Wow! I went to
my first full run through today and was blown away. It really felt as if I were watching a show, not just scenes. This was also the first time I’d been present where the
number of people facing the ‘stage’ (rehearsals are still in the rehearsal
hall, not on the actual stage – that will only come later this week, less than
a week before the first performance!) vastly outnumbered the four actors. The
excitement was palpable.
I don’t want to give any of the antics away, but I have to
say that some of the scenes I hadn’t seen before, like the end of the train
scene or the sideways floor chase (and if that makes no sense, it will if you
see the show…), were absolutely wonderful. And I finally saw how a big barrel stuck with odd bits of
houses and trees worked, which I’d seen before but not understood - it’s for the
shadow puppet sequence, and if you’re curious, since you won't see it from the
audience, you can see it in this blog entry:
It was clear that this rehearsal went very smoothly, with
only a few forgotten lines. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to memorize so
much text, but the biggest kudos have to go to Aaron (Clown #1), who is charged
with something truly daunting: reciting a bunch of mathematical gibberish that
is funny because it makes absolutely no sense! I was also impressed by how
physical the acting is for each of the actors. Handcuffs hurt, so both Monica
and John wear some bandaging to protect their wrists. Joel (Clown #2) and Aaron
are both on their knees quite a bit, hence the use of knee pads. Joel, in particular, has some pretty
gymnastic moves to make switching between two characters in one of the final
scenes. All four actors are
outstanding (John and Monica have some sensational facial expressions; Monica
reminds me a bit of Julianne Moore or Cate Blanchett, and her facility with
accents makes me think she would be a terrific Kate Hepburn in a revival of The
Philadelphia Story), but the clown
characters are definitely written to steal the show, and Aaron and Joel are
more than up to the task.
Sean’s feedback at the end was extremely positive. He remarked that it looked as if the
actors “were having fun, whether they were or weren’t,” and that for the first
time, they really seemed to know exactly what came next, which allowed for
little improv moments without breaking the tempo. The actors had “taken the air out” (the little pauses where
previously the actors had been concentrating on “what comes next”…), and they
kept up their energy and momentum for the entire show. Sean’s exact words were that “the
energy was consistently high, and all of the scenes felt like they were from
the same show.” He must be really
pleased with what he and the entire team have created so far, and it will only
get better when they move to the stage proper and have all of the real sets,
props, and costumes. Stay tuned, and if you haven't bought your tickets yet, here's the link:
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