Tuesday, March 31, 2009

40 Dei - Tues 31st March

Even better run through today. Time to stop for a few days. Told Betio we were going to go with Albert as the sole Matthew .He took it very well and went round being very busy making sure everyone was in position for the run through. He promptly fell over back stage and twisted his knee and has 2 days sick leave.

Titus had a stitch in his gum following the tooth removals and has developed a slight lisp as the tongue has no teeth to brush against. His performance in the circumstances was heroic. Albert too had spent most of the night in the mortuary with the family of the boy beaten to death. Apparently he had a big hole in the side of his head where he had been beaten with a piece of wood. I try to imagine this kind of blood lust. I can just about get as far as shooting him in both legs as he comes out of the house if I were a harassed officer having my whole life disrupted by seeking out escaped prisoners, but then driving him up to the camp to beat him is just beyond my comprehension.

So when these two, Titus and Albert, stagger into the final scene where Titus visits Albert in prison, they both looked utterly exhausted and a few lines go. But the backstories of the lives going on during these weeks plus the topicality of the play seems to add to the intensity. For the first time in 20 years I find myself hoping not too many small kids come along with parents to watch it.But that's almost impossible to achieve here. They will be restless and giggle when you don't want them too but it is just part of the Vanuatu theatre scene.

Monday, March 30, 2009

40 Dei - Mon 30th March

Betio’s brother having an operation. Albert is at the hospital. Not just because his baby is still in an incubator but also because his neighbour has just been shot and beaten to death by the VMF. He was one of the escapees and Albert had to make a statement to the police , not quite clear why. The inevitable has happened and whilst many shout ‘I gud ia’ others of us just see it as one more step towards the cesspit of violence that Vanuatu seems to want to become. Another incident witnessed by one of our actors yesterday. A large group of women got hold of a another woman who had been sleeping with one of their husbands. They beat her up very badly and shoved Pima up her vagina. She is in hospital.

So we delay the run through till one of Betio or Albert can join us. There’s one song about a drunken fight that we have never put in and we spend an hour and a half doing that.

And the run through in the afternoon is the best yet. Albert’s performance particularly given how many things are happening in his life is astounding. Our intern from East 15 hugely impressed. Mike watched it for the first time and said it was so powerful he couldn’t see how we could outdo this one! The second half in light of the mornings news of the death of a prisoner seemed even more scary.

Straight afterwards Titus off to have 4 more teeth out

Friday, March 27, 2009

40 Dei - Friday 27 March

Albert is there! His baby lived through the night and he has come to do the run through. One actress's husband has been diagnosed with TB and obviously she has to be tested herself. So all in all some people have good reason for not being focussed and so it proved; the first half was a disaster. Albert finally, in a scene he does so well, stopping and saying ‘Sorry Peter I am completely lost. ‘ Others have less excuse for a loss of focus. Bit of a team talk before proceeding to the second half. It’s so difficult to get a run through started. Actors waiting at three different entrances and trying to stay in the aircon offices away from the cauldron that is the theatre. All feels like chaos and leads to an unprepared start. In a couple of cases I will have to bring it down to one cast however hard that is for the actors to take; better that than be compared unfavourably to the other person playing the part when audiences see it.

Second half went well; seems to be the case most times now and a good set of notes. Even raised a smile from Albert. I asked to him to come to work in a pair of shorts that he actually didn’t have to clutch because they are always on the verge of falling down. It’s particularly irritating when he is singing his soul out in this sad song; ‘my heart is sore( yank shorts up), ‘I try to follow the straight road’ ..whoops there go the shorts again. But we need to get some consistency..and fast.

Tooth dramas continue. The dentist rings at 4pm; she wants to take 12 of Titus’s teeth out, many of them stumps basically and advises us to get a quote from someone for lower dentures. Titus agrees, but something of an unwanted complication for your lead actor 4 weeks from opening night. Yvette needs three root canals but probably too expensive.

I heard that shackles are going to be introduced at the prison and that the bitterness about the violence amongst all inmates not only escapees is very high.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

40 Dei - Tues to Thursday 24-26 March

Had the meeting mid morning and no explosions. But a cast change. Titus is now the sole pastor. Bob going to have a crack at the MP. Superb run through of the 2nd half in the afternoon despite the blistering heat, which is a reminder that a cyclone is still possible. Jo watched it, plus a visiting intern,Richard, from East 15 acting School.

Wed, really bad run through which I watched from another seat and decided I’d made a hash of the blocking.

Thursday, great run through of the whole play and the world is right again. Except it isn’t because Albert’s wife has given birth to a baby boy..2 months prematurely and there a scare in the afternoon that the baby is not well. Better news in the evening but it will be touch and go for a while which cannot make it easy for Albert to rehearse.

Vanuatu’s police commissioner was at WSB attending a forum organised by Mike for youth and representatives from rural villages we work with. It was their chance to quiz various reps from the legal sector. It was impressive that the guests all turned up. One youth asked if the commissioner thought it was right that when youth were arrested on suspicion of rape or theft they also got beaten up by the police. He asked if ‘bigmen’(ie politicians etc) were also beaten up if they got arrested. Brave lad. The police commissioner urged everybody to report cases of police brutality today not tomorrow and there was a panel in the police to deal with exactly this sort of thing, which naturally reassured everyone in the room.

Monday, March 23, 2009

40 Dei - Monday March 23

No rehearsals because today a major external review of Wan Smolbag theatre started. Great timing! Actually so wired up about the play that there’s no space left to fret about the review so maybe it’s a good thing. Also the awkward group meeting put off because the main concerned party was away at a funeral. The rest of us met to discuss the situation. I think in some ways sadness, followed by frustration, is the prevailing emotion as the person concerned is a longtime member. I hope some solution can be reached.

The beautiful woollen backdrops we ordered from Australia have arrived and we hung them up today. They looked gorgeous and have improved the acoustic.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

40 Dei - Sunday March 22

Jo and I spent some time looking through poetry anthologies for appropriate quotes for the program. Soon wandering through old favourites that had nothing to do with the program!

Those that were relevant are probably too Eurocentric or the English too obscure for our audience. William Blake, always chiding religious hypocrisy is a good example in a poem like the Garden of Love which now

..was filled with graves
And tombstones where flowers should be
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

Perhaps easier is The Divine Image in which he says that Mercy, Love, Pity and Peace are the essence of Christianity and it ends:

And all must love the human form,
In heathen,Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.

Our own favourite was a typically laconic Larkin poem entitled Days:

What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.

They are to be happy in;
Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.

Friday, March 20, 2009

40 Dei - Friday 20th March

We had a good group meeting straight after warm up; we’ll take a whole week off over Easter as the group are owed quite a bit of TOIL. One or two worried about momentum being lost but on the whole when people considered the next 7 months; 30-odd shows in 6 weeks, rehearsals for other plays for the international theatre festival we’re hosting, 5 months on series 3 of Love Patrol, then this seemed a last opportunity to recharge.

I asked how many people wanted dental check ups. 8! We had to prioritise who was an emergency and who just had a long term nagging problem. Actually as much as affordability (see yesterday’s blog), it’s also a matter of sugar intake, which is very high. Had an interesting chat not so long ago with an HIV specialist who confessed that he was surprised in some Pacific countries that he was never told by people ‘You’ve been saying that HIV will wipe us out for the last 20 years, but we’ve still only got 5 cases.’ Whereas type 2 diabetes continues to sky rocket. …as it does in many parts of the world, I know. One of the painful ironies of attending funerals of people who have had diabetes here is that it is standard practice to bring to the family of the deceased large amounts of white rice and sugar to help feed the number of grieving relatives who come to stay with you.

Didn’t quite reach the end of the play as we had agreed to give the afternoon over to a run through of the first half. To my surprise this started very well. The first 20 minutes were excellent…and then it nosedived and everyone knew why. We have some tough talking to do next week. An awkward decision has to be made.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

40 Dei - Thursday March 19th

Big crusade going on all week near us. ‘Jesus didn’t have a PA system,’ says Matthew in the play. ‘It’s a different world today,’ says Lei and she has a point. I am reminded of that scene in Life of Brian with the huge crowds listening to Brian preaching and John Cleese at the back going ‘What’s he saying?’ But it is increasingly difficult to find a crusade free part of town these days. Sound on night shoots in films is constantly bedevilled , whoops, wrong word there, by the sound of PA boosted pastors somewhere out there in the dark.

Teeth. I am prepared to bet that more than most directors in the world I am saddled with actors with tooth problems. Dental hygiene is not high up on many people’s priorities or affordabilities and most of the group suffer terribly, with the older members having lost a fair few by their late thirties, early 40s.Poor Albert, not one of the oldies, has had several sleepless nights with tooth ache of late and still comes to work. I must give up a day once the whole thing is blocked to getting dental appointments for all in need.

And we’re nearly there. Thought we might make it today but chose instead a slower more detailed approach. It’s lovely when you see actors agree with your notes and transform a scene in the next run through. Amazing what a difference it makes just thinking for a second where you have come from or what’s just happened to you as a character in your off stage life. Great work from several people today. So good to see Bob’s performance beginning to grow.

Big discussion about how to do the beating up of the escaped prisoners. We have a beautiful chilling song but what action do we put with it? General agreement that if we have any kind of mimed beating up or slo-mo kick boxing show the audience will piss themselves..with laughter. We experimented with the singers coming on, stony expressions, and towards the end of it 3 policemen dragging in the bloodied bodies of the prisoners. The music finishes, we hear crickets over the PA and the police drink a shell of kava as the bodies groan; one prisoner mumbles shoot me and the policeman wanders up to him with a lighted cigarette and slowly stubs it in his face as we cut to black out. Probably too much and the dragging of bodies may cause laughter. We have another couple of simpler, more symbolic, reserve options. And I just don’t know how communities split. Jennifer (our reseach officer) , how about a street poll asking people whether they think it is good the escapees are beaten senseless when captured? Could go in the program. Was walking home and met an ex youth club member (who found a job!) and keen film WSB extra. I asked how many prisoners were still out and then said, ‘I hear they’re really badly beaten when the mobile force get them…’

‘I gud ya’ End of conversation.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

40 Dei - Wed 18 March



List of wounded at 8 am did not bode well. Paul, leg injury and on his way to hospital; Joyce, string of boils down her left side, Yvette, coming if her tummy settles down; another actress not really with us following a huge row with her Mum before coming to work, involving the wielding of bush knives I’m told. But by 10 am everyone is assembled. The best day on the second half of the play so far!

Am reading a book called Fat Chance by Simon Gray the British playwright and director who passed away last year. It’s an account of a famous London production he directed of his play Cell Mates; famous because the lead actor Stephen Fry left without warning. He went into hiding after the second night leaving a phone message (I’m sorry; so very sorry). The play, which seemed destined to be a big hit, closed 2 weeks later. It has the same effect on me as the documentary of Terry Gilliam’s disastrous attempt to film Don Quixote, Lost in La Mancha. Although we’re millions of dollars apart the same things go wrong! The costumes left at the dry cleaners and not picked up before the show; the film set that changes drastically in an overnight storm thus destroying continuity.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

40 Dei - Tues 17 March



Day starts well with the scene where the politician asks forgiveness in church for his sins. Is he really born again or is it something to do with the upcoming election?

Then Albert, one of our Matthews, is called out. He comes back looking nervous. 6 or so Mobile Force members have come to take him for questioning regarding the harbouring of escaped prisoners. This is so close to what happens to his character in the play that it is scary…but not as scary as things looked at that minute for Albert. The prisoners who escaped a couple of weeks ago are slowly being found and predictably being made ‘to swim in their own blood’. This morning two have been picked up and there is a drive to find harbourers too.

Noone really wants to rehearse. If Albert is taken in and Betio remains undecided whether he wants to do Mathew, we may not have a production. So some half hearted practice of songs continues but soon the talk is all of the prisoners and ways of dealing with them. Someone has heard that the mobile force are determined to make sure the regular escapees never escape again, presumably by crippling them.

Albert returns just before lunch, unharmed and we were much relieved. But he is shaken. They took him up to the camp where there were several other suspected harbourers. As he got out of the truck a soldier standing nearby in the camp shouted ‘killim!’ Five of them took him into a bare concrete floored room on which there lay a bloodstained piece of wood; the floor was covered in blood and spittle. Things didn’t look good for him; one of the prisoners had said he had stayed with Albert. Albert denied it. ’Look,’ he said, ‘I have a great job, my wife is pregnant why would I do that? If anyone says that bring them in and let him say it to my face.’ Whether this convinced them, whether the fact that he is well known helped, I don’t know but he was delivered for the time being back to WSB. Here ends the latest update on Vanuatu’s wild west justice system.

Two hours on the song 'whisky' where i found a use for my shields from gladiator. Looked alright to me but was paranoid everyone else would think it's like a roman battle scene. Jo arrived and we did the song for her. no jokes about centurions so i guess it works.

Monday, March 16, 2009

40 Dei - Monday March 16, 2009



Walked to work. In the 50 minutes it took I counted only 20 people over the age of 30 and several hundred under the age of 30. No wonder services like education are struggling!

So, onto the second half. Danny had learnt all the lines for the first scene already, the prison scene and it’s a lovely piece of writing. At least, when you know what the writer feels about justice issues, it is exciting to see the other viewpoint given an equal if not stronger argument!

The bust up from Friday had to be dealt with after lunch and as usual in these situations a lot of painful things were said by all parties. But so they have been countless times over 20 years and we’re still together; perhaps because we lance our boils. A word of thanks here to Michael Taurakoto , our governance manager , who always gets dragged in to chair meetings. I remember your early days, Mike (2000?), when you professed to being totally terrified by these strong meetings that WSB seems to hold but you have become such a marvelous mediator! Sorry I behaved so badly in today’s.

We had an hour left and ripped into the title song 40 days. A barnstorming song , which we enact with a female Jesus and Satan climbing on benches three tiers high for the tempting!

A young white couple befriended a part timer who has joined the play. The woman claimed she was from everywhere and as a follower of God had no possessions. Our part timer was prevailed upon to take them home for the weekend. Said parttimer and husband took the white couple swimming. The woman much to parttimers husband's amazement took all her clothes off and dived in. Parttimer made husband avert his eyes.

Friday, March 13, 2009

40 Dei - Friday 13th March

I open the gates to go to work just as the minister for Home Affairs from 1992 is walking past. As with many politicians here he is a man of the people. This is not a comment on his politics but a reflection that some retired politicians here slip back into village life rather than having another career to go to. I have not seen him for a long time and as he is going down to Tagabe I give him a lift.

We reminisce about that night on Tongoa in 1992.WSB had spent a week in the village of Kurimambe making a play with the village about the only colony of mutton birds in Vanuatu which nested on an uninhabited island off the main island. They were easy targets as they flopped in to lay eggs on the ground. We were trying to look at sustainable harvesting. The whole village took part and it was a great week.

On the last night the village wanted to take the play to a neighbouring village who disputed the ownership of the island where the birds nested. We were a bit nervous about it but they saw the play as very reconciliatory. Sadly the other village didn’t and as soon as the play finished one angry man went round smashing the hurricane lamps whose light we had performed by.
The minister was staying in the village that night and was sent for and he expertly calmed the situation down. When we got back to our village he sent two bottles of wine and food !

Totally unprompted he applauds WSB’s decision to focus its efforts on the communities around the theatre rather than trying to start projects everywhere. He had never been to WSB before so I show him round and he is very polite and graceful to all the young people whizzing around the place.

Then the warm up and a joke I had planned. We tend to count ourselves through one particularly painful stretch and of course people speed up, add in halves. so I said I would be chief counter for the first one today(you do the stretch six times) and they could join in with me. I proceeded to count in German. This provoked a mixture of groans and laughs. I then appointed a counter for the repeat stretch who counted in her island language ( each island would have at least one language in Vanuatu). By the time the exercise had finished, about 5 languages had been used.

FIRST MAJOR BUST UP! About line learning. Growing annoyance at someone’s slackness at learning lines finally bubbled over. I go back to the office. A few minutes later the actor appears in the doorway and hurls the script across the room at me and storms out. Cast all behind me according to Jo who as is normal in these situations , retires to the kava bar with the actors on a diplomatic mission. Well, she’d go there anyway but it gives her an excuse.She hears a lovely story or stories about the response to the second showing on TV in a week of our new film, Las Kad. Titus Joseph, one of our indisputably world class actors was in the bank when someone approached him with a tin of Sprite and a packet of nuts. ‘For you,’ he says, ‘it’s my lunch but I want you to have it’. Titus says he couldn’t possibly deprive the man but the man says that Titus’ performance in Las Kad was so amazing he has to take it!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

40 Dei - Thursday 12 March

Most mornings when I drive down the final hill to Wan Smolbag I pass a teenage albino girl leading a blind man, Willie, to the youth centre where I think he does a French class. We came across Willie during a review of our radio soap that ran for 8 years. He listened to every episode. He said he could tell when we changed an actor for a part, even quite minor parts, and he seemed to know every story line including several I’d forgotten.

Warm ups going so well and everyone says they appreciate them. The theatre is even cool when we come in at 8 am. We leave the working lights off for the warm up, stretching by the light coming through the side door. This week, we’ve been using the Running and Stamping Book by Neil Cameron. Jogging as a company in silence on the wooden floor of the theatre. We were running in pairs, one with eyes shut, the other shepherding the blind one round the space, when a mobile phone, unfortunately left on, screeched to life with some hideous ring tone. The group were visibly affronted and disturbed such was their concentration.However the theory that a good warm up will always lead to a good rehearsal was rapidly disproved!

The 2 cast solution is being severely tested. Bob, the second pastor, has returned from 5 days off due to a gum abscess but has missed so much and does not know the lines. Betio, whilst being more game now to have a go cannot shake off a sore throat, or more likely vulnerable vocal chords. It seems to be a recurring problem He too struggles a bit with lines. This means that others in that cast feel they are not getting a fair go.

We must go on to the second half on Monday.We discussed a line ‘Jesus I tellem se ol pastor oli ol dabol fes.’ Jesus said pastors were two faced. We decided that the character should quote the chapter and verse (in Matthew’s gospel somewhere) to take the heat off us. Yes the character is drunk, yes he’s a character in a play, but that wont necessarily impress some pastors here!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

40 Dei - Wednesday March 11th

This was the kind of day you recall years later. What makes it all worthwhile. Run throughs of recent scenes not quite there in the morning; not bad but just missing. More detailed rehearsal. Break for lunch and then start another run and one particular scene of the boys drunk and one of them threatening to commit suicide from a bridge was perfect…almost out of nowhere. I looked round at everyone and they were transfixed. This play could, only could at this stage, be thrilling. Betio seems to be finding a way of not compromising his faith and still acting.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

40 Dei - Tuesday March 10th

A bit of a disappointment after yesterday’s breakthrough but the final scenes of the first half could be very strong. All these ‘could be’s’ bringing on the usual bout of insomnia. Waking up at 2.30 thinking it’s morning for a few minutes and then the sad truth sinks in; its 2.30 am and that’s it, sleep has gone. People tell me I should say good night to every part of my body starting with my toes but basically I get to my ankles and they seem to reply, who the f*** are you kidding? It’s 3.00 in the morning?

Monday, March 9, 2009

40 Dei - Monday March 9th

Until lunch I was scared. X wasn’t here just like Friday. Is he playing fool with us? Y’s girlfriend had felt some pains in the night, she’s pregnant, and he didn’t turn up till lunchtime.. Z’s voice has been sore for a week and a bit now and it’s really pulling the piece down as his voice has no volume or energy.. One of the newcomers whom we’ve given quite a big part to is not really going to get there in the time available. Everyone else seemed affected by all of this and the run through of the first 17 pages was just awful. Never has one of these bigger plays had a worse start. Jo went to see X.

He has an abscess and really is in pain . At least that eases the resentment some of us were feeling. So over lunch in the nutrition centre, (anyone in Port Vila reading this, we have excellent cheap nutritious lunches in our nutrition centre. 250vt for two salads and a bowl of soup!) I said to some actors I thought we should give it a week and if it doesn’t work, we should ditch it and revive Las Kad. Everyone returned from lunch fairly depressed. Over lunch the musicians had rigged up a basic PA and a couple of cordless mikes which gave such a boost to the songs and the preaching scenes that it was like a new beginning. The play was born again! Danny was electric as the drunken Ben , enraged by his reformed friend’s attempts to convert him. Still problems, but you could see that it might work. Some of us talked to the newcomer after rehearsals who took his switch to the chorus in very good spirit.

And back in the office Lauren a WSB project officer is photocopying the comments of his preacher on Sunday who in his sermon praised our recent film Las Kad, which was on TV last week, saying it showed the reality of Vanuatu today. As the preacher talked, Lauren said, he, Lauren, sat there looking around, basking in the preacher’s praise for the film. Vanity, Lauren! Lukaot!

Friday, March 6, 2009

40 Dei - Friday March 6th

Two stories which we heard yesterday and have relevance to the play. Apparently in one of the prison escapes that have been the source of much debate over the last year (I don’t know which one), some teachers caught a escaped prisoner and beat him up. They invited some of their students to do the same. They then put him on a bus and someone must have called some other students further down the road to say that the prisoner was on the bus because they stopped the bus, dragged him out and continued the beating much to the consternation of three passengers on the bus. He was finally taken unconscious to the police station. It is easy to forget when criticising the recent violence by police on prisoners that many people want to do exactly the same. Violence seems to be the acceptable way to deal with many situations. With the prisoners it must be partly resentment at the fear they have caused in people’s minds when they are known to be on the run. But the growing use of mob violence is very disturbing and fuelled sometimes by people who should know better.

The second story; about 10 years ago on an island a church decided that all sin must be rooted out of the village and so adulterers and alike were beaten. One old lady was accused of witchcraft, beaten and subsequently died which at least had the effect of bringing the campaign to a close.

A big chorus scene today. The young convert, Matthew and the religious lady, Rebecca, are out fundraising for a new PA system for the church and set out for the settlement which she sees as a den of vice; children who clearly aren’t seeing enough of the ‘rod’, running raucously around and there in the corner is the group of dope smoking boys. Was planning to do it with pieces of corrugated iron, which the actors would hold and move with, changing shape from narrow lanes to tin shacks. But in the end all I could see in my mind looked like a scene from the film Gladiator with all these actors holding corrugated iron shields! So I abandoned this and instead covered the stage with clothes lines which the actors walk through. Took 3 hours to work through it but actors seemed to be able to run with it.

One of the actors playing Matthew, Betio, seems rather confused and lost at the moment and I talk to him about it at the end of rehearsals. He admits he is still a little nervous about the story. I thought this might happen. It does bear similarities to his own journey from a lad with a big drink problem 18 months ago to a teetotal very active Pentecostal Christian. The play suggests that neither lifestyle will necessarily solve all his problems. I hope he can reconcile these forces because he is a very good actor.

A real life drama was unfolding towards the end of the day outside WSB. A stolen bicycle originally belonging to someone at wan smolbag is identified, clumsily painted over and the rider is stopped. He didn’t steal it, his mates just lent it to him. The police are called, he tries to make a run for it leaving the bike behind, but is ‘held’and a few punches thrown The police arrive and cyclist and WSB staff member, bike owner, go off to the police station. It is in this kind of situation that I feel most confused. Of course the law should take its course and if the gang, who have broken in several times, can be captured, that is good but I also fear the police will kick the shit out of the lad to get the information and there will be one more embittered youth who believes more and more the language of violence is the one that gets results.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

40 Dei - Thursday March 5th

Chiefs day; public holiday. Vanuatu has many public holidays. Go for a walk with Jo and you can tell we've both got our heads in different projects. She says something about writing Love Patrol series 3 (WSB' TV drama series) and then when that's run its course, I'll say something about some blocking problem in 40 days and so it goes on for two hours through bush and rivers! What the hell. It is so nice to have a partner who is quite happy to talk about work and we neither of us have to apologize for it.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

40 Dei - Wednesday March 4th

One of the newcomers is wearing dark glasses and sure enough she has run into her boyfriend's fist. Some senior members of WSB talk to her and will let the boyfriend know that if he tries it again they will help her get a restraining order. In the same week another office staff of WSB has had a very nasty encounter with a boyfriend too.

A long scene with the three lads today. Well, six lads as we're rehearsing two casts; partly so we have understudies; also so that all core group members have a chance at a good stage role. But it doubles the rehearsal time. Or rather halves the time you'd like to spend with one group. It's interesting seeing the different interpretations emerge. Same as yesterday; great blocking it out, completely collapses when we try to run it.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

40 Dei - Tuesday March 3rd

All the girls have brought shorts today so that we can start the day with exercises. A short set of physical exercises (from a book called the Back Sufferers bible) to improve posture and some breathing exercises for freeing up the voice. We've done this from time to time over WSB's history but enthusiasm dies away pretty quickly and I end up embarrassed about enforcing a western drama school style regime on the cast if they don't want it. On the other hand its only day 2 and some voices are feeling the strain of filling quite a big space….and so far everyone likes the exercises. The afternoon gluing together of the opening scenes is a disaster. No one knows any lines, its 30 degrees inside the theatre and humid with it and it will be like that all through rehearsals. The theatre is a converted warehouse with thousands of coconut husks in the roof for accoustic purposes. No aircon, some small windows and fans. Performances of full length plays with lights most advisable during the 'winter' months, June to August!sadly plays have to be rehearsed first in the hot months!

I know in my heart that I don't want polished performances on day 2 but still I cannot help my inner self screaming 'this is going to be a disaster, oh my god I'm such a useless director etc.' The morning was great; two hours on another song, all working out a little dance for it but even that fell apart in the afternoon. At 4 pm I think the actors realise that they have a lot more lines to learn than in previous more chorus driven plays; I'm walking back to the office after rehearsals when I see that three actors are staying on to have another go at a scene, so I stay and the scene starts to take shape. Very pleased with the work ethic!

Monday, March 2, 2009

40 Dei - Monday March 2nd

The first rehearsal. I always go expecting the worst, especially as the group has just come back from various tours around Vanuatu and the Solomons. We'd agreed several weeks ago to give up any leave in lieu of overtime until rehearsals were well underway. But 9 o'clock comes and we're still short. Yvette's relative's baby was still born and she's been comforting the family. But some, who I shall not name, who one wouldn't expect to see on time on the first day of rehearsals are there. No one's exactly thrilled to learn the second half has been re written since they went away and that's a whole lot of wasted paper. Even Yvette finally comes in. We have a good meeting and leap in to the first scene and the rest of the cast learn the first song. By the end of the day we're seven pages and 2 songs into the play. Great start. Good atmosphere.