Wiring The Pillowman

Husband and wife team Martin and Heather Noble spent their weekend set building for The Pillowman. As well as the usual carpentry and painting, set building for this show involves a certain amount of electronics. The set includes a bank of television screens that are variously used to represent CCTV cameras or to show scenes as part of the action. This has meant routing new cables from the tech box, at the back of the auditorium, to the stage. This is what Heather and Martin were busy doing on Sunday afternoon. Well, to be honest this is what Martin was doing; Heather, Zsuzsi Kingsnorth (director of the next production Death and the Maiden) and I were chatting, drinking tea and eating rather nice chocolate biscuits.

Heather (who has done lots of work on the set!) told me that she is working on a “need to know basis”. The plot includes several twists and surprises so she has made sure that she only finds out what she needs in order to do a particular job then she can enjoy the show to the full when she comes to see it. On the same basis I won’t tell you any more about the set, you’ll have to come and see for yourself.

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Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20 - 29 May 2010

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.

The Pillowman in rehearsal

Progress Blog was able to sit in on a recent rehearsal of The Pillowman.  It was held in the theatre foyer as the set build team were busy on the stage.

 The scene we watched being rehearsed was an enactment of one of the gruesome stories at the heart of the play. This one involves a girl being crucified, a scene which manages to be comic and disturbing at the same time. Lucy Daly (see here) is playing the girl and Matt Tully and Ben Lawson, who play the two detectives take on the role of her parents in this story.

Matt featured in last week's post and Ben, a fellow graduate of the Rep College, is new to Progress. He was so impressed when he read the play that he auditioned even though he is commuting from Cambridge. For the role he has had to learn to make and fly paper aeroplanes - an important life skill. He also has to throw toes (don't ask!) a skill it is rather more difficult to imagine a use for in daily life. 

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.

Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20 - 29 May 2010

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.

Catching Up With The Pillowman

Intimate Exchanges is still running until 24th April so grab your last chance to see it. Our thoughts are now turning to the next production, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20th - 29th May 2010.

The Pillowman is set in a totalitarian state and centres round a writer of gruesome stories. He is being interrogated by the police as several of the murders described in his stories have been carried out in real life. One of the policemen interrogating him is played by Matt Tully, a face Progress regulars may recognise. Matt was in Progress's production of Much Ado About Nothing at the end of last year where he played Benedick opposite Steph Weller's Beatrice.They are reunited in this production as Steph is co-directing.

Matt trained at East 15 Acting School and at the Rep College in Reading. His professional credits include a role in modern vampire movie Night Junkies which can be seen on Sky's Zone Horror.

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.

Don't forget...

Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn is on now and runs until 24th April

Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20 - 29 May 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.

Auditions For The Pillowman – Two Heads Are Better Than One

Auditions for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh are being held at Progress Theatre on Sunday 7 Feb 2.30pm and Wednesday 10 Feb 7.30pm.

The Pillowman is a dark but funny play about a writer in a totalitarian state who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders. There are four substantial parts for men aged roughly between 30 and 60 and this is an excellent opportunity to get your teeth into a meaty role. Co-director John Goodman is half hoping that there won't be enough people at the auditions so that he has to take one of the parts himself.

The play is being collaboratively directed by Steph Weller and John Goodman. They last worked together directing Taming of the Shrew in the Abbey Ruins in 2008. Individually Steph has directed Life Support, The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband and My Voice(s) at the Edinburgh Festival. John credits include The Crucible and The Tamer Tamed. They are also both experienced actors with Steph appearing most recently in Much Ado About Nothing as Beatrice. 

I asked them what they enjoyed about working together. Steph replied that they tend to interpret things in a similar way, but have enough different ideas to keep it interesting and fresh.  John is good at visualising how things will look and she enjoys working on the characters, drawing out their subtleties and presenting a coherent picture. There is plenty of scope for this sort of work in The Pillowman,  encouraging the actors to explore the dark and violent aspects of their characters without tipping over into melodrama.  John said he likes the fact that Steph brings supplies of Krispy Kremes to rehearsals. 

There is more information about the play at www.progresstheatre.co.uk and at   http://abitabout.com/The+Pillowman.

 

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.

Coming up ….

Auditions for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Sunday 7 February 2010  and Wednesday 10 February 2010 at Progress Theatre.

The next production is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010. 
 
See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for more details of all our productions and auditions.