Christmas show rehearsal insights from assistant director
27 November 2012 ← return to listing
Image: The cast record a scene for our monthly TravCast.
As the third week of rehearsals for our Christmas show
The Arthur
Conan Doyle Appreciation Society comes to an end, hear
what assistant director Jo Rush has to say about the development of
this whirlwind of physical comedy from Peepolykus.
Now that the work on the script is finished; scenes streamlined,
problems ironed out, even character names altered(!) we have been
able to start really playing with the stories that are being told
and finding the fun to be had in each scene.
A lot of our rehearsal time has been spent exploring the comic
possibilities of - amongst other things - swivel chairs, extension
cables, phone ringtones, and various forms of facial hair. This
hasn't been just for our own amusement but has really helped us to
identify the physical language of the play, to find which ways of
using costume and props make the most sense in the world of these
characters. A really important question we have had to keep asking
is when should we play for laughs and when not? In hoping to create
humour we don't want to rob the play of its heart by never allowing
it a moment to be serious or moving.
All of this playing around in rehearsals, especially working
with very talented improvisers, means that something brilliant can
happen that you've never seen before and sometimes it can descend
into what looks a lot like chaos! But time flies, and all of a
sudden set and costumes are all arriving, tech week is looming, and
everyday it looks more and more like a real show, even if opening
night still seems far away.
Jo Rush, assistant director
Hear more about the making of the show from Peepolykus
in our writer's podcast, where every month we talk to some of the
UKs leading writers about the art of playwriting. You can subscribe
for free via iTunes, and catch
all the episodes on Soundcloud.
The Arthur
Conan Doyle Appreciation Society is at the Traverse 6 - 22
December (previews 4 & 5)