Previews and Productions

Last night I was privileged to attend the production of Denim at the Waterside Theatre in Fawley, Southampton.

To say that they did a great job with the play would be a massive understatement. They excelled in all areas; they made the most of the humour in the first act, and they were the first company to truly understand the pathos of the second act.

I was also lucky enough to take a number of my friends with me, who are my greatest critics… If they don’t like something, they make it more than clear to me what didn’t work. And their responses were as positive as my own! Quite remarkable when you consider that Phil had driven all the way from Gloucester to see the play!

Gwen, the director was kind enough to give me a copy of the preview that the Southern Daily Echo ran of Denim (which contains a rather bizarre picture of me in uniform). But the headline of the preview summed things up rather well for me: “Sibling Rivalry from Jay”.

But let’s talk about the cast (and I will talk about the crew in another post):

Doug – Steve Moulster: Played this stunningly, turning Doug into a middle-class drunkard without a care for what the world thinks of him. And the added touch of splash of water down the front of the trousers nearly caused me to cough up a lung!

Stuart – Peter Allen: Played the perfect Dad. The second that he was challenged about his parental status, he reminded me of m father; venomous but controlled. Everyone in the audience wanted a Dad like Stuart.

Giles – Stuart Collins: Shy, out of his depth but deeply caring. A great portrayal. Too close for comfort as it reminded me too much of me!

Customer #1 – Colin Pritchard: A wonderful take on this character, that he described as a combination of Max Miller and Quinton Crisp! He stunningly turned this character into a total showman that endeared himself to the audience.

Customer #2 – Todd Harrington-Tucker: Totally angelic! Delicate and caring. And the timing and care taken over the “this isn’t going very well” line showed the work he put into his character.

Zoe – Nick Simms: Stunned me by telling me that this was the first time that she has trodden the boards! A character with real depth and full of character and stage presence. Very much the type of girl you want on your side when push comes to shove.

Pete – Leighton Fort: Scared the living daylights out of me! Acted this part exactly as I imagined him when I wrote the part. A real lad, but with a heart of gold – and knows how to play the humour!

Fiona – Angela Sutherland: Played off the customer brilliantly! The flirt with most and made Giles more than uncomfortable!

Sybil – Becky Coultas: I know that so many women love playing this part, but Becky gave it something new. He physicality made her even more endearing, even though she (Sybil, not Becky) is totally disgusting. To me, award winning stuff!

Hazel – Julia Allen: This performance deserves an Oscar (if they gave them away in Amateur Theatre). The comedy of the first act was great, but the pathos in the second act took my breath away! I wrote this damned thing and she very nearly had me in tears… And although my friends will hate me for saying this, but she did have a number of them in tears and they have seen the play before! She understands what it takes to be an actor!

April – Amy Tattersall: I still hate her! Stunning, stage presence, characterization and true appeal. Understood her character and made it more than I wrote. Moreover, she made the audience want to follow her and made them want a happy ending for her more than any other character (could there be another nomination here?).

Rachel – Chris Talbot: Oh that giggle! Gave us so much in such a short period of time. A selfless actress that enabled Pete to set himself up so well!

Cherry – Erin Taylor: Short and sweet. Gave us the link we required.

Simon – Matt Martin: In this production, they gave him lines! But here was a man that showed no shame! And damn it worked well. I thought a couple of the older members of the audience were going to have a stroke (and no – I’m not going to make the joke about “only they couldn’t reach).

My huge thanks to all at the Waterside Theatre. Here’s to all of you and I will be thinking of you all during your last performance and after-show party.

But even more thanks to the audience – without you we would have all looked a little silly! But you made the production what it was. I even made the point of sneaking to the back of the auditorium to see what their reaction was. And… It proves what I had always known. People want to see theatre like this; their attention was always on the stage and were willing the characters on. Thank you.

Now all I have to do is land the next production… and who knows, maybe the next one will be a professional production.

So don’t forget to join the JaysPlays group on Facebook and let the world know how much we want to see theatre like this!

Feedback and Facebook

There are times where I just get my breath taken away. Yesterday was one of those. And all because of one of my previous posts about the production of Denim.

I didn’t know if I should have made reference to my opinion of the characterisations I saw, but thought it was the right thing to do. I’m now so glad that I did. I have had feedback from one the actors who was delighted with my comments. Indeed, although I’m sure it was not their intention, I was deeply flattered that they took the time to make comment.

Indeed they have started another event on Facebook to promote the Denim production that echos the event that I have in the JaysPlays Facebook group. Better than that (just on a playwright’s personal level) they even invited me to ‘become a friend’ on Facebook.

And a call to all out there that stumble on this blog: It is very important to me to be in contact with those that have seen my plays, want to see them, have or are acting in them. This gives me feedback that I can not gain anywhere else. I hope I don’t come over as an ogre, so if you’re on Facebook, join my group and drop me a friend request. I’m as interested in my audience and actors as you may be in me.

Panto Reharsal #1

So we’re up and running! The first rehearsal was last night where I think that I scared a number of the cast. Not that I was hugely scary or anything, it’s just that I have a somewhat different approach to directing than many ‘Amateur’ Directors.

My take is that the actor should act first and the director comes in second – hence the director shapes the play rather than tries to sculpt it from the page. This way you can get the best from your actors, even though you may well have to push hard to get more out of them.

The key to this is to get your cast to think. They have to think, in the case of pantomime, how do I want the audience to feel about my character? Once you’ve got that in your mind, you need to think about how you are going to achieve this?

Too many times I have witnessed actors try and use their bodies to try and make them look funny or endearing. In truth the only muscle that you need to use is your brain. If you’ve thought it through enough of what you want to accomplish, trust me, your body will follow.

And the cast appear to have got that message – which delighted me no end. I’m very proud of them, even at this early stage.

Tonight I have two jobs to accomplish: The producer and I have to move the mid-tabs to the right position and a couple of the cast and I are going to dive into the costume store and see what we have in there that is useful for this production (a terrifying prospect as the place is full to the gunnels).

So, I’m stepping outside… I may be a while…

Denim Rehearsal

The director of the forthcoming production of Denim was kind enough for me to attend a day’s rehearsal. So this Sunday, my family (yep, the wife and kids came – although we did have to cover the kid’s ears on a couple of occasions – my own fault for writing such filthy language!) jumped in the jalopy and dived into the theatre.

This was quite a day for the cast and crew, as this was the first time that they have attempted the script on the stage, it was the first time that they had a set, it was the first time they were attempting it with scripts down and after the tragic events of the last few weeks, this was they the first time the company had been together in a while.

I would dearly love to tell you all about the set as they have developed something stunning and unique – most certainly not what I had in mind when I wrote it, but works better than I could have dreamt up! But if I were to tell you, then it would spoil the surprise and the achievement they have accomplished. Suffice to say you’re in for a treat – and check out the wallpaper.

It stunned me as a playwright, as when writing you develop your own picture of how the characters talk, move and interact. It is the actor’s job to interpret the script, so more often than not, the characters play differently to the way I saw them – and I’m yet to see a bad interpretation. But so many of the cast were playing the characters exactly as I saw them when applying fingers to keyboard! Frightenly so. Indeed my wife commented on more than one occasion that many of the performances were ‘just as I read them’ when she read the first draft.

Did I have comments for the cast? Well, of course I did, but I didn’t pass them on. It would have been completely inappropriate. I’m only the playwright, I have to leave the freedom to act and direct. I did make a point about off-focus acting (when you are on stage, but have nothing to say for a while). If this happens to you (and not just in one of my plays) you have to watch what happening around you. Why? Because this is what happens in reality. You witness things that happen around you. You react to things around you… You listen in to things that are said around you. If you don’t do this, you weaken the plot and performance.

And the performances were great. I would love to mention all of the cast now, but I’ll save my full breakdown for after the production. But for now I have to mention the following:

Pete – Just as I imagined him. He’s going to get the laughs he deserves!
April – I hate this actress! She’s stunning, talented, great vocal inflection, amazing stance and true stage presence. Why do I hate her? Because I wish I had that much raw acting talent.
Hazel – You just have to love this performance, as you like her, you respect her – then you can’t help feeling every last thing she feels.
Stuart – Playing a Dad on stage is one of the hardest roles to play. But this actor doesn’t act it, he is it! Naturally empathic and endearing.
Customers – A new twist for me, but a twist that works beautifully; fed by their ability to use their voices to the full.

And I’m sure I’ll make comments about others later.

If the cast do read this, here is a little (and very true) story that may help you with characterisation and developing your emotions in this play…

Denim was, emotionally, the most challenging play I have ever penned. Being adopted myself, I drew very heavily from personal experience to put this play together – indeed many of Giles’ fears were my own, if over played for the purposes of stage.

About 12 years ago I witnessed my father have a heart attack. I thank God daily that my father and I have undergone tons of first aid training; he knew what was happening to him and I knew what to do about it. But the fear of losing my Dad was unbelievably painful. Thankfully, after a couple of days it became clear that he was going to pull through, even though at that time it did mean that his quality of life was going to be rather severely restricted.

A week after the heart attack I was visiting Dad in Acute Assessment and for some reason I was alone with him. One of his doctors came to the bedside and enquired if I was his son. Dad confirmed that I was and waxed lyrical about how proud he was of me.

“It’s opportune that your son is here Mr Saunders. We do have to address the fact that this is a hereditary condition. We have to prepare your son for the future.”

My father’s eyes welled with tears; the first time I had ever witness him get to such and emotional point. He took my hand as strongly as his condition would allow and stared me straight in the eye.

“Son. This is the first time I’ve ever been proud not to be your father.”

That’s why I wrote Denim.

Your parents are your parents because of what they are, not because of who they are.

Auditions 2 and Read Through

So the second auditions night for the panto went far better than I had expected – plus it added to my headache. I mentioned before that one of my major concerns was the number of men that auditioned; namely one!

But on the second night I was overwhelmed by the number of guys that turned up. And just like the ladies, all of them had talent. It was possible for me to cast the panto three times over with the guys that pitched up.

I spent a painful couple of hours with the producer and assistant producer running through my initial casting. I had to use them as they knew a lot of the players that had auditioned. Not that time spent with the club made any difference; it was purely to the point of had I cast it right and would these people actually consider taking the part I was offering. I was delighted to see that they didn’t disagree with a single role I cast.

Then on Thursday last week, we held the read through. I admit this is the one night I hate as an amateur director. While it’s great to hear the play and see the ways that people interpret the script, it is also the night where all the actors get to see what roles other people have landed. I have been to read throughs before where people have stormed out as they feel that they could have played a part far better than the person that has been cast. And again, I will be honest – I let them. If someone wants to play the prima, then they are more than welcome to… as long as it’s not in my theatre. I pointed out my view of theatre to my new company at the second audition… This may be AmDram, but when you get on the stage, you cannot act like an amateur. You have to act like an unpaid professional, as the audience have parted with their cash to see you. Have the decency to respect that and give them their money’s worth. Prima’s don’t as they think the play is all about them… and as such I don’t want them in my show.

But my panto cast were great! They read wonderfully and we can all now see the humour of the piece. But I did give them the instruction to look up the definition of pantomime (see the 2nd and 3rd definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary) so that they could see how they needed to play their individual parts.

I also suggested taking a trip down to Southampton to see the production of Denim, seeing as it is being muted as a potential for the spring production. I was delighted to see that there was a good deal of interest, as people were pointing out that regardless of the play, it makes sense to see other performances to see what you are capable of. But one of the cast pointed out that it made more sense to them, as they would be able to see a degree of my imagination – and be able to use that in their interpretation of their character.

So Tuesday we start the rehearsal process with Act 1 Scene 1. Plus I now have to find all the back stage crew, from sound to make-up, from costumes to choreography. This thing is just getting better.