Trumpets and Pianos
The third week of rehearsals for King Lear has just finished and the show is really coming together now. The last few weeks have been hard work getting to grips with this large scale production but the team is really coming together, from the inexhaustible Dominic Hill to the ever enthusiastic ensemble.
This week Tom (designer) and Paddy (composer) have been with us a lot more and it's been fantastic to have them in, and begin to have their input more and get to see those aspects of the production feed in. In the rehearsal room it can be difficult to see how those other aspects will effect or play into a scene, so getting a taste of what they'll be really helps not only the director but the cast and larger team too.
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| Early singing warm up with full cast and ensemble |
With Paddy also came some musical warm ups with the whole company and the introduction of sound into more of the scenes. One unrelated and particularly embarrassing moment for me was when we worked through the last scene of the play and I had to make trumpet noises, to announce the arrival of Edgar, they weren't very good. According to Dominic they sounded like a "choking frog". Ewan (playing Edgar) now makes the trumpet sounds himself until we get the actual ones.
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| A donated piano |
The pianos got a proper work out as they began to feature more heavily midweek, it's easy to now see why we desparately need more of them! [Ed. We now have enough pianos!] As they make up most of the larger atmospheric sounds in the middle of the play and sound terrifyingly amazing. Even with Paddy tinkering with one piano in the rehearsal room has made an amazing difference to the feel of the play.
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| Designer Tom and Dominic play with the staging for a scene |
A personal moment of excitement was getting to sit between Dominic and Tom as we worked on scenes, talking to and working with these two fantastic artists. It was exciting just to get to be a part of their conversations and thinking.
Now we're heading into week 4 and the excitement is really building!
Assistant Director
King Lear
Previews: 20, 21, 24 April
Opens from 25 April
100 50p tickets for King Lear go on sale at 10am on Sat 14 April!
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