Lawrence & Holloman: Early Days -- Meet & Greet, Read-Throughs & Table Work

The first day of rehearsal starts off with something called a "meet & greet". This is a chance for all of the people involved in the play, including all the administrative and production staff at PTE, to meet and, yes, you guessed it, greet one another. For some, it is a greeting from familiar faces, for others (like me) it is twenty names and faces to try to memorize in five minutes. There is coffee, tea and some lovely little oranges to snack on. When the official time begins we are all rounded up into a circle by Robert Metcalfe, the Artistic Director of PTE and the director of this show, and asked to say our names, what we’re doing on the show and, in honour of the theme of Lawrence and Holloman, to say one thing that we’re pessimistic about. It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone just by hearing that person’s pessimistic view of something; whether it’s about the economy, transit, or whether your children will do the chores they’re asked!

After many laughs, Brian Perchaluk, Costume and Set Designer, gives a brief design presentation, Lighting Designer, Scott Henderson promises “There will be lights”, and Greg Lowe, sound design and composer follows suit with “There will be sound.” After the Design presentation, there is a brief break and then it is on to the first read-through.

The room now has only nine people in it: the two actors, the director, stage management, some production staff interested in hearing the first read, and, of course, me. This is, for me, one of the most thrilling parts of the early rehearsal period. Up until now the play has existed for me as conceptual designs and text on paper but now I get a taste of what it will become, as, for the first time, I get to hear the actors read through the script in its entirety. Without giving too much away about the script, I just have to say, Matthew Edison who plays the optimistic "Lawrence" and Michael Spencer-Davis who plays the pessimistic "Holloman", are cast perfectly. My sides hurt from laughing and I am excited to see how these two characters develop in the very capable hands of the actors and director.

Much of the first two days of rehearsal (10am – 6pm rehearsal days for now), is spent sitting around a table. The script is read scene by scene with a discussion after each. There is so much going on in this script that it’s important to remind ourselves where we are in each scene. It is always fascinating to hear the different takes people have on the same text. For example, a discussion about what a particular phrase written in all-capitals meant in a particular section went on for about 10 minutes. (Not all punctuation was discussed in that much detail, or else we would probably still be there!) The “table work” aspect of the rehearsal process is so important in making sure that everyone is staring on the same page before we start putting it on its feet.