Vaudeville Day 14 - An Odyssey into Wardrobe...

Today is about script analysis. The majority of the day is spent working through the play moment by moment. Lally is leaving at the end of the week, and everybody needs to be absolutely clear on the script before we get into the final week. It became clear after yesterday's run that the company still needs some work to understand how the play is working in a nuts and bolts kind of way.

There have been quite a few small script changes over the last few days, and some minor changes in scene order. They talk through the play scene by scene, moment by moment to clarify that everybody has the same script, the same order of scenes, and a similar understanding of the journey of the play as a whole.

The discussion is focused, but engages a few different fronts, so it takes most of the day. There is a good amount of old fashioned script analysis; what does every scene do in the play, why characters say what they say when they say it. They discuss what each line and action means across the entire journey of the play. The process is long and there are occasional references to time running short, but everybody is digging in really hard.

I take the opportunity to go down and talk to wardrobe. Amanda and Kate are doing the costume build. The wardrobe section is in not in the main Malthouse building, which is probably why we haven't been down there before. Liz, seconded from VCA, takes me down there. It's kind of exciting to head down there; today's video is entitled, “My Wardrobe Odyssey.” Check it out.


Wardrobe is a really fabulous place. A large window to the left fills the room with natural light; sometimes a scarce commodity in theatre buildings. There are cool looking pieces of clothes-making equipment everywhere, those huge industrial strength fabric scissors, wigs, crazy hats, reams of material of all kinds. Jonathon is pulling a piece of ribbon out of somewhere and is asking if he can have it. And Bob Marley is playing! Amanda tells me she likes it here because they are removed from the stress that often inhabits the main theatre building. With openings and previews and closings and artists under pressure and issues of all kinds, theatre buildings house huge amounts of energy. It's what makes theatres such wonderful places, but this place does feel like a bit of a refuge.

There is a cape on the main work table, with all kinds of features being attached. It's detailed work. I ask Kate how long it will take to make; 2 days is the reply. What's more, she says, she has to make two of them.

Amanda is sewing up a corset off to the right. For somebody like me, who mostly wears clothes that have been mass made in China, it's actually pretty wonderful to see somebody sewing up a corset from scratch. Immediately, the question enters my mind of how much time all these costumes take to make. I notice that the trim on the corset is being ironed on. Nevertheless, it's a massive undertaking.

I ask them if they are on schedule. They say they are, but the appearance of the countdown on the blog was a bit frightening nonetheless. When I ask them if I could see the costumes they've made to date they point to a couple of big plastic bags full of pieces; turns out they don't completely sew things up until later on.

They tell me the build takes 2 people all of the 4 week rehearsal period to make the costumes. They generally work from about 7.30 until 6 in the evening. No doubt, there will be a lot of work to do once the show gets into production week and the actors are wearing them for the first time with performance energy.

Even though they wouldn't let me take any video, they would let me take a few snaps of a corner of the room. Maybe next time I'll be able to film their workshop for you. Tomorrow is the last day of the third week. Lawrence Leung is in the house, and I'll also be talking to Malthouse AD Michael Kantor. So don't miss tomorrow's blog. It's starting to feel close now!

PLUS – the 'Chair of Unhappy' arrives from the workshop. Now that is going to be something!

Vaudeville Rehearsal Day 13 - "Is he serious?...Are we gonna run it?..."

This video was taken at the end of the day's work. It's the rehearsal room as it is set up now. Every day more things are added. I'll try to get down and have a look at how the set building is going for tomorrow. And the costumes too. The action down there seems to be building every day!


The cast run the play up to where we're at in the morning session. The first act is really exciting; there's a lot of buzz during the break between the first and second acts. Chris says afterwards that the first act is more advanced than he was imagining it would be at this point. It definitely has its own growth momentum now. There's details and 'special bits' to add, but it feels as though it has a beating heart now, which will pump blood through its whole.

The second act is about where Chris thought it would be, which is still rough. Given that they haven't quite finished rehearsing it, it's not a surprise. Even so, there's a palpable disappointment that the partial run hasn't quite brought together some of the threads that are proving illusive.

After lunch they sit down to de-brief. The things Chris talks about most are the big arcs, and the meaning of some of the important moments. One of the things the actors ask about is what Chris sees as the climax of the act. Because of the unusual structure they are unclear which moment is the climactic moment they are driving toward. This 'drive' is all important at this stage, the cast us unclear on it. What are the hierarchy of moments? What is the shape of the characters' individual journeys? The run has offered some insight and clarity to these questions that the cast share, but there is still a way to go.

One of the continuing lines of discusion surrounds what things in the play are part of an ongoing repeated cycle, and what things are happening for the first time. Trying to tease these questions out feels a bit like de-constructing an Escher painting. Defining a single moment one way or another often only creates logical conundrums for other moments in the play. Chris carefully offers definitive answers for some of the moments, and not for others.

The de-brief has been a good one. They've answered the questions they can and it's time to zoom back in again to the small picture. After the discussion they get down to work on the moments of the second act they've not yet covered. There's a strong desire to solve single moments again. For the second time this week the final scenes of the day involve Matt's character and one other. It's coincidence, but I wonder whether there is something useful about working with a speechless character at the end of the day. The scenes are necessarily more about physical action, and naturally eschew logical discussion about the text; good scenes to do when people are tired at the end of the day.

As promised, I caught up with Christen O'Leary to ask her about her process of working with the ventriloquist dummy. Christen's 'bodied' character is Maude, and her dummy is Doris.

She tells me that she had never done any ventriloquism before, and that she's never really been that interested in it. Having spent a couple of weeks with the dummy now, she's totally in awe of ventriloquists. It's an extraordinary skill that she feels might be a little under-rated. She makes the point that there is a magician on the show to train up the cast members doing magic tricks, but nobody thought there should be any such requirement for ventriloquism. (I believe it was thought that Christen's character is not necessarily an especially good ventriloquist. Nevertheless, it's a point well made.)

I ask her what is in her mind as she performs with the dummy. She says there are two things which are both surprisingly difficult. Firstly, not showing that you're talking. (Much more difficult than it seems, especially when you have to sing.) Secondly, she is acting a second character that is fully fledged and absolutely endowed with humanity.

This is interesting because I was presuming that the 'dummy' character is primarily speaking her 'bodied' character's sub-text. So why the need to approach the dummy as an entire character in and of itself. Why not approach the role as a single character? She agrees that the dummy mostly speaks the subtext, but says that she can't play it that way. The ventriloquism doesn't work unless the dummy can respond and interact like a 'real' person. The dummy must have its own life to be theatrically interesting.

Further, she feels that Maude is in denial of Doris. Maude doesn't see Doris as her own subconscious or subtext. Doris comprises some parts of Maude that Maude can't bear to look at. Doris is Maude's survival mechanism, the denial that allows her to function. “Some things in life are horrific.” says Christen, “Sometimes our mind saves us by shutting those things down.”

Christen talks about Maude's honesty in speaking through Doris, “She's incredibly honest. She's true to all the bile, she doesn't hide the frustration, the bile, the anger. She throws it in everybody's face.” But, she insists, you can't play that. She has to play Doris like she's her own character.

I ask her about the dummy's movement; the eyes, the mouth, the body. When they rehearsed this the detail they worked on in respect of the dummy's movements and timing was absolutely precise. Christen says that it's like working on two separate, distinct, simultaneous choreographies. Even for dancers that's a difficult job.

It occurred to me that we rarely work at this level of detail with 'real' bodies, and that perhaps we should. I put this to Christen. Her reply was that, for her personally, working in that way would be hell. She already feels that she builds this level of detail into her characters naturally. To do it formally would take large amounts of time, and would probably undermine the natural process that takes place irrespective. You can rely on a good process building this level of detail and refinement without trying to tackle it directly.

I finally ask her what is the most difficult thing about the performance. She replies that it is her 'act' in the play within the play. She says that 'big comedy' is really hard for her. She doesn't like delivering the big comic lines. The “walking wound” type of character is where she feels most comfortable as a performer. Given her strong background in comedy, this came as something of a surprise. Having said that, a number a years ago she played a burn victim in a full 'burns' recovery suit; her performance in that play has stayed with me for years.

Vaudeville Rehearsal Day 12 - Some new strategies, and some repeated challenges.

In yesterday's video Chris held up a book called "Act as known" by Valantyne Napier. This book provided significant inspiration for the show. The video below entitled,

"Quotes from Valantyne Napier."

is a very quick multi-media 'flick through' of the book.




The rehearsals on the floor are well into the back end of the play; huge stakes scenes, scenes that wind up arcs, scenes that reveal important inner workings. It's close-in work again, and Chris is sitting on the floor with the actors doing line-by-line script analysis. They 'beat' these scenes out; identifying actions, intentions, sub-text, key-words for the characters in the scene. This work is more about getting into the psychological reality of the situation than the majority of the previous work. The tools they are using to work with the scenes have changed accordingly.

Lally has presented a 'final' version of these final scenes. Darren hands out the pages to the actors. It's not a completely new scene, just a revised version. The actors have been getting impatient for a 'final' edition of the entire second act. A full version was due to be distributed yesterday, but a computer error has delayed it, and it still hasn't arrived. The cast is being good about it. They know the nature of new plays is that the script won't be absolutely finalised until virtually the last moments. Even so, the delay caused by the computer error hasn't helped anybody.

Everybody sits in a circle and they read new script. They discuss the changes. They are subtle changes, but important. The discussion heads back to one of performance style for the play in general. One of the actors puts forward the thought that the characters and the language seem larger than life, so the actors feel the need to 'heighten' the performance style to match the language. But when they perform it that way it feels like a melodrama. On the other hand, if they play it with a more naturalistic style they feel that it doesn't make dramatic sense, or carry any force. So, where do the actors pitch it?

Chris responds by talking about the importance of the audience caring for the characters and believing in the reality. Lally responds with re-assurance that the scenes she is watching are really chilling and wonderful, and that so-and-so who came in said it seemed really special. They talk about it some more, but ultimately, there's no talking that can provide satisfaction for the questions. In some ways today's discussion echoes last week's about what is 'real' in the play. These are questions that Chris does not like to answer, except in broad, abstract terms. You get the feeling that they're the questions he wants the play itself to generate and be infused with. He doesn't want them answered by discussion.

It's a situation where everybody is wrestling with a new play. The actors feel they're in unfamiliar territory, and are anchored to unfamiliar moorings. It's good to get the issues 'out there' but continuing to work it on the floor is the only way to find where to pitch things. Everybody knows it - they truck on.

We're into the hard work now, moving towards the heart of the play. Moments are taking a long time to explore. Issues are denser and more complex. Answers are harder to find. Beats can't be skated over in this part of the play because the actors feel the deep importance, and need to embody the mystery, rather than grasp for it. Everything is incredibly fragile, delicate.

Tomorrow they will run the whole play for the first time. It seems early for the second act, but sometimes you have to 'zoom out' of a picture to see the whole before you can contextualise the complex detail close up. As Chris often says, it is the rhythm that will be the guide. Tomorrow's going to be a really big day. It's amazing how quickly these milestones stack up one after the other in the rehearsal of a show.

Also, I've spoken to Christen about how she's managing her multiple characters as Maude, the ventriloquist. It was a fascinating talk, and that will be in tomorrow's post too.

Lally word o the day – cyclical
Stephen word o the day - format
Chris word o the day – ontological distress

Vaudeville Rehearsal Day 11

We'll start off with another question from a reader. This question is to Chris and comes from Don from parts unknown:-



And another breakthrough in our attempts to get to the bottom of 'Muddy Magic.' I just received this email;-

Hello Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd Blogger,

I have been enjoying your blog. The behind-the-scenes view of the show is fascinating: everyone has a different angle on the creative process and something to bring to the production.

Yes I can confirm there are only 4 "Muddy Magic" books in existence - bound in four different coloured covers. Chris Kohn the director protects the blue edition, Darren the production manager is keeper of the green edition, Jonathon Oxlade the designer is the custodian of the red edition and the author of the book (me) holds the remaining brown edition.

I'm sure prying bloggers with sneaky audio recording equipment are aware that I will be training the cast in the ways of "Muddy Magic" later next week, but you will never get past our iron-clad security!

If that's not a challenge I don't know what is!

Into the day's rehearsing.



What's a vaudeville show without dancing?! Just check out the second video down on the right, and you'll know what I'm talking about. (the woman dancing with the chair in her mouth really is incredible!)

Enter Carlee the choreographer. This is really going to be something. Actors usually have mixed feelings towards dancing. Often it's a love-hate thing. They love doing it, but it's not their training, so it's scary. And choreographers are not like theatre directors; they just say exactly what they want, they demonstrate, they don't worry about whether an actor is 'in the moment' or 'satisfied' - they just say what they want and expect the dancers to do it.

Carlee watches the first big song number and is immediately on the job-

First she wants Julia to fall back into the arms of the rest of the cast - 'trust exercise' style.
This instruction is closely followed by Julia's pointed warning to the cast;
“If any of you %$#*& s drop me!!...” Yep, we're off.

Next, it's marching, sort of to the music. Immediately, one of the actors interjects with a serious question concerning the psychological reality of his character behaving in this way. Err...yeah. Water off a duck's back for Carly. She ignores it and is onto adding a layer of 'popping' to the marching. 'Popping' is not that rap kind of stuff you sometimes see on a popular TV dance show. It's more like features added to the marching.

Starts off well. Everybody's 'popping' beautifully. Carlee wants the pops to be more “courageous.” They pump it up as instructed.

More marching, but this time Carlee asks for different arm action;- “Now...exaggerate it!” They pump that up too.

“Now we add box-step!!”

“You're joking!! I mean it...I mean it,” announces one of the actors. The room is silent for a second. But Carlee just rolls on and next thing they're all box-stepping.

“Now, we're going to move in the space. You three move forward, you move back. Then you two move in here. And when you meet in the middle, you scoop her up, and... ”

“Holy mother of...!!”

Three minutes of consternation later, and they're doing that too! Well, a couple of times, anyway, before they cut it for technical reasons. Then Chris has an idea about an addition:-

“That's a good idea!" says Carlee, "So, while we do the march forward, everybody bends down and picks a [censored.]”

Within 2 minutes Darren has raced out and found four [censored] to use. They add that into the march aaaaand...seamless!

Break.

It's a slightly weird mood. There's a lot of laughter, but not all of it is comfortable. There is a slight atmosphere underlying the laugher that already there was plenty to do; songs, magic tricks, complicated realities, characters within characters, and now choreography. Is it a bridge too far? Can everybody be expected to learn it all in the time we've got left? (Which reminds me, the poll is still running.)

After the break some of the choreography for individuals is done in a 'closed set' situation.

I talk to Matt about it afterwards. He seemed to take to the choreography with real gusto. No doubt it's the circus training and clowning that hold him in good stead. He tells me that a late, great circus entrepeneur once told him, "If you can't make it good, make it funny; if you can't make it funny, make it fast." He's being modest.

Vaudeville Rehearsal Day 10 - What does an Assistant Director do, anyway?

Today's video is of a conversation I had with set designer Jonathon Oxlade about his initial points of inspiration. Check it out.

And don't forget to vote in the poll; only a few days left.

Already the end of the second week ! ! We are slightly down on the cast today because Julia has alternate commitments and is not rehearsing today. The focus necessarily moves to the scenes in which Julia does not have a significant part.

During this time I took the opportunity to talk with one of the most mysterious figures in professional theatre; the assistant director. What does an assistant director do?

Well, the experience of assistant directors varies broadly from project to project and director to director as to what responsibilities they are given and what role they take on for a production. There are no hard and fast rules for it. In some cases the role is almost strictly 'observational.' That is to say, you assist with watching rehearsal. In other cases, you might be given scenes to work on after the director has laid down the fundamental approach, or there might be a tour that the assistant director will ultimately take responsibility for.

I wouldn't want to over-generalize, especially on recent experience, but the first of the options mentioned above has been the common 'role' for a lot of assistant directors over the years. Young directors often talk about it in terms of a necessary evil to get introduced to the professional industry. I asked Vaudeville's Assistant Director, Stephen Nicolazzo, what his role is.
His response was that Chris and he have never formally defined what his role is. Nevertheless, he feels that it's pretty clear. Turns out that Stephen is not your usual AD. He has been working on the project for over a year, and has also assisted Chris on other projects. So they have an ongoing working relationship. This means that there is a core of trust between Chris and himself. Also, they share an aesthetic, which means he can make recommendations with confidence.

In the first weeks of the rehearsal period he has played a strong dramaturgical role. He feels he's good with writers, so has been working very closely with Lally on the script inside and outside of the rehearsal room. He offers Chris and Lally an analysis of scenes, discussing what the scene's importance to the play is, whether it's fulfiling its objectives, and how it may be tweaked to better do so.

He discusses how the play's arcs are working, looks at the intentions of the characters, and goes through the play word by word with Lally and Chris. He talks about bringing a different 'reading' of the scenes, which can help elucidate how the scene works, and may be built upon to strengthen or enrich it.

I ask him what his role with the actors in the rehearsal room is. He says that he provides Chris with an extra pair of eyes and ears. Because of his deep knowledge of the play he is in a position to nudge or remind Chris of aspects of scenes they have discussed before the rehearsal. These aspects can then be layered into the scene, or help provide the answer to an issue they're working on.

The crucial issue is one of trust. Stephen says that in a previous production Chris had sent him away with work to do with the performers, and had actively worked to give Stephen a 'voice' in the room. The success of these early attempts taught him not to doubt himself, and helped build his confidence.

Of course there is also the issue of gaining the actors' trust. The stage can be an extraordinarily vulnerable place for actors, and they place enormous faith in directors. Because the majority of the cast of Vaudeville haven't worked with Chris or Stephen before, they are naturally wary of trusting Stephen quite yet. But he's working on gaining that respect, and Chris's empowerment of Stephen is vital to that process. No doubt, as the opening looms ever closer, Stephen's role in assisting Chris on the floor in running and working scenes is going to get larger.

Chris and Stephen were introduced through a professional development program at Melbourne Uni's Union House. Seems to me to be a far better model of assistant director-ship, than simply being seconded onto projects, which is often the case.

Next Monday the choreographer's coming in. Can't wait to see how the cast handle that!