Tuesday 16 October 2012

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern First Night

The first night of any production is always nerve wracking for the director and actors. Particularly the director as their 'baby' is finely going to be sent before a paying audience. There is nothing they can do any more, too late to change anything, it is all down to the actors and luck.





The other worry of course is will anyone actually come and pay money to see the play you've worked so hard on over the last few months. A good number of seats have been pre-booked for this run but you never now how many people will turn up on the door.

While waiting to open the doors to the public the front of house volunteers could hear the faint strains of 'what to do with a drunken sailor' wafting through from the back stage area. The cast sounded in good voice and spirits.




The Progress Youth Theatre normally have their sessions on a Monday at the theatre and when there is a production on this is replaced with a talk from the director and an opportunity to watch the production. Once the talk was over and Glynn had answered all their questions like what is your favourite line in the play, ("Pirates could happen to anyone") we opened the doors to the public.



By 7.45pm there were only a handful of seats left unsold, front of house reminded everyone to turn off their phones and it was time for the magic to begin.

All photos by Richard Brown.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Rumours by Neil Simon, Thursday 1st November, 7pm or Sunday 4th November, 2pm Progress Theatre

7th Annual WriteFest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for New Directors’ Double Bill Wednesday 5 December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9 December, 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10-15 December 2012, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.





Monday 8 October 2012

Lighting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Lighting is one aspect of theatre that doesn't always get much attention, people generally only notice it during a play if it goes wrong. Designing the lighting for a production is however an important creative part of the overall experience enjoyed by the audience. On Sunday I found Jon Churchill in a familiar position, up a ladder adjusting the lights at Progress Theatre. Jon has lit many shows over the years at Progress his but his most recent ones have been Mindgame and Whats Wrong with Angry.

There are technical challenges common to all productions like avoiding 'black holes', a dim patch where part of the stage is not lit properly. In addition to these each production brings very different tests for the lighting designer. Whats Wrong with Angry was perhaps more challenging for the lighting operator than the designer as there were hundreds of cues when the lighting had to be changed but the lighting itself was relatively straightforward with generally only small parts of the stage having to be lit at a time.

Mindgame was completely different in that there were only two changes but the lighting had to change very slowly from portraying a country hospital to a more industrial office.


Jon described the lighting for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as more subtle. The whole stage has to be lit (so important to avoid those black holes) and there are also the different doors mentioned in last week's post to light. The set is minimal so different states have to be portrayed by the lighting like sunset, dusk, outdoors and different indoor settings,  there is even a call for an 'ethereal' effect.

If you would like to find out more about theatre lighting and even have a go yourself Jon is running a workshop at Progress Theatre on Sunday 28th October (10am-4pm)  You will learn how to work with the script, the set designer, the director and cast. Learn a little about colours, moods and special effects then pull everything together on the Progress stage. If you'd like to attend the workshop then email pantofool@hotmail.com. It is intended for Progress members but you always join if you are not already a member!

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Rumours by Neil Simon, Thursday 1st November, 7pm or Sunday 4th November, 2pm Progress Theatre

7th Annual WriteFest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for New Directors’ Double Bill Wednesday 5 December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9 December, 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10-15 December 2012, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Monday 1 October 2012

Exits in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

"...look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else"

Exits and entrances are important in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. The two protagonists are stuck on stage for the entire play while other characters come and go at will. Director Glynn Oram is highlighting this by using doors in the set design. There are going to be several doors of different types some of which open and are working exits/entrances and some of which don't. The set is going to be black with all the doors painted in a variety of colours.

The set build team contemplating where to put the next door

Glynn also wanted some of the characters to have knives - but wooden ones. Ellie Spencer was working on them in the foyer on Sunday afternoon. She had found some wooden knives in the Progress props store but they were covered in silver tape - presumably from a previous production where they wanted them to look more realistic. In this production they need to look like wooden knives. Ellie has stripped the knives back to the wood and painted the blades.



Talking of recycling props I was pleased to see that the Progress beer crates are getting another outing. These have been in use at the theatre for over 40 years and in this production get used as steps and as boxes to transport things for the infamous voyage to England.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Rumours by Neil Simon, Thursday 1st November, 7pm or Sunday 4th November, 2pm Progress Theatre

7th Annual WriteFest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for New Directors’ Double Bill Wednesday 5 December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9 December, 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10-15 December 2012, Progress Theatre
 
Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.