Thoughts from the first day of rehearsals
It won’t matter how many years I work in theatre, I know I will never tire of the excitement of first day of rehearsals. There is something about the first day that is hard to capture in words but there is nothing like it. The first day of a brand new show like Far Away From Me is better again, as everyone is introduced for the first time to the story we will collectively tell to our audience.
If you don’t work in theatre here’s how it works. On the first day of rehearsals typically there is a read through of the play where the cast the crew and the creatives gather around a table and hear for the first time the actors read their lines. It is a real introduction to the work where you start to get a sense of the play, the places of humour within the script or the moments of pathos and it is a pleasure to sit in the room and soak up the sounds and feeling of the play. After the script has been read the designers present to the team their vision for the production so the set designer will display a miniature model of the stage with the set on it and all the elements that will form part of the set. The costume designer will present drawings of the costumes showing the colours, fabrics and designs that will be used. The lighting designer will discuss their plans and any special effects they envisage using. Finally the sound designer will play samples of the music or sound effects that will be used and suddenly the play begins to emerge as a whole.
This is the day when all is possible, when we can all dream big of how we are going to deliver this production to our audience, we envisage how the play will look, sound, feel in the theatre for the opening performance. This is a day of possibility.
There are vital tea and coffee breaks (complete with buns and pastries) where lots of chats are had. This is the first time the entire team will be together and get a sense of each other’s work, we are team building but not in a formal way and this team will work closely and intensely together for four months and we will know each other well by the end and then we will disperse and each begin the process anew with a different team in another space but for now we are a family.
I know every producer is biased and every first day feels like the best yet but... yesterday in the room for the first reading of Far Away From Me by Amy Conroy we got a glimpse of something magical. There was a great dynamic between the designers and the performers with a shared vision emerging for the production. I can’t wait to see the finished production and I strongly advise early booking for this one – but then again, I would say that wouldn’t I!
Maria Fleming
Theatre Programmer & Producer