Jekyll and Hyde (First Weekend)

In short, we got through it, though it was rough in places.

Due to various issues beyond our control, our rehearsal time for the whole process was shorter than normal, and tech week itself was also diluted, as I talked about in entries from that time. So in some ways, scary as it was, the first weekend was a bit like extended tech, but with an audience. I've already discussed opening night.

Saturday went much faster. Party because a few of the seams were coming together, and partly because, I would guess, of the slight relief that came with no longer having to open the show. (See previous entry.) It was the night of our smallest audience by numbers, and also the "quietest" though the jokes are few in this show, and that can be hard to judge.

I wish I could say I was without slip ups, but I cannot. I can however say that on Saturday night, and the following matinee, any slip ups I made were minor, easily corrected, and not frequent, as far as I can recall.

I'm not happy about these slip ups. I'm not excusing them. In fact, I'm not sure why I have so many of them in this show so far, (compared to my norm.) The large amount of lines I have, the extra stress with the show, or something else, I can't say. But just as a show has both artistic and tech elements, so too does any given actor's performance. I have been mostly satisfied, even proud of much of the artistic side of my performance as Jekyll so far. It is on my technical side, (clarity, speed, ease of delivery) about which I have been somewhat concerned. Not worried, just concerned.

Some of this has to do with difficulties to work through that would not be necessary but for the choices and attitudes of particular people at particular times. The buck, however, does in the end stop with me, and I could do better from a technical perspective. If I can't obtain perfection, (how often do we on stage??) than I hope to at least improve all aspects of my performance, starting tomorrow, for the second weekend of shows.

I find the second weekend of shows usually goes better than the first anyway, especially Saturday night. (Though this seems somewhat less true over the last few shows I've been in.)

Opening Night: Jekyll and Hyde

It is done. Opening night. Though the final dress not a disaster, it was in many ways a rough night, and as a result, we were unable to run the show front to back as intended for performance.

Which meant opening night itself was the first chance we had to do so.

And did we do so? Yes. But not without some potholes.

I'll say that certain parts of the show have improved each of the last several nights, including opening night. Compared to where we were a week ago, things could have been a lot worse on our first performance in front of an audience. (I'd say about 25 people out of a house of 44.)

I was more nervous, even apprehensive about opening this show than any I have been in for years. There have been more uncertain variables and unexpected problems, (some of them avoidable if not for poor choices by certain people) that I wasn't sure what to expect at times. I felt prepared mentally going into last night's show, but I wasn't at all certain that all of the variables I mentioned would allow me to accomplish everything in my performance as intended.

For the most part, I delivered an acceptable performance. And though certain doubts still hang over elements of this show, which will probably make me more nervous each evening than I otherwise should or would be after opening night, I cannot doubt the great relief of having put our first official performance behind us.

There are just some plays where, silly as it may seem afterward, one wonders if it can be done. One wonders if on the whole the cast can actually deliver a show before a paying audience. With the completion of opening night, we proved in this case that we are capable. This of course doesn't at all mean that every performance of the show for the remainder of the run will be without issues. That's one reason I remain, at least for now, a bit nervous. But what it does mean is that we can do this show. The parts of my subconscious that perhaps wondered if I/We could pull it off at all have at least been quieted. That will make the hours leading into tonight's performance less stressful than last night's.

A few missed entrances for a moment or two were probably some of them ore distracting elements for me. I myself am unlikely to make that particular mistake, because I am almost always on stage, even when my character is not "present" in the scene. I skidded a few times with a word hear and there with my lines, but nothing I am overtly ashamed of.

The biggest issues last night was a door on the set; it broke in the middle of a scene...left hanging on one hinge. It is supposed to be this way at the end of the play, but for one reason or another it broke prematurely. The actress who had stepped through it was flustered in her attempts to fix it. I was flustered because it would throw the scene. As I happened to play Jekyll, and the actress happened to play Jekyll's servant in that moment, I "ordered" the servant to leave the door be, and tell me what she wanted.

Not the greatest possible save, but it was a gaping hole, almost literally in the narrative that had to be addressed somehow, at least until a techie came out and fixed the door. Had it been another scene, I don't think an ad-lib would have been as readily appropriate. So sometimes we must acknowledge that even goofs, if they must happened, can have good or poor timing. That one, if it had to occur, was probably the best timing available.

Otherwise, it was satisfying to me, at last being able to move about as intended. I am hoping we improve overall a bit each night. If we do, the first weekend may act as a sort of extended tech, allowing us to close out next weekend in high fashion.

But long before that, is tonight, and tomorrow afternoon. 

Tech Week(s)

Though only this week has been the official tech week for Jekyll and Hyde (tonight being the final day of same), last week, for various reasons also felt like a tech week. That's one reason I didn't post an update on progress until now.

Nothing would be more boring that to share with you all of the little (and big) issues that have spring up that have slowed our progress in this production. Issues that are for the most part particular to the venue, the time of year and other such things. I will generalize the delay by saying that unexpected absences, unexpected equipment issues, some unwanted interference and an over crowded shared venue have all contributed to a trying final two weeks of the rehearsal process, for just about all involved. Everyone's process is slowed as we repair set pieces and try to get the lighting board to cooperate even now.

That certainly includes me. I am in fact off book for this show, and I have been. But I find I still trip or slide in places. Part of that may be due to how many lines I have in the show. (I believe in this case I have the plurality of them.) Part of the issue is the nature of the lines. Not only are the period for the Victorian era in some ways, in other ways they are not, which can trip my tongue even more. The script is also, in truth, in need of an editing if ever there is a revised edition to same.

On the whole, there is a lot of stress involved in preparing for this production. Stress that has, I think, slowed my own journey toward total confidence in what I am doing.

I must also mention that because I am on stage so much, I do not get a breather as often as the rest of the cast, or as often as I usually do in a show. That also has no doubt contributed to the pressure.

My confidence is in the end, my own journey. I don't think anyone can just tell another person to become confident. They can encourage, and that helps, but the final destination must be reached by the person in question on their own. I am there for parts of the play, but not for every single scene, as I normally am, and strongly prefer to be, by the end of the rehearsal process.

This hopefully doesn't mean I am somehow "losing my touch." The fact is, I don't believe that I am at this time. I've listed all of the complications associated with the show, and in defense of myself, I believe that plenty of people would experience a few speed bumps under the circumstances. Our tech crew, though not responsible for any line delivery is a prime example; this is a show requiring a lot of technical activity, and we have only one true runner, and the stage manager herself. It is a tremendous amount for two people to get done in the time they have to do it. So the strain on optimum performance is by no means restricted to the actors.

I also feel that I have, for whatever reason, been more tense, and rushed on stage while running this show than I normally would be. Whether this can also be attributed to all of the unavoidable extras, I'm not sure. But early last week it dawned on me just how fast I was delivering some of the speeches. Certain emotions of course call for greater speeds, but what I was doing was beyond this. I got to thinking I was going fast for the sake of getting the lines out, as opposed to going fast for the sake of portraying an emotion. I was never given a note that i was too fast, so I don't think I was going fast to the point of being unintelligible. Nevertheless, I tripped on common words more often than I found acceptable, and I made a determination to slow down a bit.

I have in fact slowed my delivery a bit each night since then. Further I have made sure I have physically more relaxed, relieving tension on my actual muscles that I don't always have on stage. This, especially last night, seemed to allow the words to flow more freely. I don't of course want to rid myself of energy on stage, but it has served as a strong reminder to relax. I still made some small errors, but I didn't let that end the world.

It didn't hurt that last night was the first time we ran the show with no "extras" out in the audience. That is to say, only the director and stage manager were there, and the light/sound people were up in the booth. Nobody going in and out.

Tonight then, is the final rehearsal. Because of the nature of my costume, I have actually been wearing mine the entire week, though this is the only official dress rehearsal. I am going to do my very best to treat it as an actual performance. I am off book, I have relaxed a bit, and last night I proved that I am at least in the proper ballpark to do what I need to do. Tonight I want to be sure of it to an even greater degree, though I am aware of the old superstition about the final dress vs. opening night.