From The Marriage of Figaro rehearsal room…

6 June 2011

Rehearsal Week 1 Diary

When beginning the rehearsals of a farce, there is a silent understanding amongst the company that the final product somewhat relies on being funny. It’s all too tempting to jump straight into making big-bold-pot-luck choices rather than being strict on oneself in order to really discover the beating heart of the play. By stripping the comedy away initially, every choice becomes an informed, educated decision that has logical meaning.

This is why the early part of rehearsal week one for Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro consisted of many self-probing questions – What does my character know in this act? Why am I speaking to this character? What do I want to achieve by saying what I’m saying? We spent a good while stripping the ‘funny story’ away so that we were left with just the bones of the piece, filling the tiniest of holes with extra snippets of plot based on what we’d decided in terms of character motivations, relationships and obstacles. Many a long conversation took place and many cups of coffee were slurped in order to make the story watertight.

Only once we’d reached this stage, did Kate (the director) introduce the element of ‘play’ by loosely staging each act of the piece while the actors started to experiment with how each line would be played across to their scene partners. Though we’d transitioned from table work to the stage plenty of care was given by continuing to discuss every entrance, exit, pause and movement to ensure that the world of Beaumarchais’ play didn’t stop until well beyond the doors on stage. The highlight of this week had to be the hilarious morning we explored every possible way Chérubin and the Count (played by Liam Bergin and Philip Bird respectively) could hide behind an 18th Century arm chair simultaneously. It’s not as easy as you’d think!

Alongside what was taking place in the main rehearsal room, music rehearsals with castanets, guitars, other instruments and voices galore practiced tirelessly with the composer, Sarah to get to a performable level in preparation for choreography rehearsals – due to start in week two. Beyond this, we’ve planned for more farce-like frolics within the safe walls of the rehearsal room, (or the hedges of the gardens where the fifth act is concerned) in order to find the best way to truthfully tell the story moment-by-moment. This, really, is the only way to prepare presenting a farce to the audience in just three weeks’ time. “Good God almighty!”

Richard Fitch – Assistant Director