I think the use of the Tumblr blog is an excellent way for all members of our group to keep in touch outside of rehearsal and view how we are progressing over the weeks. I have kept a diary of the rehearsals and this that it has been a productive method of tracking process. We had many more subsidiary rehearsals but these were the ones I found most significant;

25/10/11

Unfortunately, as rehearsals took place on a Tuesday, straight after another lecture, I was ‘late’. At the beginning it was most important to line run the scenes to familiarise ourselves with the dialogue and how we as a group think it could work onstage. Baring in mind Northern Irish people already talk quite fast, this would only be amplified onstage and this was something we considered during the line run. This gave us a chance to discuss as a group the characters and any ideas we had for others. We also discussed costume ideas as well as possible stage design, baring in mind a minimal budget.

27/10/11

Today we rehearsed in more depth the scene involving myself and Ross; the interrogation scene. It was most important to focus on the intended humour within the scene and how to make this prominent. A problem I incurred was laughing mid-rehearsal which I will obviously need to work on. We decided upon how it would be staged, roughly, and worked with any props intended for the scene, for example the blade and sharpener. We also briefly discussed marketing ideas that could be used to promote the play.

2/11/11

All cast members were mainly off script which made the rehearsal far easier to run. I think I am coping better with the idea of the play now, having been criticised for being too ‘comfortable’ and perhaps finding it too ‘funny’. I think this can be easily done as the line between violence and comedy is so thin, but as for the intentions from the piece it is essential that the violence onstage it absolutely believable. I think Ross plays Padraic excellently with the ‘Father Doogle’ influence and gives the character an entirely different persona than I’m sure was first intended by Martin McDonagh. We have established very well how the scene will run; where we need to be and when and how the dialogue runs tempo wise. We also decided upon costume today which I think match the characters perfectly.

3/11/11

Being completely off-script today only enhanced the rehearsal time. I have incorporated a new fear when performing the piece that I believe makes the scene more realistic; this was needed as before I think the laidback-ness of my character didn’t work with the situation- obviously! A couple of scene-runs ensured we were familiarised completely with the blocking of the scene and only aided with remembering lines.   

4/11/11

As with other rehearsals, we did a quick warm up to energise ourselves so we had the right energy for the rehearsal, and also having a small audience meant this was essential .Having nailed the lines of the scene, we decided to get into costume for this run. This would help us to set the atmosphere and therefore improve the rehearsal. We also had an audience member today, Beths boyfriend and son, which I thought was excellent as it allowed us to see how someone, who had nothing to do with the piece found it. The violence within the scene also meant Peter, Beth’s son, was shocked at times and hearing him gasp when the guns were drawn meant we could anticipate reactions from the audience. 

I think all this hard work and a great cast of people should pay off and we should have a great show!! Intensive rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday should only perfect our short scenes! :)