Blog Post 1 - 04/07 - 08/07 2022
It’s finally here!
Rehearsals for our brand-new show CALIGARI are officially underway. To keep our process open, we’ve decided to curate a small rehearsal blog which we’ll be posting weekly to document the show’s development, and what we’re up to each week.
So, buckle in for the madness!
This week, we focussed on roughly blocking the show, allowing the company the space to begin composing the music and had a whole lotta fun. We’re rehearsing at NDT Broadgate which provides us with free space for 3 weeks which is an immense help in us not having that additional financial burden. We’re also taking this week to develop the script further, and changes are being discussed as we practically explore the piece on its feet, working out what’s best for the characters and changes we can make to further the central ideas of the play. From a writing perspective, it’s been a banging experience to challenge my initial ideas, open up honestly for practical feedback and explore how our story can sing even better, which is purely down to getting to work with such a generous and thoughtful team.
We spent a large part of week 1 just throwing everything at the wall. On day one, we ran through the entire play and just got it moving in bodies and voices, having a very silly time along the way. Our process is always all about kindness and fun, mainly stemming from our brilliant Resident Director Lucy Betts' approach, creating safe and comfortable environments for experimentation.
Due to the dark nature of the play, and the more serious themes we're attempting to tackle, we want to approach the text with a lighter side, playing into the surreal, the madcap and the comedic before bringing it crashing down later on. As a result, we spent a lot of time mapping each character's journey, the pivotal moments, the visual acts and the relationships, and discussing the wider themes of the story, alongside what the original had to offer. Following this, we then began working through and roughly blocking the piece with changes too.
It’s been a blessing to get to work with such an enthusiastic, dedicated company again, and we’re having so much fun pulling the story apart, looking into German expressionism and the world of the era, and how we can make it communicate with today (which we’re finding scarily easy…). You ain’t gonna wanna miss this lot, the cast are stupidly talented, both musically and in performance, and they give EVERYTHING all the time. They really are awe-inspiring, and we’re lucky to have been able to nab them straight out of graduating from Rose Bruford.
We’re super buzzing to finally be in a room developing this show from page to stage after all these years sat around chatting about it, and we can’t wait to share more with you.
Keep an eye on our socials (including TikTok now!) to check out more from our rehearsals and behind the scenes, and we’ll be posting a rehearsal diary blog every week with our updates.
Take it easy, and we’ll see you in a few!
Gx