Another show, another poster

The cast is assembled, and now the poster has been designed. I tend to like designing my own posters, it's something of a labour of love. Unfortunately I don't often have the time to spend on them that I'd like. But there's nothing like a deadline, and I had to get it sorted pretty quick so it could go to the printers so that the flyers were ready in time for Wild Duck, which opens three weeks today.

Anywho, drum roll please for the unveiling of the Attempts on Her Life poster:

What do you think? I had trouble finding an image that identified what is unidentifiable, so I decided to go for something that is sort of messy; remnants of a life that could tell various stories. I think I've encapsulated a fair amount of what I think the play is about, and I hope the bitsy nature of the image reflects the fragmented structure of the play.

Of course I'd have liked a couple more weeks maybe to refine it or improve the quality, but I have to leave it at that now and hope it does the trick.

Looks like we better do this, then.

Well, people came, and people auditioned. I'm very pleased to say that enough people showed an interest for me to be able to cast the play. I'll be honest and say I was a little disappointed with the number of people that attended, but not at all disappointed with the group of people that I have to work with. Given the apparent interest in the production beforehand, I had planned for a few more than the seven that turned up, but even so we managed to work for a good three hours and produced some interesting ideas.

The dynamic of the group is interesting: two men, five women, with a broad age range. This is a real positive, as I feel the more diverse the group, the more interesting the piece will be and the more flexibility we have. I think the cast assembled will bring a range of different experiences and ideas to the play, and hopefully we will end up with an intriguing piece of theatre. Onwards and upwards.

Pre-audition nerves.

This Sunday sees the audition workshop for the production. As an actor I no longer get nervous at auditions, but I certainly do as a director, largely due to the perpetual fear that no-one is going to turn up. Many people have mentioned to me that they are interested in the show, but until I see a group of people in the same room working together I will always be paranoid that the audition will be a wash out.

I have a free day today so I'm using it do put my plan for Sunday together. This is calming me somewhat. I am setting out my experimental stall right from day one, and this audition is, I hope, going to be very different to what people are used to. For a start, it is a single session, and I have booked a space for 5 hours. I worry that this long period will put people off, but I have stressed that people can stay for as long as they are able, and if there is a good crowd necessitating the full 5 hours, we will break for lunch. If this happens, I hope that we will all take lunch together. A huge part of the audition is designed to engender the sense of ensemble that is essential for this work.

Bench auditions usually have a similar format, in which people are invited to either read for parts in various actor combinations, using play extracts, or they go away in pairs or small groups to prepare an extract which is then shown back to the director and assembled company. I feel these are not always the most suitable methods, least of all the reading. That is not assessing an actor, it's testing their sight-reading ability. Happily, there have been signs that people are moving away from this idea. His Dark Materials auditions were heavily workshop and skills based, and even Play It Again Sam kicked off with some theatre games.

Naturally, then, Sunday will be quite different for a few people. It may disorientate them, make them feel uncomfortable, even put them off. But I actually think it will be enlightening, open, and importantly fun. It is more an audition in which the actors can decide whether they want to engage in a particular working process. I hope it will allow people to unlock new abilities and become for confident at thinking on their feet, acting spontaneously and developing characters.

The plan, currently, is to kick off with a warm up that will loosen people up physically, and then loosen their brains, building trust, cooperation, support and energy. It is important that people are made to feel comfortable about just going into the space and throwing something out there, and the warm-up is intended to help with this.

We will then move on to a combination of text work and impro, in which individuals will respond to a piece of text and then improvise a character and scenario using the text as a stimulus. This could generate some characters that we could use later in the day.

There will be some time to allow the company to respond to the text in more detail, working in groups to solve the problems in the play, staging the solutions, finding interpretations. This is meant to remind people that the production is co-directed by myself and the ensemble. I want people to be able to make their own suggestions.

I think the final element is going to explore people's capacity to inhabit a variety of characters. It's likely that people will multi-role in the show, so it is important that they can create clearly distinct characters.

The audition will finish off with a wind-down and sharing of thoughts and ideas, giving everyone the chance to express their views on the day and comment on any outcomes that might be useful.

Wow, I'm getting excited, now! Wish me luck.

Musical stimuli

While listening to some music this evening, a track came on that offered up some more potential for how to unlock ideas for interpreting the play. Too Tough to Die by Martina Topley-Bird made me stop and listen. The feel of the song, and elements of the sentiment, seemed related to Attempts, if only in a tenuous way. Nonetheless, it got me thinking about how music could be used not only in the show, but also in rehearsal. Music works on an emotional, irrational level and can be instrumental in freeing up ideas and inspiration, so I'm hatching a half-plan to incorporate music into the exploration process, at a fairly early stage. Who knows, Too Tough to Die might end up featuring in the production itself.