Orna Joseph, who plays Rose in our upcoming show Di and Viv and Rose, looks at one of the more challenging aspects of taking to the stage!
It’s an activity we take for granted in our daily lives – moving and chatting in a coordinated and synchronized manner. It’s a normal activity you become acutely aware of when you take to the stage. Your arms become alien creatures with lives of their own; walking from A to B uses more thought than solving a rubix cube.
With 2 weeks to go to opening night of Di and Viv and Rose, I’m a little bit terrified I’m still having to think through how to walk and talk at the same time. Even though this has always been my personal curse, I think it is actually telling of the backstage tech we have had to put in place over the past couple of rehearsals. The play charts quite a long period of time, relatively quickly so it has quite a few changes to make to the stage and cast to get that across.
For us actors, although challenging to our coordination (well, mine in particular!) and concentration, it has been part of that theatre magic to see two halves of the play come together to make a fully formed show. We only have 3 more normal rehearsals left and then we enter ‘Tech and Dress’ weekend – a weekend that seems to function in its own universe where time warps and gaffer tape disappears. It’s not my favourite weekend as an actor because there is quite a bit of hanging around. Come to think of it, it’s something I dread as a director because people look to me to know what to do with a lighting plot!
Anyway, what it does mean is we will be very close to welcoming our audiences to see what is promising to be a big hug of a show (*she says rubbing her tummy, patting her head and typing at the same time*)
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