ENTER THE REHEARSAL HALL -- WHERE THE MAGIC BEGINS!

There is something magical about sitting in an audience as the house lights dim.

The buzz in the room settles into quiet anticipation as we wait to be transported into someone else's world, someone else's story. But what we see on the stage is just the culmination of weeks, sometimes months of work behind the scenes by artists of all description: actors, directors, designers, wardrobe people, carpenters, painters, sound and light experts and others.

This blog will give you a fly-on-the-wall glimpse into that unknown world, following the rehearsal process.
This will be your guide to the hard work, fun and weirdness of putting together a play
for a professional theatre company.

You'll never watch a play in the same way again!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES - Post #4: Adding the audience

Now blogging: Ann Hodges, PTE Artistic Associate and director of The Hound of the Baskervilles




No account of a rehearsal process would be complete without discussing the role of the audience - who are the final, important ingredient in the creation of live theatre. At PTE, where the audience sits on three sides of the stage, the audience not only watches a play, they watch everyone else watching a play. And when something unique happens (and there always is something), you are the only ones who witness it exactly that way.

The first audience is the production staff, who come to a tech dress rehearsal. They are extremely busy noting things like hems that need shortening or paint that needs touching up. So, this first audience is often very busy and quiet. Fortunately, the belly laugh of Production Manager Wayne Buss booms through the almost-empty theatre, reassuring us that some of the comedy does indeed work.

Next, we have an ushers’ preview for the 100 or so generous people who volunteer their time to take tickets and hand out programs during the run. Then, an official Preview Performance. Both these audiences are excited to see a show before it opens, and they always give us a really good sense of how the show will play.

The actors and I listen keenly to the audience’s every sound during previews - we can hear when a comic bit works because of a laugh, but we can also hear when something doesn’t “land” or the audience becomes bored. (Many actors have also done school tours, and we refer to the “Velcro factor”:  when 300 children sitting on the gym floor become bored, they begin to fiddle with the Velcro on their shoes!  Fortunately in Hound the Velcro factor is limited to Gord’s quick costume changes.)  After each of these pre-opening audiences, we gather to note things that still need working on - because we are, after all, still in rehearsal despite performing for an audience.

Finally, we are ready to open. Opening night is very exciting and we mark it by offering little gifts or cards wishing “Break a leg”. PTE has a tradition of ordering custom-made cookies for the cast from High Tea Bakery. Opening night for Hound of the Baskervilles  was a great success, with howls of laughter and a standing ovation. It feels great to celebrate our hard work, and after the show, the party moves into the carpentry shop for a more casual celebration.

Unlike what you see in the movies, where the director hovers backstage during every performance, in reality the director’s job is complete on opening night. It’s kind of like parenting - we work together until all are ready to forge ahead on their own, then the apron strings are cut. Stage Manager Chris Pearce maintains the show and writes a Show Report listing everything from the weather (“Roads bad, lots of latecomers”), technical elements that need repair (“Garrett cleaned the fogger nozzle - best sauna fog ever”), and of course, audience reactions to certain moments (“applause for the tango”, “a raring-to-go audience”, “a cell phone went off so Toby used his flashlight gun to locate the owner”.) 

I love reading the Show Reports. They remind me that the wonderful thing about theatre is that it is a live event, and although we have built the show to be very consistent, every audience sees a unique performance. The Show Reports record these unique events, like the audience who hooted when Watson ate the styrofoam toast that shouldn’t have fallen off the plate, or the teen audience who screamed at Stapleton’s arm in the Grimpen Mire, or the audience that was quiet and attentive then burst into a Standing O at the end.

If you haven’t yet joined an audience for The Hound of the Baskervilles, I hope you will do so this weekend. So far audiences have been having a howling good time. And you never know, your reaction might even make it into the Show Report, recording forever your unique experience watching three actors playing three fellows searching for a mysterious hound out on the moor at Prairie Theatre Exchange.

The Hound of the Baskervilles run until April 26, 2015. For tickets: www.pte.mb.ca


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