… ARCHIVED REHEARSAL NOTES

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This page contains rehearsal notes and thoughts from a past production’s rehearsal process:

The Art of Success by Nick Dear

REHEARSED Sept-Oct 2012
THE ART OF SUCCESS by Nick Dear

Jane Hogarth – Josie Blackmore
William Hogarth – Matthew Spinney
Harry (Henry) Fielding – Ian Goff
Frank – Jake Martin
Oliver – Michael Holmes-Lauder
Mrs. Needham – Julie MacDonald
Louisa – Katie Malone
Sarah Sprackling – Elizabeth Goodyear
Robert Walpole – Andrew Jones
Queen Caroline – Clarissa Hurley

Director – Scott Shannon

THE ART OF SUCCESS Notes – Jan 2/2014(PM)
Having returned from a theatrical hiatus, I wanted to simply wrap up this show’s lingering open notes section.

The Art of Success was the last full production before this past year’s hiatus (a scene from a work-in-progress was performed as part of TNB’s Remembrance Day event shortly after this show closed). Upon re-reading my first note below, after which I was simply too strapped for time to post any further notes during the process, here’s a mild summation of the things I learned from once again working with a large group:
– managing a large group has many rewards but requires much administrative time
– when you don’t like something in somebody else’s script which you are staging, you pretty much have to swallow that
– it is best to be honest with people right up front rather than having to compensate for that over a period of time
– Matthew Spinney is fearless on stage
– bringing new actors into the Shadow world is always good to do now and again
– Elizabeth Goodyear is beautifully amazing on stage and those talents need to be exploited for good
– I want to control the text of the story now as well … it’s the “control freak” in me, I guess …

scott

THE ART OF SUCCESS Notes – Sept 24/2012(AM)
Now that I can officially announce our fall production, I’ve gone through some pre-publicity steps with pages on our site and such. However, our rehearsals are well underway and I wanted to share a brief note before heading to bed since I can now share some notes as well …

This play is a great exercise for me as a director in terms of managing my attention on so many things. There are 10 actors in the show, and while so far we’ve had only 5-6 at most on stage at once, that is a considerable amount of potential action to attend to and soak in. Soon all 10 will be on the floor at once. For the Nasty Shadow world these are large groups of actors and require a refining of my approach and where to spend my attention. I am also working with a number of people who are new to me so I have been trying to absorb the performances these new actors perhaps more because I have to establish a trust in the room, and a communication about what we need from each other.

So far things are going extremely well, I think … folks are getting off-book and that makes playing in the room so much easier … bravo and keep it up! We will be heading into October in excellent shape for our runs at the end of the month.

Now, I just need to come up with a witty content warning because, folks, this show is a *very* bawdy (i.e. raunchy) English comedy at times … not looking to scare anyone off, but just to note that this is not a comedy for anyone easily offended …

Hmmm … how to say that in a clever phrasing … sleep on it …

scott