Everyman - One Week To Go

Well, got to the end of the play properly, at last.  Finally, Everyman has crawled to his inevitable death.  I'm now in the delightful position of going over the play, in detail, rather than forcing words into my head.
As regulars to this blog will know, Everyman has just been offered a "garment of sorrow".  Now he's introduced to three new friends (on his way to his inevitable death): Strength, Five-Wits (his five senses) and Beauty.  There was a fourth, Discretion, but frankly I couldn't see precisely what it represented - considerably more abstract than the other three - so I cut him.  Together they go towards Everyman's inevitable death, with his Good-Deeds and his Knowledge, of course.  The text refers to them taking hold of a "rood" (which presumably is supposed to be a cross, but I have changed it to "rod") with which he guides them, so I've used a walking stick, so that when Everyman reaches his death he is literally in old age and leaning on his stick.
Those who know the text will be wondering where the priest has gone.  I've cut the section where Everyman goes to a priest and essentially has his last rites, for two reasons. 1. It's incredibly difficult to stage and 2. it's a step too far in away from a generalised moral theme and direct religious propaganda.  At no point towards the end of the play can the audience miss the Christian message, but like political drama, there comes a point where having it rammed down your throat, jars - even for believers.  (It was also a bit dull.)
So, at the cusp of his inevitable death, Everyman's Strength, Beauty and Five-Wits - and at the very last moment, Knowledge - all forsake him.  He's left to crawl into his grave with just his Good-Deeds.  And thus he dies a good person.
Not only have I now crossed the barrier of pain when I comes to learning the lines - specifically the end of the play - I have also finally decided how to open it.  But that is my little secret.
One week... lot's of work to do... but I am only able to do so much.  Because this is an interactive show, because I'm asking audience members to join me onstage to represent the characters of the story, I can't quite rehearse how the show will be.  I genuinely don't know whether it will work.  I don't even know if this way of telling a story has been done before.  It almost certainly has, (I'm against theatre companies saying they're groundbreaking when they so aren't) but I haven't actually come across it anywhere.  So, for me at least, this is an adventure.
And there are very few tickets available - so book now!

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - Good and Bad Deeds

Been playing around with a new microphone and have produced this little recording of the opening speech from Everyman.  A little taster, as it were.  Have a listen to the opening speech from Everyman here.

BEWARE SPOILERS, IF YOU ARE COMING TO THE SHOW, (BOOK TICKETS HERE) THEN STOP READING.  Well, it's two weeks to go, and rehearsals are hotting up... or they would if it would stop snowing.  My rehearsal space has primitive heating and I think bits of me may drop off if the temperature doesn't increase soon.  (No, not that bit... it's not that kind of show!)
I am now working heavily on the middle to end sections of the play.  For those following the blog, I've discussed the events of the play up to the rejection of Everyman by his Goods - or rather his final realisation that he can't take anything from his life with him.  (Or rather he thinks it's his final realisation, he's got another few to go.)
Having given up on the worldly for help, he goes to the more abstract Good Deeds.  Unfortunately for Everyman his Good Deeds are so few that they're weak and practically dead.  The play has Good Deeds "cold in the ground" - but for my version she (and she is referred to as female - a whole other blog there) is in a wheelchair.  Good Deeds introduces Everyman to Knowledge - and I've assumed that this is religious understanding, rather than the Encyclopedia Britannica.  In the original this was another character, but I've made Knowledge into an object, a small copy of the New Testament, which Everyman now carries.  He is then introduced to Confession who instructs Everyman to scourge himself.
Now, this is the part where the religious propaganda element comes on a bit strong.  Whereas before the text could be said to be universal, now the text is very specific.  That said, these days I don't think even the Catholic church goes in for scourging, so I wanted to find something a bit different.  Spoiler alert, by the way.  As Everyman prepares to scourge himself he makes a long speech, during which I'm going to collect good deeds from the audience.  Everyman has a book of reckoning, in which his good and bad deeds in his life are collected.  The book is blank, there are no good deeds in it, that's why the character Good Deeds is so weak.  So, as the audience comes in at the top of the show, they are given post-it notes to write a good deed on.  As Everyman makes his speech, he collects them in and puts them in the book of reckoning.  Also, as the audience comes in, they are asked to write bad deeds onto a t-shirt, anything they like, and it is this that Everyman wears for the first half of the show.  When he has collected in the good deeds he strips off the bad deeds - the t-shirt - and beats, not himself, but the floor, making the act of scourging more symbolic and less creepy.  This done, Good Deeds is strong enough to get out of her wheelchair.
Neat, huh?
Not only that, Good Deeds then offers Everyman (this is in the text, not added by me) "a garment of sorrow... Contrition it is" which Everyman now wears for the rest of the show.
Even neater.
Now, just got to make it work.  Because none of that is as easy to actually do as it sounds - if nothing else, because Good-Deeds is a member of the audience and will need to be lead through any actions required.
And I need to decide - what am I wearing underneath the t-shirt?

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - Playing God

Rehearsals for Everyman are now getting serious.  It's less, let's throw exciting ideas around, more - LEARN YOUR LINES!  I hate learning lines, but you just can't make this stuff up as you go along.  It's in verse and there are rhymes, you'd notice.  So, I'm just going over the words at the moment, as well as doing all that staging stuff.  I had a nice trip to the venue - the delightful Lavenham Guildhall - to see how well my traverse staging will work.  Rather well, I think.  And, despite what I said last week, actually the number of tickets available will not be quite so small.  We can comfortably fit 45 people a night.  That said, tickets have started to sell, so don't hang around.
So, learning lines.  First learnt was the prologue.  That was easy.  It's direct, told to the audience.  In this performance it will follow an opening section that will involve dancing.  Yup.  Me... dancing.  And six t-shirts.  And dodgy disco lighting.  But more on that for a later blog - one all about transitions.
But this week I've just finished learning God and in the next few days will move onto Death.  It's got all the best people in it, Everyman.  Honestly, Death is pretty easy to do, but God is a challenge, how do you present God on stage?
Firstly, the text for God is quite interesting - because though the character is labelled as God, he refers to experiences had by Jesus.  This is the kind of mash up that the late medieval drama did - there is a similar confusion / cross over in Last Judgement Corpus Christi plays - God appears and then hands over to Jesus, but both are referred to as God.  Or Deus.  He is both God and the son of God.  I'm not going to go into the nature of the Trinity, such matters are beyond me, but having a figure on stage who refers to himself as both God ("...they know me not for their God.") and by implication Jesus ("... with thorns hurt my head.") is problematic for a performer.  God looks over all, his viewpoint is more general; Jesus has the added mix of humanity.  So whilst God may look on mankind as a disappointment, be angry at their turning on his laws, Jesus feels the betrayal, felt the pain of death.  One is distant, one is close.
God's speech in the play is rather brilliant, because it can go both ways.  It has a slightly petulant quality of the creator who has been turned against, the law maker who sees his laws ignored, but also a visceral sense of the pain of betrayal.  "I could do no more than I did, truly."  He tried so hard to make mankind good, truly.  Really.  When I first ran this speech I found tears came, that sense of betrayal and disappointment very powerful.
But then at other times I felt more distant - the omnipotent angry God came out instead.  Mankind is only interested in sin, God must interfere because they are becoming nothing more than "beasts".  It's harsh stuff.
So, how to perform it?  Which way will I jump?  I don't know, yet.  I know it won't be a flamboyant performance.  He won't be performed, as probably was in the original, in flowing robes and golden mask or crown or similar.  There maybe no essential costume change at all.  He will be essentially static, probably performed standing high on a box, at one end of the space.  After the busyness of the opening of the show I think he needs to be staged simply, just letting the words speak.  And those words call forth Death, and Death, well he's a very different kind of character.
But more on him next time.

Everyman - Beware Spoilers

Everyman, Everyman - you are a foxy little minx of a play.  Odd words to begin a piece about what is usually described as a somber play, a solemn play, a play that is - basically - about death.  But to me, as performer of the text, it is a foxy little minx, because it is teasing me with possibilities.
Now, before I go on let me just warn you about spoilers.  I know, this isn't the latest series of Homeland or something similar, this is a five hundred year old play, but the staging of it will be revealed in some detail throughout the next couple of months.  Or the possible staging - some of the ideas mooted here will be dropped or changed, but probably not all that many.  So, if you want to be surprised, stop reading now.
Also, if you want to see the show, book now.  I don't mean this in the usual "please book tickets to validate my life/cover my expenses" way, but in the "I've had to reduce the number of seats available and the show will probably sell out" kind of way.  At present my artistic side is doing battle with my business side, and the art is winning.  I have yet to measure precisely how many seats I will be able to sell, but it isn't going to be many.  If you listen carefully, you can hear my wallet screaming.

So, onto the play.  The Summoning of Everyman has been on the to do list for years.  It has everything I love about an old play - it's simple, it has few characters, it's short.  And it has a cameo appearance for Death, always welcome in any play.  You just can't fail with Death, the dialogue is always cracking - just ask Terry Pratchett.  But it also is a trixy play.  It looks like it is simple, but actually it gets a bit complicated towards the end, all these extra characters appear, and how do you make it connect to people today?  Sure, death is a universal theme, but the play is explicitly Catholic in doctrine, medieval Catholicism to be precise - so there are elements of the play that are alien to us today, even to Catholics.  (Everyman does scourge himself at one point, it's the kind of thing most churches have quietly dropped.)
I've spent years trying to find a route into the text, a way of performing it.  And last year, I found it.  I was in the middle of rehearsing Ghost Storyteller and I wanted a break.  I needed to do text work, but needed to get away from that text.  So, I picked up Everyman and started to read it aloud.  It is a brilliant text, it almost works as an epic poem, if it wasn't for some of the more fiddly bits.  But as I read it, I imagined what it would be like if I was performing it, not just to an audience of many, but to an individual.  If I took someone by the hand and said, they were the character Fellowship, say.  That I talked to them as Everyman, and spoke out as Fellowship to a bigger audience.  That way I could not only make it clear to the audience who all the characters were - there would physically be a person there - but also keep the humanity of it by talking to someone; that this connection would not just be a way of performing a multi-person play as a one person play, but be something that took the play further; that made the play moving and direct in a way that a normal production could not.  I had my hook - this is to be an immersive piece of theatre, interactive.
There will be four layers to the interactivity... as it were.
Firstly, the space will be arranged in traverse, that is the audience will be on two sides facing each other.  The performance area will be a thin catwalk between them.  At no point will the audience be able to escape the reality of the rest of the audience.
Secondly, I will ask the audience to help with something simple, something they can do as they enter the space, something that doesn't worry them.  I'm not sure what this is yet, but it won't be complicated or performed as theatre, it will be something personal.  I don't want this act make people afraid to come, if you just want to sit and watch that will be fine, but it would be nice to find something non-invasive that everyone can do.
Thirdly, I will invite a few people (volunteers) to stand and be acknowledged by the room to be a character in the play.  Literally all they will be asked to do is stand, when asked to, and I will talk to them.  And then sit down again.  This is for the less faint of heart.
Fourthly, I will invite a few people (again volunteers) to be guided by me, to be moved through the space, to sit and even (in one case) lie down on some cushions.  This will be for the enthusiastic and bendable members of the audience.
There is always a slight risk that no one will agree to do the third or fourth actions.  This would be a shame, but I have got a plan B.  But if you come to the show and are willing to give to it, then it will be ten times the show it would be if you didn't. As it were.
So, Everyman, you foxy little minx, what else have you got for me?

NEXT BLOG:  Introductions, Dancing and the performance of God in the play.

The Passion: Week Three into Four

It's starting to get a bit crazy in Passionland, as the rehearsals step up a gear, with more calls, books down and the addition of layers.  Oh, for the love of layers.  The first few weeks of rehearsals were mostly about getting the words right, sorting out the moves and then repeating them a week later to make sure they still made sense.  Now the rehearsals become something more detailed.  I don't have to repeat basic instructions anymore, we can discuss character, build on what has gone before, add layers; layers of meaning to the words, layers of technique to performance, layers of physicality - making sure that the company is performing in the same style.
To do this I am rehearsing with many of the company separately of our regular dates, one-to-one sessions where I can get to the nub of what that actor needs to give the best performance without the distraction of twenty plus other people in the room.

Thursday 31st May 2012.  The Auditorium.  7.30pm.  Last Supper and Betrayal.

Ah-Hem.

For the first half of this rehearsal I split the conspiracy scenes with Annas and Caiaphas from the Last Supper so that they could rehearse simultaneously.  After an hour of work on the Last Supper we brought these two sections, that run as inter cut scenes, together to see how they flowed.  I also threw a few costumes at people, academic gowns and surpluses for the priests and doctors which, barring the hem on Caiaphas, worked well.  We also sorted out some detail on the arrest of Jesus, the section where Peter attacks one of the soldiers and, with a judicious use of slow motion, made that work.

Friday 1st June 2012.  The GKR.  7pm.  Judas.
The first one-to-one session with the cast, working on character and physicality.  We really got stuck into Judas, his sense of shame and guilt, of being in way beyond his depth, of his fear, and created the physical expression of this.  We also touched on Joseph of Arimathea, who is in our version Scottish and it suits him very well. 

Sunday 3rd June 2012.  The Jetty.  Act Two.  Crucifixion to Resurrection.

It was a slightly frustrating rehearsal as a couple people were not available, but we did iron out all the moves and had another detailed attack on the crucifixion scene, where the dialogue has to flow well as any delay causes problems.  Then we played around with the final scenes, the resurrection and doubting Thomas. 


Tuesday 5th June 2012.  The Quay.  6pm.  Annas and Caiaphas.
The second session away from the rest of the cast, this time touching on the words and physicality of our high priests.  Lengthy discussions of tone, how grotesque these people should be, how their relationship works.  Annas is the clever one, the one who works through the law; Caiaphas is a borderline psychopath who only wants Jesus dead, via as much torture as possible.  The two have the same mission statement, just very different approaches.  Their arguments and squabbles serve an important moral purpose in the plays - their confusion and rage, blackly comic as it is, is there to contrast with the quiet dignity of Jesus.  Many 'evil' characters of the Corpus Christi plays, and the medieval period generally (the Vices), have this characteristic.  They are all sweetness and light until something gets in their way, then it's an immediate tantrum and their mask is thrown aside.  The difficulty for us is to get the balance right, to show them as absurd, not play up to it for laughs.

Tuesday 5th June 2012.  The Auditorium.  7.30pm.  Act Two.  The Trial.
Straight on from the character work I throw Annas and Caiaphas into their biggest scenes. However, pleased as I was with the improvements to the performances they were upstaged somewhat by a. a creeping curtain and b. the chorus of "ra"s.  This rehearsal - the last before books down - is to be forever known as the "ra, ra, ra" rehearsal, primarily because it was concerning a lot of chorus business.  Hence lots of reaction noises to speeches, most of them sounding a lot like "ra".  Any fans of The Prisoner will be proud.  Unfortunately, at a moment when I wanted the crowd to react to a piece of violence, rather than a profound cry of "O!" in the manner of a classically trained Shakespearean, instead I got an "Ooooah" which more properly should have been followed by the word "Matron!"  It was a little difficult to continue for a moment as the spectres of Kenneth Williams and Larry Grayson wandered through my rehearsal.
It was my own fault of course, I asked the chorus to make noises from behind a curtain, a plastic-semi-see-through curtain, which meant that though I could sort of see them I couldn't see precisely what they were up to.

Wednesday 6th June 2012.  The GKR.  7pm.  Jesus.
Quite an important one-to-one rehearsal, tackling the interpretation of Jesus.  The text is fairly clear on this, for the most part it is a re-structured version of the Bible and, barring the odd passage from other sources, is straight out of the gospels.  This has meant that Jesus is something of a blank slate, a walking, talking statue who speaks words and doesn't emote much - and a lot of the time this is very effective, the audience is invited to relay onto him their interpretation.  Some moments, especially as we get closer to his passion, require emotion, require something more.  The Agony in the Garden and the Crucifixion itself are moments where fear and pain are necessary - though he is the son of God he is a man made flesh and so goes through all the hardship a man would.  We worked on the Last Supper and the Agony in this rehearsal, working through the text, talking, running exercises - on Sunday these will be put into practice.

Thursday 7th June 2012.  The Jetty.  7.30pm.  Beginning Act One - backwards and books down.

An aside...
Thursday 7th June this year is where the feast of Corpus Christi rests, the date when many of these plays were performed.  This varied as it was a movable feast, tied to Easter earlier in the year, so sometimes it appears in very late June.  That said, the plays weren't always performed on the day itself.  Just because they were known as the plays of Corpus Christi didn't mean they had to fall exactly on the date itself, like the Diamond Jubilee weekend fell on the Queen's official birthday rather than either of the possible dates for the start of her reign (on the death of her father or on her coronation).  Sometimes people have asked me why The Passion is on in July rather than Easter and the reply is simple - these kinds of things, prior to their banning, never did.  It was always a summer event, partly because it was outdoors and partly because it became semi-tied up with a summer feast.  This production is tied between two black holes of social activity - the Jubilee and the Olympics - which would overshadow in a bad-for-box-office way the whole affair.  We only just skirt shy of Wimbledon and various other distractions that drive people away from theatre.  And, more importantly, July is where the free slot for Sudbury Dramatic Society shows fell. 

But back to rehearsals.  Books down - aways a feared phrase and always a difficult time, especially when you haven't given the cast much time to repeat their scenes in rehearsal.  The cast dealt with it very well, squeezing out lines sometimes painfully slowly but out they came.  The next two weeks of rehearsals will all be run backwards, i.e. starting with the last scene first, then the second to last followed by the last, then the third to last followed by the second to last then the last and so on.  This way many scenes are repeated and people are running into scenes they know increasingly well, not increasingly vaguely.  It was also because I had a number of the cast absent who were all in the first scene, so no point starting at the top.

Sunday 10th June 2012.  My home.  9am.  Recording links.

During the interval of the show there is to play over in the bar and auditorium a fake radio station, playing mostly music, but inter cut with news items about the arrest of Jesus.  It's part of my idea that the show just doesn't end, it starts before curtain up and may not let up until after the close.  This is the only part of the show in modern English, I just couldn't find anything close enough in the original to use for the device, so the text is simply my attempt at media-ese.  So, Peter Morris, our friendly sound man turned up at my home and I built my Heath Robinson sound booth and I did a not quite Alan Partridge DJ impression, complete with twitter updates.  After all this trouble I doubt anyone will even notice - too busy eating ice cream.  But at least I can say that, if I only edited (rather than wrote) the play, I did write the interval.

Sunday 10th June 2012.  The Jetty.  11am.  Finishing Act One - still backwards.

A limited cast call, just the major players in the scenes.  Mostly it was a case of introducing Satan into the action of the scenes as, due to a scheduling issue, we hadn't managed to do this yet.  Have noticed one minor issue that occasionally names are going astray.  Judas was called Judith a few times, or was called Jesus instead.  In the latter case the actor in question didn't notice, so each time had to be stopped.  On the third time the whole cast was chanting "Judas" at them.  Quite surreal.

So, now we've got another week of rehearsals with books down, working the show in chunks, before we start running it an Act at a time.  In theory, we'll have time each rehearsal to run the half and do an hours work on detail.  And then it's time for full runs... and then it's tech, dress, curtain up.  It's four weeks to go, a whole month of work to make this show into something people will remember for a long time.  And the schedule for the coming week is even more gruelling than the last two.

Jesus and his disciples

The Entry into Jerusalem

Judas sells his master, the Last Supper continuing behind

Request to Pilate to bury Jesus...

The Burial of Jesus

The Burial of Jesus... complete

The Passion: Week Two and a Bit...

The second week, where the second half is blocked and we start going over ground we've been over before.  It was a tough week, where the hot weather took some toll on the endurance of the company.  Despite the swelter the shape of the show is looking great and set us up for week three (which is going really well so far!) and the adding of layers to the show.  More on layers in the future.

Tuesday 22nd May 2012.  7.30pm.  The Jetty.  Act Two - first half.

Jesus is brought before Herod, the attractive chap seated

It was a limited call for this rehearsal, only the main speaking parts rather than the whole company.  It was a chance to go over these scenes in relative textual detail, rather than focusing on where the ensemble is standing.  Even so, it was a bit of a struggle to get through the whole section by the end of the rehearsal, it's a knotty bit of text.  The first half of Act Two is all about the struggle to get Jesus arraigned - and for the priests Annas and Caiaphas it is a struggle.  Jesus goes from them, to Pilate, who sends them on to Herod (a cameo part for yours truly), who sends them back to Pilate who finally has Jesus condemned.  By the end Annas and Caiaphas are palpably desperate to get their way, in a blackly comic way, which contrasts with the quiet dignity of Jesus who has a number of ordeals to go through.  Next time we cover this section we'll add the chorus, which ups the stakes in the scenes and adds more impact for the audience.

Thursday 24th May 2012.  7.30pm.  The Jetty.  Act Two - second half.

Placing the crown of thorns - just prior to the Road to Calvary

The second half of Act Two is a bigger, ensemble based part of the show.  We actually started the rehearsal with an earlier section - the Road to Calvary - and then, skipping the crucifixion again, moved onto the close of the show.  It's made of a number of short scenes following the crucifixion - starting with the death of Jesus - which is performed as a communal act, the whole company standing and bearing witness - and ending with his resurrection - which brings most of the cast onstage at the end in what looks suspiciously like a proto curtain call.  You'd almost think I planned it that way.

Friday 25th May 2012.  10am.  The Auditorium.  Get in - part one.

It's a little early to get in a show - some six and a bit weeks prior to first night - but we had a good reason (and permission) to add something to the Quay stage early.  These were two bits of wood which are to guide the cross (to be made of two ladders) up the back wall of the stage.  It took a bit longer to do than Keith (our stage manager) and I planned, primarily as we lacked rawle plugs and had to pop out to get some.  I hope our budget will stretch to such extreme spending.

Sunday 27th May 2012.  11am.  The Auditorium.  The Crucifixion.

Note the two bits of wood, top.

This was our second crucifixion rehearsal - but the first with the prototype cross (i.e. two ladders lashed together) and the first with all four soldiers at the rehearsal.  You've probably seen the footage I've posted (see earlier blog) of rehearsals so far, but I also record scenes for those who miss rehearsal (and for myself to transcribe blocking into the prompt script) and the absentee from last weeks rehearsal (victim of a dodgy curry) had a chance in advance to watch a run of the scene with the blocking.
This rehearsal was split into two parts - the running of the words and basic actions (complete with a coned off safety cordon and high visibly jackets for the workers) and then the physical work of raising the cross.  This involved a lot of discussion, practice, debate and general mulling over the practical problem of getting something from the horizontal to the vertical. We came up with a number of proposals as to the final lifting, to be put in place for the next dedicated crucifixion rehearsal in a fortnights time, for which the finished cross will be ready.

Tuesday 29th May 2012.  7.30pm.  The Jetty.  Act One - first half, again.

Back to the beginning again - well nearly.  God wasn't available for today's rehearsal so we skipped the first page and went straight onto the Angel Gabriel.  This rehearsal was about two things - consolidation of blocking, lines, actions (the nuts and bolts), to see how much everyone remembered from the first rehearsal.  It was also about the playing around with back projection - or more properly, Over Head Projection OHP.  And, whilst the effects were only prototypes and used cut up serial boxes and other basic tools, they came out rather well for a first attempt.  The only exception to this was the prototype dove puppet, which was too geometrical and so looked more like a bat from popular horror fiction - rendering a powerful moment at the baptism into a desperate struggle by John the Baptist to escape being attacked by Count Dracula.  Happily this was just to rehearse the basic principle, so that I can go away and make a proper puppet.  I was surprised it survived the rehearsal - the last rehearsal puppet I made kept being ripped apart.  (It was the child in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which is placed in a circle and used as a tug of war between parents, the 'true' parent letting go and thus proving her worth.  Sadly child puppet had its arms torn off on three separate occasions before I took the hint and embedded them with steel cable for the final show version.)

Well, that's us up to date with rehearsals - more to come soon as the adventure continues.  More rehearsal snaps below - in no particular order.

Genesis of The Passion

Scenes from a director's table...

I mentioned in my last post that The Passion was six years in the making.  The start point of the script was seeded by a rehearsed reading of various medieval mystery plays in 2006.  But perhaps it should be said to have started in 2005, when I was in a production of Two Planks and a Passion by Anthony Minghella.  Actually, it probably started even earlier, but for the moment, let's start there.
Sudbury Dramatic Society likes to throw the odd curve ball play each season - between a pantomime, a comedy / farce and the obvious greats of theatre history there will be something more modern, less well known.  Two Planks and a Passion is a play about the mystery plays, set during the reign of Richard II, who visits York with his wife to watch them.  It's broadly speaking a comedy, though leavened by the Queen who is dying (quite literally) to see the plays, with the various guilds of the city battling to show off their productions to the best.  There is a brief scene where the cast rehearse the crucifixion.  Irritatingly the scene was rewritten in a mock modernish version of the original text and wasn't anything like the original script of a mystery play.  However, there was a bit of a spark for me to delve a little deeper into the mystery plays.  But what is a mystery play, I hear you ask?
Here's the history bit, concentrate:  what we tend to call the mystery plays were almost certainly never called mystery plays, except by the French, so it doesn't count.  Like most things in history the plays got a label by future people that had no real connection with the thing they supposed to describe.  We think of the mystery plays as being about the mysteries of Christianity - it fits well - except that it probably derives from a term for the guilds of the city, or from the French, or from any old thing, and was almost certainly never used to describe the plays themselves.
The history of modern English / European theatre was kick started in the church from the 11th Century as an increasingly dramatised version of part of the liturgy - specifically the Easter liturgy and the approach of the three Mary's to the tomb of Jesus who meet an Angel who tell them he has risen.  It isn't until the creation of a new festival, Corpus Christi, in the 14th Century that the creation of extensive cycles of plays based on the Bible began to be staged.  By this time the drama had left the church and was in the hands of the trade guilds of the various cities that staged plays.  The plays would cover an episode from the Bible, (the fall of man, Noah, the end of the world etc) and could collectively cover the whole history of the universe, from creation to destruction, played back to back over the course of a whole day, several days, or more piecemeal over the years.  The Corpus Christi Plays (as we more properly should probably call them) were major civic events that ran most years for a good two hundred years in different forms.  It wasn't until the break from Rome that the tradition was killed off and professional playing took over, leading to the theatre world that Shakespeare came to bustle in.
The texts we have are mostly from four cycles of plays, in differing states of completion, from four different towns, though there is debate as to which.  For my version I've culled bits from all four, choosing a fairly orthodox selection of episodes for the bulk of the play, with a few bits that the hardcore fans (if there are such a thing) will find interesting.
But this isn't the first time I've edited some 'mystery' plays.  In 2006 I put together a reading of plays that covered the nativity for, appropriately enough, Christmas.  It was a nice 90 minute show, covering the Annunciation through to the death of Herod.  It was my first real taste of the medieval scene and I couldn't get enough of it.  I loved the texture of the words, the roughness, the sound of it all.  These were plays written for ordinary people to perform, not actors, not professionals - they have an earnest power to them that I loved.
Wind on a few years and I had the idea of doing a grand extravaganza; doing, if not a whole day of 'mystery' plays, then a two part version over a couple of weeks, ending with a gala night at the end to fit the gap between the Jubilee and the Olympics.  This idea was taken up by SDS and I prepared a two part play, each act covering part of the life of Jesus - Nativity, Betrayal, Passion & Resurrection.  Nativity was easy, I'd done that one before, but the others took much longer - the script evolved over a good two years.  Sadly, this two week plan had to be pulled for a series of dull and tedious reasons, and what would have been The Sudbury Mysteries became The Passion last year.  What we're rehearsing now covers Betrayal and Passion as written in my original draft, with a reworked Prologue and Epilogue covering Nativity and Resurrection. 

That's the outline of how I got to edit together the text of The Passion, and why this show has come about.  We're just entering week three of rehearsals and my next blog will tell the tale of week two - which covers the last of the blocking.  The first brush strokes have been thrown onto the canvas.  From now on I'm working on the detail.

Sudbury Dramatic Society Presents...

The Passion

Based on the English Medieval Mystery Plays

Adapted and directed by Robert Crighton

Before Shakespeare there were the mysteries, the first great dramas ever produced in English.  The original mystery plays were based on stories from the Bible, telling the story of the world from the creation through to doomsday and written to be performed on city streets over the course of a whole day.  This specially prepared version tells of the life of Christ focusing on his betrayal and what follows.  A powerful story told for all peoples, involving storytelling, music, drama and a community company open to all comers.

Performing Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th July at 7.45pm

The Quay Theatre, Quay Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2AN

Box Office: 01787 374 745

The Passion: Week One

At last, it has begun: the biggest production I've ever staged, the most ambitious, the longest prepared.  The Passion is, arguably, some six years in the making in terms of inspiration - though in practical terms I've only been planning this production for two years.  (What's two years?)  We had a read through a few weeks ago, in the bar (a most civilised way to read a script) of the Quay Theatre and last week we began in earnest.  Here's the first week in prose, pictures and video.

Sunday 13th May 2012.  11am.  The Jetty.  Act One - first five scenes.

The first rehearsal was part muck about, part company get together, part workshop, part... well an actual rehearsal (I told people where to stand and everything).  We started with a few exercises, just to warm people up and introduce a few techniques which, time permitting, will be used in the show.  The cast is currently standing at 26 people, which means getting everyone together, getting them to work together as a unit, is very important... and incredibly difficult.  In thirty minutes of exercises we made a start - then I threw them into the play.

The text of the play is my edit of lots and lots of material from the Corpus Christi Plays which were performed in late medieval England.  It's full of weird words, rhyme, energy, humanity, humour and great sadness.  I have, for the most part, not re-worded anything - just rearranged the material into a single play.  However, I couldn't resist adjusting one little bit to create a mobile phone warning at the beginning of the show.  Naturally, God asks the audience to switch off their mobile phones (see video, below).

We didn't go into detail with the text, as the video for that rehearsal shows, I mostly ordered people around - stand here, do this, pull down imaginary objects - so that there is a lot of running around and little detail.  Detail comes later.
The most important thing to me, as a director, was to make sure the first rehearsal was fun, active and gave everyone the sense of the show.  I think the video carries that across.

Tuesday 15th May 2012.  7.30pm.  The Auditorium.  Annas & Caiaphas in Act One.

Ignore the plastic sheet - it will not hang so...

The next rehearsal was a very different beast, as we were rehearsing with a smaller selection of the cast, working more on the words of the text than on spectacle.  But we were also rehearsing in the Auditorium of the Quay, the biggest space we have, because the scenes we were rehearsing moved to all corners of the space.  In emulation of the original open air plays this is a production that will burst from the seems of the stage, out into the auditorium, into the foyer, the bar... in fact, though the play starts on stage at 7.45pm, the production will begin around the Quay from about 7.25pm.  More on that in a future blog.

The scenes we were rehearsing were the conspiracy scenes - the plot to get Jesus by the local leaders Annas and Caiaphas, aided by a couple of busy bodies Doctor 1 and 2.  (Doctor 1 and 2 are terrible names for characters, especially as they are rather interesting figures in the play, but I can't really start calling them Gerald and Frank now).  These scenes, short, cut into the action featuring Jesus (specifically the Last Supper) in the second half of the first act - so that as we watch Jesus we are constantly aware of the threat against him.  The two plot strands then come together for the betrayal in the garden - with Judas' betrayal. 

Judas gets his spotlight - just before his end.

The rehearsal was also my first chance to test out materials for the set.  We're planning a fair amount of projection / shadow play throughout the play - so it's important to find material which is thick enough to be opaque in normal lighting, see through (ish) with bright directed light.  So, in the photos you will see a rather ugly bit of sheeting hanging limply from a washing line.  It will not look like that. 

Thursday 17th May 2012.  7.30pm.  The Jetty.  Jesus in Act One.

Looks let sinister when they're moving.

Back in the Jetty for another full cast call - though this was a more fragmented, workman-like affair.  We worked through the odd scenes (as opposed to the even numbered scenes) of the second half of Act One - featuring the Entrance to Jerusalem (which involved a fair amount of waving fists in the air - which looks fine live, but as a photo looks much less innocent), the Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden.  I was delighted to find that I actual had enough disciples for the Last Supper - I wasn't sure, with the doubling, I could get everyone together for the scene.  Unlike the Da Vinci/western art tradition of the Last Supper as being round a big table, ours is a more informal affair.  These are modest people who've been working together through difficult conditions, they are aware of great danger, they are having their Passover supper at a friends house - so a big banquet this is not.

Just say no to Python

Judas, naturally enough, turned up to rehearsal wearing a Monty Python t-shirt.  It will not feature in the show.
At various times in the rehearsal I sent away to work on smaller scenes / speeches separately.  With 20 to 30 people in the cast there are always moments when people aren't needed, so it's really helpful to get the most out of the time.  Today the Angel Gabriel worked with my glamorous assistant on speeches and the Doctors ran a little scene we'd started on Sunday - adding some nice detail, a few little moves.
As a director I do think it's important to try and get people to try things out away from me, to feel free enough to surprise me.  I love surprises.  I like to see people try out other ideas and at this stage there is nothing to be gained by being precious.  Try it out - if I don't like the idea, I can always say after ward.  Of course, saying this doesn't mean it always happens, but I do try to be open.  By week five I will be mostly focusing on getting it as rehearsed... but that's when we've gone over everything several times and the show will have formed itself into a clear shape.
Oh, and here's the snippets of video from Tuesday and Thursday.

And so, after a week, we have gone over the whole of the first half.  Now, baring the odd little look back, we go into the more somber Act Two.

Sunday 20th May 2012.  10am.  The Quay.  Act One, reprise of opening.

An early morning call to rehearse the back projection and shadow play for the opening of the show - as God delivers his opening oration, his thoughts appear on the curtain.  We covered this briefly the previous Sunday, but now was a chance to have a bit of a play.  It was a chance to see how effectively we could show Mary become pregnant and give birth as a shadow play, and to see whether Adam and Eve would work as shadow puppets.  Unfortunately I hadn't created proper rehearsal puppets for this rehearsal, so we just worked out the basic shape of the scene - fortunately, after the rehearsal I had a brainwave that would have negated the kind of puppet I'd planned anyway. 

11.30am.  The Jetty.  The Crucifixion.

Up till now the rehearsals, and the play, have been fairly light; this rehearsal was for the crucifixion and so was serious.  We went through the text carefully, we blocked the scene, we discussed the risk assessment.  From the first moment this production came to me I have been wrestling with the pragmatics of this most difficult act - how to raise, safely, a cross, with someone on it.  This rehearsal was about the text, primarily, we only talked about how the lifting will go ahead.  Next Sunday the cast will work with the cross itself and in the space - but without anyone on it.  Only once we know the precise dynamics of raising the object will we move onto the person. 

And so ends the first week of rehearsals - I'm off now to break into the second week, with another seven to go before the curtain goes up.  I hope you'll stay with us and follow our progress.  The next blog will be about the run up to this production and a little background to the plays themselves.  Till next time, enjoy the rest of the rehearsal photos below.
Robert

The Passion - Open Auditions

OPEN AUDITIONS FOR COMMUNITY EVENT

THE PASSION

Auditions Wednesday 14^th March at 7.30pm

at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.

·                     Roles big and small

·                     Community parts

·                     Singing

·                     Everyone is welcome to join

·                     No prior experience required.

Sudbury Dramatic Society is holding open auditions for the biggest show of the year – a huge community production of The Passion.  As well as the usual casting SDS is looking for a community cast to join the company, to add their voices to community choir and create the epic crowd scenes.  It’s a chance for anyone to be involved in performing this summer in the run up to the Olympics, helping to tell one of the greatest stories ever told, in one of the earliest pieces of English drama ever written.

Auditions are to be held on Wednesday 14th March at 7.30pm at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.  Audition scripts are available from the Quay Box Office, or on request via email - contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Show rehearsals are on Tuesday/Thursday Evenings and on Sunday Morning/Afternoons from late May to Performances in July.

*****

Sudbury Dramatic Society Presents...

The Passion

Based on the English Medieval Mystery Plays
Adapted for the Quay Stage and Directed by Robert Crighton

Before Shakespeare there were the mysteries, the first great dramas ever produced in English.  The original mystery plays were based on stories from the Bible, telling the story of the world from the creation through to doomsday and written to be performed on city streets over the course of a whole day.  This specially prepared version tells of the life of Christ focusing on his betrayal and what follows.  A powerful story told for all peoples, involving storytelling, music, drama and a community company open to all comers.

Performing Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th July at 7.45pm

The Quay Theatre, Quay Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2AN

NB:  All shots below are for pre-publicity purposes and do not reflect casting as we haven't held auditions yet.

NOTES ON THE PLAY

Below is a list of the Big Parts you might want to audition for – there are lots more small roles on offer, but these are the ones we will focus on at the audition.  As far as I’m concerned the auditions are not about whether you get a part, it’s about what part you get.

NB:  We’re going to allow cross gender casting for ‘evil’ characters to ensure there are plenty of roles for women – so Satan, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas etc are up for grabs.

PARTS OF INTEREST:  I’ve not gone into detail in many of the parts as most of the ‘good’ characters are self evident. 

John THE BAPTIST

ANNAS and CAIAPHAS – Male or Female.  The high priest CAIAPHAS is prone to psychopathic rages, ANNAS is older and the power behind him, calm and subtle.

SATAN – Male or Female.  Has a close relationship with Judas

GABRIEL – Male or Female

JESUS – mid-thirties ideally, but the primary importance is physical fitness.

JOHN, PETER, JUDAS and other DISCIPLES – any age

MARY – old enough to be the mother of Jesus.

MARY MAGDALENE

PILATE is an ambiguous role - a politician through and through.

THE FOUR SOLDIERS – must be physically strong.  The four soldiers are brilliant parts - typical workmen.  They look at a job, suck in through their teeth and say it’ll cost you. 

SOLDIER 1:  The foreman – orders people about, but does nothing himself if he can.

SOLDIER 2:  Like a leaf in the wind, flitters between following 1 and 4.

SOLDIER 3:  The young lad – inexperienced, answers back.

SOLDIER 4:  H & S officer, also the union rep, doesn’t quite get on with 1.

HEROD – Male or Female.  Unlike Herod the Great who came before him (who’s a big shouty Brian Blessed figure), this Herod is a good humoured dilettante, until angered.