From the Beginning with Detail - 6th & 9th November

Today was the first week back. The students had been asked to focus on learning their lines over the half term. The intention was to go back to the beginning of the script and rehearse/ block in more detail.

• Being off book frees up the actor. The less dependant the actor is on their script, the more able they are to explore the space, their physicality and how they exist within the space with the other characters. 

We rehearsed:

• up to page 32 on the Tuesday: Act Two, Sc i
• up to page 59 on the Friday: (Towards the end of) Act Two Sc ii

Some of the things discovered through rehearsals were:

• The opening scene between Miletus, Scud and Megeara is key in the setting up of the energy of the play - the actors really need to set the pace….
• Following Megaera's "Welcome to Thebes" (and the Chorus' echoes of the same), the ensemble will enter into the space - exploring the debris and whispering/ repeating "Welcome to Thebes". It is at this stage that we first hear the helicopter. Quiet at first, but you get the sense of a looming threat - an outsider approaching. (Think the "streetcar" from A Streetcar Named Desire). The company focus their attention to the sky......…
• The chorus will be part of Eurydice's "getting ready". The chorus will be present at the base of the podium and they will hand up the scarf, the watch and the handbag as they're referred to by Ismene (page 14). 
• Need to really find the pace during "breathe frenzy" moment on page 52-53. The energy/ tension needs to build to the climactic moment where Polykleitos goes to pull trigger. 
• Place Polykleitos in entrance 'B' on page 54 when Talthybia talks about the "Theban guy…" - "who dismantles guns and weapons……" Polykleitos needs to find the passion in what he is saying there and then - it's a flash back/ a re-visiting to what was said.