Lawrence & Holloman: Scene Work (or Now We're Getting Somewhere!)

Now that the framework is in place it is time to going through the scenes and start filling them out. At the beginning the actors are still on-book (actors are still holding scripts), so dealing with props, blocking and really trying to make a connection with the other actor is difficult at this point. The actors will have entire pages off book and be really into the scene, then will have to either call line or quickly find their place in the script and move on. I know when I’m acting it’s frustrating to be on-book because you get all this energy, then all of a sudden you have to call "line” and it brings you out of the character. Once you get the line you then have to jump back in and sometimes rebuild the energy that is lost. Matthew Edison and Michael Spencer-Davis impressed me with how easily they seemed to jump back into the scene. One moment it would be Michael or Matthew calling line then with the next breath they were Lawrence and Holloman again.

This part of the rehearsal process involves very detailed work on each scene. We are going through the scenes using the “stop and start” method, in which the actors will rehearse the scene and then the director will stop the scene at a particular point to give notes or changes or tweaks to improve the scene. The actors will make the changes asked for and try the section of the script again to see if the changes work. Sometimes the tweaks are to change intentions in the dialogue; sometimes there are changes to blocking. All these changes are in an effort to make the story clearer. Bob’s favourite line while directing is “This is not a how but a what,”, meaning that he’s telling the actors what he wants but letting them come up with how to do it. Matthew has promised Bob a t-shirt with the slogan on it so that all he has to do is point to the t-shirt to give the note.

It is at this time that particular points of physical action are rehearsed, such as falling over a bench. It was my great “privilege” to serve as a human bench that the actor rolled over, so that he could find out what way he needed to roll in order to avoid injury. After the actor felt comfortable with the roll he graduated to rolling over the bench, so whenever I see that bit of stage business I can smile and think, “I helped make that safe. Yay!”

Before the actors are entirely comfortable with the dialogue, there are funny little slips. I have to admit when one of the actors states with complete conviction that “backbone is the debt of this country,” or yells “EMOTIONAL PAINKILLERS, WHO CARES!”, I laughed pretty hard. It may be a “you had to be there” kind of funny but I still crack a smile thinking about some of those line slips, mostly because the actors are so committed to the character and the scene that the lines come across as completely sincere even though sometimes it’s nonsensical.

After we have gone through the scenes we start running the play. Scott Henderson (Lighting Designer), Brian Perchaluk (Set/Costume Designer), Greg Lowe (Composer), stop by to see runs of the play because we are all getting prepared to move out of the rehearsal hall and into the theatre where the technical aspects will be added into the show. (It’s Wednesday and we open next Thursday...)