To Blog or Not to Blog…
With the new edition of our Crescent Scene brochure due to be published soon, it has been time to work on the remaining poster designs. My initial design for the two shows Iron and Kiss of the Spider Woman wasn’t chosen, but I rather like it, so here it is, preserved for posterity…
And if you want to see the eventual design, you’ll have to pick up a copy of Scene soon…
Yesterday someone asked me “What’s Bog of Cats about?”. I have to say I found it a hard plot to describe without it sounding like a melodramatic soap opera. It really is about loss I suppose. Its themes are massive and human but the play has its lighter moments. It’s a play really for grown-ups.
As a company we have been going through the play almost a sentence at a time to understand the massive sub-text of the play. This has taken us two weeks, but we have decided after much discussion to look at certain scenes in improvisation in the coming weeks.
We are now just about to start the rehearsal process proper - and I just can’t wait!
Gerry Lucas (Director)
My workroom at home is overwhelmed with dresses and netting and gauze to make petticoats and overskirts and ribbon to make ruffles and bows - and that’s just the men’s costume!!
No, seriously though, this production is going to look GORGEOUS. We have more costume fittings on Sunday 29th, when hopefully it will all come together. Mr Nicholson, our Director, will be absent, so he can’t say he doesn’t like it! It’ll be too late, ha ha… Sewing buttons and bows and hems and hooks on April 1st - no joke.
Want to see the end result? You’ll just have to buy tickets. Suffice to say that it’s late eighteenth century with a modern twist and lots of colour…
Mary's Office
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the new What’s On ad won’t be appearing in the magazine. So, here it is instead…
With a welcome Full House expected on Friday our first dress rehearsal guaranteed high pressure. Sunglasses and suitcases, nakedness and knickers, dancing and death all dominated proceedings to made for a highly charged and exciting performance.
Using a deliberate colour theme of red, white and black to single out individuals while simultaneously emphasising uniformity meant for superb lighting effects to take place. Chilling silhouettes and haunting red lights added to the menacing presence of the cast onstage. The Dress was quite simply chilling yet poignant, dark yet funny, moving and brilliant.
Seeing the choreography between scenes finally work as tightly as it promised to was a delight. Despite the music that is used being catchy and upbeat each song captures the mood of the play perfectly. The visual impact is quite something.
The heat was most certainly on with Karl who had to get naked for the first time in front of cast and crew. I think Wanda had booked a central seat on the front row… Not only did Karl have to deliver his lines expertly, he had to grapple with a big white sheet, a very sultry Sarah and of course timing his movement to the sounds of a creaking bed. Phew!!
The set, albeit simple, commanded its own level of pressure. With blocks and suitcases forming the entire set, each has to be positioned with strategic refinement. When each suitcase is as precarious as it promises to be stacked up high and full of ladies’ stockings and file paper, getting it right was critical. Fear of pulling a muscle or knocking them over was banished from the radar. It worked brilliantly! And looked amazing.
The heat of activity at the theatre is rising ahead of this weekend’s LTG (Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain) Conference. Badges are being made up, delegate packs are being stuffed, displays are being refreshed and the exterior of our wonderful ‘little’ theatre even received a lick of paint yesterday.
Come Friday evening some 140 delegates from across the UK will start arriving in Birmingham for a weekend packed with theatre related excitement. In addition to the formal elements of the conference (including the LTG’s AGM) delegates will be watching TERRORISM on the Friday night and THE BUS on Saturday evening.
They’ll also be attending four lively workshops exploring the creative process of taking a play ‘From Page to Stage’. This will culminate with a presentation on Sunday morning of practical – yet fun – examples based on what delegates have learned. Our speakers, who will look at directing, design and acting, are all joining us from the RSC and are bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience with them to share.
Crescent members may attend the workshops for FREE and you’ll be receiving an e-mail with details of how to sign up and join in the fun. I hope to see you there. And, don’t forget we need lots of volunteers to help make the conference run smoothly, so put your name down to help without delay.
After an exhausting technical week during which my hand was rarely free of a paintbrush and the cast and crew worked tirelessly through several rehearsals, THE BUS finally opened on Saturday and we got to see what the audience would make of it.
It’s fair to say that the play itself has divided opinion, although everyone appeared stimulated by it, intrigued, and the discussion about it continued well into the early hours of Sunday. Exactly what I hoped for!
Here are a few snippets of feedback received:
“There are some really good performances … notably from Paula Wall and Ben Rigby in the central roles of Erika and Hermann. The staging … is also well attuned to the play’s abstraction.”
“I enjoyed THE BUS on lots of levels … I thought the cast was amazing, some really fantastic performances.”
“Well done, I thought you made the massive ideas really accessible … particularly enjoyed the ‘trees’ design wise too … good going designer!”
“Thank you for a thought provoking evening last night. Can’t pretend to say I truly understood it but was dead impressed at some of the performances … loved the setting, so great to see the stage opened up like that … bravo for being different.”
THE BUS runs till Saturday.
One of the most famous aspects of The Rivals is the duel at the climax of the play. And today at our dawn rehearsal, our director got hands-on as he enthusiastically put Messrs Frost and Jones through their paces.
With the mighty clang of the clashing swords, it was very dramatic and exciting.
But it was also a little scary as the untrained blades swung around a little too much at one point - providing at least one cast member with an impromptu haircut…
THE BUS has just completed its first dress rehearsal, and here’s a sneak preview of how it will look. There is still some work to do on set, lighting etc., but all will ready for the big opening night on Saturday. Hope to see you there!
Yesterday’s Birmingham Mail ran a story about one of the issues we’ve had in promoting our forthcoming mini-season of plays on Terrorism…
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