Long Day's Journey Into Night: Week Three of Rehearsals
As we enter week four of rehearsals for Long Day's Journey Into Night Assistant Director George Nichols reveals how the play has been progressing so far:
In the rehearsal room this week we’ve been working through
the play a second time. Because of the
size of the play and the complexity of its language Dominic thought it
particularly important that we get through it once before getting too in depth.
That means that this week we’ve been asking more difficult questions, and have
started to construct the characters and their world in more detail.
It’s a real privilege, from the perspective of a training
director, to get to see such an experienced group of people work on one of the
greatest plays ever written. Watching how fearlessly everyone is approaching a
play of this size and scale, and with such attention to detail, is really
humbling. At this point in rehearsals some moments start to really grab you, and
you begin to see what the play will end up being. Sometimes a minute change
affected by an actor or a note from Dominic can really illuminate a facet of
the play that we didn’t understand before. This has made each day feel charged
with energy and promise.
Other elements of the production have also started to come together
this week. Bits and pieces of costume have started to come into the rehearsal
room and temporary props are gradually being replaced with items that Tom Piper,
our designer, is happy with. Clare
McKenzie, our composer, is making progress on the music that will accompany the production and Matt Padden has been working on pieces of
pre-recorded sound too. At the end of the week we welcomed our marketing team to
the rehearsal room, along with Rachael from Home Manchester, to shoot our
trailer and to take some footage of rehearsals.
All of this work can sometimes feel like it takes you out of
the room and away from rehearsals, but it’s vitally important in order to make
every aspect of the production as good as it can be. There is such a positive
atmosphere around the theatre and with creating the best work possible being
the guiding principle for everyone collaborating on the project we know this effort
will contribute to an exceptional production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Long Day's Journey Into Night runs at the Citizens Theatre from 13 Apr - 5 May.
It will then go to HOME Manchester 10 - 26 May
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