So for those of you (Kim, Elise, Goof) who didn’t get to our blocking session today……YOU ARE ALL CUT!

No seriously, it wasn’t cool at all, none of us who did turn up were very impressed; but we did get to see Nai do her drunk thing again so it wasn’t all bad. Anyway, we are going to try that again on next Friday, same place, same god-awful time of day. If you aren’t there, drastic stuff will happen, got it? You’ll also miss: 1) Finishing off the blocking; 2) A complete run through of the show with stops for notes, and; 3) A complete run through of the show without stops. So be there, kapisch?! Good, moving right along.

I can’t recommend the reading (textbook pages 12-22) enough! If ever you feel something is missing in your acting, that’s the place to look (see sections Facial Expression, Voice, Movement, Gesture). 

Also, you should all give a character history a go. You don’t need to sit and write pages, and it certainly doesn’t need to be an exact itemised timeline of their life. Just 10-20 dot points, most of which are found in the script. You really shouldn’t need to make up much from scratch, but you certainly can if it doesn’t conflict with anything in the script. If you’re lost, give me a yell.

I need to set times for meetings with all of you! Here’s some stuff to keep you all up to speed until Friday, read everyone’s because there could be something beneficial to you in someone else’s section.

Goof - First, get your health better. Then we can work on getting your character work better! It needs to happen soon, really soon, the best would be before next Friday. You tell me when and we can work something out. In the meantime, hop on the interweb superhighway and research premature ejaculation and how it psychologically affects the people who suffer from it. This will help you to develop your character, and I want to see the research and how you’re using it on your blog before Friday. What you’ve got to understand is that you are not that much like your character, its not going to be as simple as changing your walk. But your very capable of doing this.

Elise - mmm, didn’t see you there 2day. Hope you have a lovely time in Woop-Woop, but when you get back (and before school starts) we need to have a little Paula workshop. I’ve sent some actors away to do some research to help with their character background. In combination with writing a character history, have a look into 1980s ‘women in the workforce’ and the emergence of the single woman around that time as well. We both know you can blow people’s minds with this character, but right now I can’t feel its happening yet …. ‘yet’ being the operative word. Dymphna - feel the hate!

Kim - We also missed you today. I think a few people want to know some stuff about the set, plus we had a few publicity ideas. What would be best, like with the actors, is if just you and me had a quiet and calm sit down chat about all things After Dinner. We know you’re stressing, and because we are a loving, caring, happy company, we’re going to help you to help us.

Mel - We all had big chats with and about you today and I hope it was all very helpful. The stuff in the textbook (pg. 12-22) is gold, but you can’t rely solely on that framework. Like we discussed at the end of today’s session, you need a consistent character, and a way of getting into it. Nai said do the research, listen to Nai. And the OCD is a great mindset to help you get into the character. I want to see the research and how you’re using it on the blog.

Nai - There’s nothing glaringly obvious/urgent I need to tell you about. Stuff like the background research you’ve already done (before I even thought of it, I owe you), but a character history would really complete your character development. Thanks for the house today, it worked really well, so well in fact, I think we should do it again next Friday.

Yaniv - I’m also not very concerned with you and Gordon. We didn’t get to see much of Gordon today though, so if you think there’s anything I should be concerned about, do tell - I’ll be glad to help! The research on divorce in the 1980’s is another piece of gold from Nai, I certainly recommend it. The connections you’ll make from the research, to how you portray your character should come pretty naturally. Enjoy Byron, by which I mean enjoy Bay Kebabs. 

Keep in contact with me across the rest of the holidays. Any hour of the day, every day, if you need a question answered, get a hold of me! undifferent@hotmail.com  or my mobile (if you don’t have it there are a million ways of getting it).

How’s my word count!

Scott

Today was fun, except for the fact that nobody was there. So I figure that scheduling is throwing good time away on a fruitless task. A rough time-line will begin to appear, but all you guys should know is that we will (must) be completing the blocking of the play by the end of term. And basically, that means going at a pace of about 5 pages per period. I’m really sorry that I can’t tell you what lines you should learn for when, but I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t predict the future (if props can find me a crystal ball, I will consider making a specific schedule).

Tomorrow I want to go from after Goofy’s first bit through to where Nai talks about Mon’s hubby’s death (that massive soliloquy).

So, ummm, like, yeh…..sorta,

Me

So I’m reading/hearing/thinking alot about the two key issues at the moment which seem to be BYO and the live band. I’m usually a neutral party in any debate because I tend to be able to see merits of any argument based on logic and reasoning. Having said that, I have opinions on both of these hot topics.

BYO: There are two schools of thought here. Serving alcohol would add to the whole restraunt vibe we’re trying to capture here, though this is much the same argument as the one about serving a meal. Sure it goes that one step closer to making it an authentic experience, but serving alcohol would (like with the food) send the ticket price sky high. To combat this, the smart solution would be to say BYO. However, I just get the feeling that an audience going to a school play might find this innapropriate. Perhaps best to let that go and be content to serve them grape juice or even think further outside the box. I’m thinking mocktails. But anyway, that’s just the way I see it.

LIVE BAND: I think we’re all pretty much in agreeance on this one - no live band. But I’m particularly fond of Mondo’s idea of having cardboard cutouts of a band. Now I think we really should stick to the songs set out in the script, but most of these are upwards of three minutes long (light years when you’re on stage). Also, the singers (male/female) and the instruments used vary from song to song. These issues could be solved by meshing the idea of having our own band and not having our own band! If we got a band together to pre-record the songs, that would give us the continuity in the sound. And then we can have our band as the cardboard cutouts! I know I’m probably letting my imagination get away from me, but trust me, all of that (apart from the cutouts which I have no idea about) is really quite simple to do at Scopus.

I’m probably nuts, and I invite you to tell me so.

Anonymous

So now I’ve wrapped the entire past 5 weeks up in one neat little blog, it’s time I did a bit of directing! Really, I deem the uber-technical people (set, lighting, sound) a priority at this stage. So let me get the rest out of the way right now. COSTUME and MAKE-UP  really are able to go off and do their own thing, making sure they stick to the “80s style”. And DRAMA-TURKEY gets alot of my free time at musical rehearsals, so we can chat there.

SET: Kim, I think you have a fair enough idea of what I want as director from the set - at this stage I’m only really concerned with the floorplan and basic measurements of the room. So the raised stage - I need to know how high it will be, how big its footprint is (length x width), and where exactly in the space will it be. Also, things like exits (to the toilet/restraunt entrance/kitchen?) need to be considered & confirmed. I believe I can be of some assistance with all of this, and if all this sounds overwhelming (I really would love a definite floorplan of the set), just know that I am willing and able to help you with all of it.

LIGHTING: Mondy! Lighting really is something that needs to work around the set, but seeing as we’re going for a very naturalistic thing here, perhaps to make the lighting design overly fancy would be well-overdoing it. I’d love to discuss the design with you as we go along blocking the show in class over the next three weeks. I’m not as confident as I am with set, that I can give you incredible advice. I’m not even entirely sure what I want, so I need to meet with you (you and I have a free together P4 tomorrow). 

SOUND: So Goof, I think being the sound guy in this show is a bigger job than just ‘microphones and speakers’. I don’t even think we want microphones! Anyway, we need you to become a pro on those Apples in the media centre - they will solve all (yes, all!) of your sound problems! You need to think about what sounds are typical in a restraunt (or more specifically, a bistro) and then going about replicating them on the Macs. Mondy and I can help you there, as we both used them for media last year. Again, lots of discussion with me please, I can/want to/will be able to help you, and as director I need to make sure everyone is on the same page. 

OK, so ACTORS.Hey, how are ya? Can not wait to rip into it on Wednesday! First off, I’d like to say big respect to New Scotty who will be my partner in crime directing you, assisting me with this massive task. I know I’ve directed most of you before in smaller things here and there in the past, and most of you know the way I work. I’m very goal oriented; the timeframe I outline will be stuck to religiously. As far as actually directing you goes, the blocking of After Dinner is relatively simple, which means we can focus on some really profesh acting. That means lots of character work, and dissecting every letter of every word of every line to find the perfect way of portraying the play - yes, I will become OCD about it, and you should too (it is a good thing)!

My proposal for a basic timeline goes as follows: We do approx. 1/15th of the play every lesson (I have divided the play up), which means we will be done blocking the show in 3 weeks. After that we can go over specific scenes again adding in technical elements and polishing up the acting. I want to set a further goal that is we must be running the whole show through by stage 2 audit week (23rd April). Of course, if any of this is seen to be totally unreasonable, then we can change it, but we should give it a go! 

I wonder if i wrote enough.

Old Scott

First off, lots of sorry for not blogging. I guess that gives me the opportunity to add some real perspective. Here’s a fun fact - five weeks ago where we had absolutely nothing! Since then we have chosen a play, cast it, and proceeded to work in every facet of stagecraft, developing our ideas into realities.

Today was the culmination of that planning process; we (well most of us) got to try on our shiny (old and not so shiny) costumes, which I think brought a touch of reality to this surreal experience. Lighting and sound, as well as set, have probably been hampered by my lack of blogging - again pleading for your forgiveness. I’ll be doing this regularly from now on people, never fear!

Next is not so much a fun fact as it is a bombshell! On Wednesday we start blocking the show, and having divided the play into 15 easy bight-size portions, I set us the target of completing the blocking of the entire show in 3 weeks! That leaves us time to go back through the play amping up the details and really refining it into something an audience would pay to see.

This was nice, I’ll blog again 2nite!

See you bye,

Old Scott

I’ll add stuff later, and come to me if you want your director’s notes from the read-thru. I don’t have notes for all of you, but I can make stuff up, discuss your role.

Nice

C U Bi

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