Day 14: SHATTERED

We're bring the show together this week, seeing the scenes all together and feeling the pace of the show. There are few surprises in store that I can't speak about, but its shaping up nicely.

Clarity is going to be my focus these next few days, I want to find room to play and try things, but I've been conflicted. I can't lose clarity just because I want to have a nice "angry bit" for example. There is a lot more to find, but I think I'll find that through making sure I'm communicating what I'm saying to a modern audiences ear. I'm also SHATTERED, haha.

Alex Bird (Alonzo)

Day 15: sweaty as balls

Poor Diaphanta. We burnt her this morning. That scene saw our playing space with its accumulated ruleset pushed to the limit, and then further into the finale. I really enjoyed watching our cramped little world burst open with abstract theatrical possibilities throughout the day.

And then we finished staging the beast. We played the confrontation scene between Beatrice and Alsemero with stillness and physical distance which gave it a new power. It felt like all that previous heightened text work was helping. A couple takeaways at this stage are (1) The table really is our 12th character (2) I’m going be sweaty as balls after every show.

Finally, ’The Patients’, our mad ensemble trio of crooners and swooners, delighted us with some singing. We slotted in the songs, and the result was surreal. It was giving David Lynch... in a late-night pleasure beach casino full of killers.

Mylo McDonald (Alsemero)

Day 13: Carousel of doom

Today flew by. We staged the first two acts of the play and learned a shit-tonne about the theatrical rules of our world. A deadly provocation propelled us into Act One. A game with simple rules. Here we are, eleven actors telling a story, one of us will die. “How shall I dare to venture in her castle,” Alsemero asks, “When she discharges murderers at the gate?”

We worked out the ruleset of the asides; specifically who on stage can see what and when. This was key as we are all always present in the scene in some way, either as characters, or as spectators with varying degrees of activation. We established the power points of our playing space and started to build a shared physical language too. Once these fundamentals began to crystallise and coalesce, the offers started coming thick and fast. I was riveted watching Jamie and Collette’s work in the proposition scene, and the excitement continued into the scene where Alex is murdered. Our morphing meta space of varnished wood, business, money and murder is one that feels exciting and unique. I can’t wait to explore it further tomorrow. Moving from the tense boardroom table of Act One to a ‘Carousel of Doom’ in Act Two, we ended the day as a compact ensemble witnessing the murder of Alonzo. The game had claimed its first victim.

Mylo McDonald (Alsemero)