A strange week of shows...

Performance wise it has been an odd week. 

The audiences have been a lot more reserved this week, and though we are all aware that the play is not a comedy- there is a definite feeling that the audience are finding it hard to sit in a room and listen to people perform a play that touches on some quite personal themes.

The spaces have been hard too. The first venue had raked seating, which was a first for all of us. Raked seating causes a lot of problems, most prominently the fact that we have to crane our necks up the whole time. Other venues this week have been much more what we are used to but whether it has been the acoustics or the stage it has always felt not quite right.

As a result of the unfavourable environments that we have been performing in we have really felt how as a group we have been pushing a lot more. 

As so many of the scenes resemble family arguments we have naturally used these scenes as opportunities to raise the stakes and inject energy into the show. 

This has caused problems of their own. With a cast of four constantly feeling the need to raise the stakes we have got into the position where we all go on stage, perform a one hour shouting match and then get back in the van absolutely exhausted and spent. 

Last night after our second show we convened in a coffee and cake shop and went through the whole script- discussing the scenes as we go and suggesting improvements along the way.  

This was an incredibly helpful couple of hours and it really helped us look at the play objectively for once. 

One of the best things about the experience was that it felt really nice going through the play and not having to push the lines out; speaking the lines calmly across a coffee able allowed us to once again discover the subtleties of the script. 

Our overriding conclusion was this;

The play is not a play about conflict.

It is a play about four people who love each other and how they resolve their differences.

I think that if you put our energies into more positive actions then both us and the audiences will less dragged down by the end of the show. 

Anger is the easiest emotion to play and should only be kept for very special occasions.