Portugese chefs

We’ve spent the last two days face with the challenge of some of the final moments of the play, which take place on the edge of a cliff. The physicality of these scenes, combined with the limited space, the poetic echoes in the language and the need for resolution in the narrative are proving very tricky to balance (pun sort of intended). Our work on these scenes had to reach the goal of a run for the production team today, attended by many of those present at the first meet-and-greet, for whom this run will inform the production decisions made for the final performance, as well as providing the first audience response to the work we’ve been doing. The actors were understandably a little off-put by the number of people in our tiny rehearsal room – my task of performing the sections of dialogue recorded was also somewhat affected by the pressure of being watched by everyone – and were not helped by a collective of rioutous and jabbering Portugese chefs in the alleyway adjacent to the rehearsal room. These distractions aside, the piece seemed to work brilliantly, and the reponse from all of the spectators was overwhelmingly positive. This has served as something of a first hurdle in the final sprint into production, and has imbued the work in the rehearsal room with a sense of purpose and determination we were just beginning to lack. Six days to go till first preview…