to Sydney Rd we arrived an hour late but luckily were not the last to arrive which gave the costume department time to visit our handy second-hand clothing store, ‘Savers’. Savers proved to be a much depended upon resource, being, in conjunction with our own clothing, the main source of our costumes. I supplied my own white shirt for Sophie which was a business-like simple shirt with buttoned cuffs and basic collar. The skirt purchased from saver was a high waisted, just below the knee, pencil skirt, classic for a sophisticated business-woman. I was now able to begin rehearsing in my full and definite outfit to get a feel for what the outfit allowed. Until… The very next day, after re-painting the boxes, I, stupidly leaned on the wet paint, completely ruining my new skirt. For the remainder of rehearsals leading up to Thursday’s show I was forced to rehearse in a skirt that was short and uncomfortable and one that was miles too big.
Continuing with the events of our first day in the theatre, many of the technical aspects of the production were developed. It was on this day that the entire production team worked together on one particular stagecraft - set. This required every team member to assist in the construction and addition of supports to the fame panels. It was then time for the major section of my lighting stagecraft to take place. After compiling a plan of patch-points (compiled by Bethany and myself), it was job to plug each lights patch point into the selected channel of the lighting desk. This process of forming the order of lights on the lighting desk was derived from use, style and location of both light and lighted area of the stage.
We got through a technical run as well as several dress rehersals which gave the lighting and sound team a chance to coordinate their cues. This was also an important process for the cast as it brought about the issue of thebamboo stick holders. Because the holes for the bamboo were black it was very difficult to see where they were when the lights were down. To correct this problem the holes were painted white so to be visible.
Each night before rehearsals our director, Lisa Stinson, ran a warm up in which we warmed up our bodies and voices as well as got our imagination working. After the group war-up I did my own mental preparation which involved going off by myself for a little while and then going into character. For the 10-15 mins leadig up to the show I remained in character so that when I got out on stage it wasn’t as if I was just begining to act.
Thursday and Saterday’s show were half sold and Friday’s was only a quater. The show on Thursday was in my opinion the best which was due to the energy released through our nerves. Fridays was lacking because people had become relaxed and there wasn’t a lot of energy from the small audience. Saterday’s show was good but not great which was a little dissappointing as we didn’t get to reach our target performance.