08.03.2010

rehearsing "Cosi"

I love rehearsing.

One way of considering the process of rehearsal is that it is about moving the written work from the page to the stage. Naturally the process will be very different depending on what sort of piece it is, and the people involved.

For me, a performer, the work starts even before rehearsal, when you research the piece, the writer, and the ideas. This is a wonderful time, liberating and opening the mind and the imagination about the world of the piece, filling in the gaps, finding the back story of your character, and it is amazing how much of this early thinking and dreaming finds its way into the finished work. This work is kind of like the cushion on which the work floats, on which all of the creative work is supported. There was a wonderful interview with Yvonne Kenny on Classic fm recently in which, amongst other things, she spoke of the work she does to prepare a character, and how pleasurable this process can be. She is very eloquent, and obviously still very excited by her work. It’s an inspiring interview.

So I am in the midst of rehearsing “Cosi” by Louis Nowra. My preparation has included reading other plays by Louis Nowra; two autobiographies; some essays by him; which were collected in a book called “Chihuahua’s, Women and Me,” which is a great read; seeing the film version of “Cosi”; watching a film version of “Cosi Fan Tutte” by Mozart, listening to the opera “Cosi Fan Tutte” by Mozart and studying the libretto; reading about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; watching films about psychiatric institutions; reading about psychiatric institutions; speaking to specialists; reading about the Vietnam War; and then other bits and pieces relevant to the world of the play and the world of my character. It’s been fascinating and fun, as usual.

This process of reading and researching continues throughout the formal rehearsal period, which is when we “get on the floor”, that is, start rehearsing on our feet in a rehearsal room, finding the physicality of our characters, building the inner life of the characters, and discovering and learning the “blocking”, which is where the characters move on the set. It’s a combination of discussion, and work on our feet, trying things out, finding things, rejecting them…sort of like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, both individually and collectively. In this case we have the incredible luxury of five weeks full time rehearsal. This is because “Cosi” is a fairly substantial play, around two hours long, and there are 11 characters being played by 8 actors. It’s an ensemble piece, which means that for a lot of the time many, if not all, of us are on stage together, which requires a lot of careful orchestration. Also it is a comedy, so there is comedic business and quite a lot of props. All in all, a big piece.

We are just starting week five and are in a great place, having done our first full run though of the whole play at the end of last week “off the book”, (that is with lines learnt), and with most props, costumes, costume changes and set changes. Therefore this week, week five, we’ll do one or two runs each day, and some detailed work on any scenes or sections which feel sticky or aren’t working properly either internally or externally. At the beginning of next week, production week, we’ll transfer from the rehearsal room to the theatre, and will place all our work into the real set, and lights and sound will be added.

We play in a few different theatres around Melbourne and then the whole shebang gets loaded into a truck and we make our way throughout Victoria and then to Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia!

It’s been wonderful so far, and is just about to get even more interesting…