Chaos Out of Order

This was a very rough and frustrating evening of theatre rehearsal.

We were in fact back in the performance space, but those doing construction, contrary to the director's wishes, were totally unconcerned with the fact that there was a rehearsal going on. So, there was extra noise to contend with.

Also, though the set is built, it had to be partially torn down, re-built, torn down, and rebuilt again, and again several times as the concept changed right before our eyes.

Which entailed pushing and pulling some extraordinarily heavy walls and other pieces of the building that we had yet to tear down, or are trying to incorporate into the set.

Huge amounts of junk to be moved, and stashed in random corners in the building, so that we can trip over them when we are off stage, as opposed to on stage.

Then there was the concept of the platforms we needed for this set. It would appear that the person in charge of delivering them has been late on two different occassions, leaving us a bit high and dry. Today, just as we were finally settling in to begin rehearsal, 45 minutes late or so, the platforms show up...and everything had to be re-arranged, town down, etc, in order to make room for the platforms.

One of which was, after all of that, the wrong size.

Then there was the matter of the lighting person not having shown up to install the light board. There were therefore no lights with which to work on stage on this, the first day of tech week.

Not to mention the same member of the cast that I have talked about before...who has been to no more than half of the rehearsals, and who once missed a whole week, and promised he would not miss another...missed rehearsal tonight. I hate to be picky, but it is hard to respect anyone who can show so little respect for the play he chose to try out for himself.

I have not yet tried on any costumes for my base character.

Not everyone is off book.

And we go on in four days.

I am doing my best to go deep within myself, and find all that needs to be found to turn in a great performance. I usually have to deal with some kind of adversity when I am in a show, and I always find it within me to make the character mine, and to give life to what I am doing, regardless of what is going on around me. I hope to do so this time, and I feel it can happen, but I confess that it has never been this difficult. I feel somewhat disappointed in myself that I have not been able to do everything I need to do with ease. I suppose everyone has a point beyond which the distractions and adversities outweigh one's strength and dedication to purpose. Perhaps this is my point.

Trying to look on a more positive side, I think I was doing some good things in the Cratchit scenes. It seems that obstacles on stage, physical and symbollic, often bring about greater creativity and depth of character. You have to be extra careful in such circumstances if you want to keep up the pace. So the dodges and curves you go through can take you to some interesting places if you do not give up. I have not given up.

I did find a hat to wear for the Undertaker. It actually fits my oddly shaped head. Not many hats in the history of theatre have done so.

I also wore a cloak type of thing for my time as The Ghost of Christmas Past. Feels good. Simple garment. Suits the character.

Sadly, I did drop a line during that scene. But not because of the cloak.

Outside of the Crachit scene, I felt a bit flat in what I was giving. I need to watch that.

In theory, full tech capabilities should be attains by Tuesday. Which will give us three days to run the show as performed.