We’ve just finished a 3-day intensive in the studio*… our first 3 days working on Grit with the company.
(*And by ‘Studio’, I mean the local library and a local church hall, not a theatre space. Because at Doorstep Arts, we believe that theatre can happen in any space, and we believe that our local community sites deserve to be animated with local artists and young people.)
What does a rehearsal intensive look like?
A lot like this:
It’s hard work. Several hours of concentrated effort to get a song idea mocked up, shared and then back in to re-work it. One day, you might be working on a song, the next day, scripting the second half of the show. By the third day, we were all a bit silly and tired, but happy with how productive the sessions had been.
So what does a devising rehearsal intensive look like? It can also look like this:
We laughed a lot.
The artistic process of pulling a show together is a little hard to explain and hard to capture…
This video might give a better glimpse…. and we’ll try do more of this video blogging throughout the rehearsal process, so you can hear about the making of the show, from the 18 young people writers musicians multi-talented artists who are actually making the show.
The show’s shape is in place now – we have each taken away a task to work on over 3 weeks in August. These tasks are cryptic in title, but it captures something about the work:
- Narrative and lighting plan/plot (Ez)
- Detailed script dramaturgy (Ez)
- Musical Arrangement and plans (MS)
- Researching space/time travel facts to inform door journeys (JC, JC, RH)
- Defining & writing World One, the What-Ifs (ES)
- Defining and writing World Two, Conformity (GC)
- Defining and writing World Three, Facing Loss (HM)
- Writing the Dad’s final speech (HM)
- Finishing Seeing and Going Home reprise (TV)
- Finishing Going Home reprise lyrics (Ez)
- Typing up chords/lyrics to Going Home and Testing (EC)
- Writing the 3 door-entry Riddles (JC, AS, HM)
So that’s our summer holidays sorted then.
Post written by: Erin Walcon
