I’ve run rehearsals in the past for very small projects; I’ve been an Assistant Director sitting in on rehearsals and taking notes, giving feedback and providing all manner of support. But nothing is as terrifying as directing your first proper play with a group of experienced actors, in a professional setting, to be showcased as your directorial debut to your peers, colleagues, mentors, industry and the public. And that’s exactly what I felt, terrified, as I headed towards my rehearsal venue, (the fabulous Theatre Delicatessen!), for the first day of rehearsals one Monday morning.
Jude Evans in a StoneCrabs Young Directors workshop led by Kwong Loke, Joint Artistic Director, StoneCrabs Theatre Company
The reality is quite different. Actors and Directors are both human beings, and together, through trust and support; fears and anxieties are allayed. Once in the rehearsal room, I found myself much more relaxed and all set to go; if you’ve done your research, know your text and have planned your rehearsals then the door is truly open for collaboration, teamwork and the generation of ideas. There is a common goal shared by everyone in rehearsal room: to create a piece of theatre.
As a Director, the key is to be prepared, to have faith in your ideas and trust in your approach. If you have nothing, or very little to go on, how are your actors meant to put their trust in you? If you have no idea how your day will go, what units of text to work on and what point you want to be at by the end of the day, how will you get there?
Jude Evans leading a StoneCrabs Young Directors workshop on Laban Viewpoints
My own rehearsals involved a few hours preparation during the weekend before, allocating a rough amount of time to chunks of the text – it allowed us to focus on everything from language and subtext, to character development, to movement around the space. But what that planning also gave us was the freedom to break from it, to ask questions and to explore uncharted territories. With preparation comes freedom and openness.
Openness also relates to your approach in the rehearsal room throughout the whole process. It’s unlikely that any production will benefit from a solely Stanislavsky-based approach, but nor will it flourish with a wholly physical, movement-based approach. Being open to bringing a variety of techniques and exercises to the process is beneficial to all involved, and it will only help with keeping things fresh and moving the production onwards.
Jude Evans in rehearsal with the actors cast in ‘Thirst’ by Eugene O’Neil, which was staged at The Albany Theatre in February 2014
With a text like Thirst by Eugene O’Neill, it was absolutely necessary to have a balanced approach, very much text and movement, and I found myself discovering new ideas and techniques as I went along; including *Chekhov’s ‘Psychological Gesture’, peacocks, *Agwe (used to develop the character of the Sailor) and *Edgar Degas’s dancers (used to develop the character of the Dancer). Otherwise, we might all have drowned in weighty, dense language…
With all this coming into play, the process constantly moves forward, with discoveries and excitement pulsating through. Our final rehearsal, a day of Points of Concentration to keep things alive and fresh whilst consolidating and building on all the work we had done, was a fantastic and inspiring day as we could see all our hard work coming to fruition.
From the initial, pre-rehearsal thoughts to the final day, through trust, sharing, collaboration, preparation and openness, what once seemed terrifying becomes pure, indescribable magic.
Jude Evans
2014 StoneCrabs Young Director Graduate
Director of Thirst by Eugene O’Neil
*Chekov’s Psychological Gesture is a movement that expresses the psychology of the character. Chekhov defines the psychology to consist of the thoughts, feelings and will of a human being. Hence, the Psychological Gesture is a physical expression of the thoughts, feelings and desires of the character, incorporated into one movement. Chekov defines gesture as a movement that has intention.
*Agwe was a sea god in West Indian mythology.
*Edgar Degas was a 19th century French artist. He painted and sketched several dancers whilst they were preparing and/or rehearsing for a performance. For more information on Edgar Degas, please click here.