When Costumes Revolt

I said I would try and follow up the last post with better, happier things, and there is little better or happier then when things go wrong in the theatre. I'm not talking fire alarms or medical emergencies but those little onstage screw-ups that let you know you're watching live theatre.

I've been lucky enough to get a couple of doozies in my time, the undisputed champion being the time when a lackluster Romeo went up (theatre speak for 'forgot his lines') during the balcony scene. After awkwardly pacing the stage in silence for what seemed like an eternity, Juliet came rushing out, only to have her scene partner try to get them back on track by saying "Speak again"— an awkward line to choose considering no one had been speaking for a good minute. At this point we thought we were safe, but then, as Juliet began one of the scene's many fake exits, another fun little fact was revealed. IN the hurry to go out and save Romeo, her dress hadn't been properly done up, and so was gaping open in the back, exposing her shift and only staying on her body by the elbows she was awkwardly pinning to her side. Live theatre!

Like any theatre-going, theatre-working person, I have tons of these stories and about once every three months they are brought out and dusted off over pints at the pub, where we will all pool our mishaps. Thanks ot last night, I have one more to add.

Took Red and Jenna to see the Company's rollicking Middlteon show. An excellent time, but also a night where all costumes seemed in rebellion. Collars poked up, pants refused to stay fastened, feathers drifted off of boas and languished onstage in theatrical purgatory. But the worst (or best) was when one of the female character knelt in her voluminous 1950's circle skirt. Repositioning herself, those of us sitting in the front row heard a worrying rrrrrip, caused by the actress's skirt getting caught on her heel. At first, this seemed tiny and unfortunate, but then she tried to get up...and, in doing so, managed to position the skipe of her heel in the hole she had just created. rrrrrip became RRRRRRRIP as she proceeded to struggle to her feet, ripping a HUGE hole in her skirt right before our eyes. The poor hem hung pitifully to the floor for the rest of the scene, causing Red physical pain in the seat next to me, as she wasn't allowed to go and immediately fix the problem.

I feel or the actress, but I live for those moments. Remind you that you are seeing something immediate and never to be repeated. I say again...live theatre!

The Summoning of Everyman

Doing my thing

I am at least two weeks behind the times on this post, but in recapping my life I would be remiss if I didn't talk a little bit about the experience of working on Everyman in August. Usually, the players perform in the hall at the Institute, but renovations over the summer made that an impossibility. Instead, we wound up performing the medieval morality play Everyman in Holy Trinity Church—the church where Shakespeare in buried.

We didn't get into the church until the dress rehearsal, so most of our rehearsals were done outside. I came into the process a little late, but took on the role of assistant director. Everyman is a play populated by personifications of ideas. The characters are named things like "Goods," "Beauty," and "Fellowship." A lot of the work I did involved working with the cast to make their ideas into actual people, along with additional notes in rehearsal and some monologue work.

Cousin (Drew) takes his leave of Everyman (Harriet)

It's been awhile since I've done any directing and I had forgotten how much I miss being practically involved in a show (and NOT acting...). The cast was really small, which helped contribute to an overall sense of camaraderie, and getting to perform in the church was really, really cool.

We had decent sized audiences and I'm happy to report got incredibly positive feedback. You can read a review of the show here, and the Stratford Herald said it was a "a triumph." All in all, a good month's work.

The opening of the show (Dress rehearsal)