Today I went over to
the Derby Theatre rehearsal space on Green Lane and enjoyed watching
an early rehearsal of A Christmas Carol adapted by Neil Duffield.
The professional cast and crew have three weeks to rehearse the show.
Today was in week one. I watched an hour of the rehearsal and
interviewed actors Adam Horvath and Christopher Price about their
experience so far. Heidi McKenzie from Derby Theatre joined us for
the twenty minute interview. It was all very light hearted and there
was a lot of laughter throughout as the actors and I told our tales.
I explained that I had
read Neil Duffield's play – a mix of classically referencing
Dickens' well known words plus integrating a modern, perhaps less
verbose way of expression and a style of sharing the text between
several chorus characters that carries the story along nicely whilst
keeping true to the classic tale. There is also live music and
singing in the show.
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| Adam Horvath |
The two actors
confirmed that they had only been in rehearsal for a week and two
days so far with three weeks in total followed by four days in
technical rehearsal after that. I asked them if they came into the
rehearsal process with a good understanding of the text and perhaps
some of it under their belts.
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| Christopher Price |
Adam confirmed that he
had certainly read it a few times and made some notes about the play
and his various characters but his acting experience so far was based
on not presuming too much and unless there was lots and lots to learn
he would come into the experience with a clean slate each time.
Chris said that if an
actor learns something before they go into rehearsal then they have
already shut down a couple of learning barriers which can lead to a
difficult experience in learning the play along with the rest of the
cast. He said it is different in an audition because you have learnt
something in which you, as an actor, know what you want and also what
you believe the casting director wants. He felt that it is lovely to
be able to explore the play with the whole cast as well as generally
to be comfortably familiar with it.
I asked if this way of
working was the same with the Odyssey (a very successful Derby
Theatre production which both actors were involved with). Adam and
Chris both nodded emphatically and said that it certainly was. Sarah
Brigham, currently directing A Christmas Carol, also directed The
Odyssey earlier this year. Chris Price said that Sarah is a fantastic
director in so much as she allows the actors the space to play and
explore and if an actor has something that they want to explore she
will give space for that. He emphasised that with her you always get
a chance to put in your creativity as well and the play's journey is
always adaptable, organic, a moving and a living thing.
I mentioned that I had
seen on the internet that the actors had been playing Blind Man's
Bluff in a rehearsal and I was interested to know how much
traditional games and theatrical games informed the working process
to the finished piece. Adam Horvath explained to me that they had
been doing a lot of group exercises because a lot of the playing
aspect rides along with the work the chorus do and that is the
vehicle for the whole play. The play is really about a big group of
story tellers and how they interact with each other and how they
bounce of other people's ideas and expressions. Keeping the group
alive and kicking is vital to the piece.
Christopher enthused
that the chorus and ensemble are like a faultless seam of
story-telling that illuminate and inform the story all the way
throughout. In the structure of the script there are lots of little
short lines. Although several people are individually saying them the
interpretation of the writing by the actors feeding into each other
and from each other means that the story becomes a character of its
own and also becomes a flowing fluid poetic text.
I said that such a
structure textually isn't an easy thing to do as an actor. You have
to be acutely aware of the next line that can appear and ultimately
disappear in a fraction of a second.
Chris agreed. “Yes
that is right Phil and it is in the games we do in rehearsal that
helps us to get to know each other very well in the ensemble.
Yesterday we had, what was it? Five juggling balls? All five juggling
balls were going at the same time so we were all moving around the
space at the same time. We worked out some kind of system and it
doesn't matter where you are - you keep going all of the time with
awareness. There could be under the leg throws, over the head throws,
straight to the other throws but you just keep these juggling balls
constantly moving. You know, you make a couple of mistakes at first
but then you find something quite unique within that particular
energy of the group. It is unique for every single ensemble. Oddsocks
theatre company are rehearsing next door doing Wind In The Willows
and they'll have a completely different dynamic and a completely
different energy about them and if you fused these two groups that
would be a completely different dynamic too. That is the thing. It
is almost molecular.” Chris laughs and concludes “Or perhaps we
just all hot air!”
They explained too that
in Derby Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol that as well as a
small ensemble of adult professional performers there are also a
total of twenty-four young performers broken down into three teams –
A, B and C. I told them about the casting of Tiny Tim in The Lace
Market Theatre's 2006 performance of my own stage adaptation of A
Christmas Carol. There were two teams of children in this and in one
team Tiny Tim was played by a sweet young girl (with cherubic boyish
looks) and she was truly pathetic in the best sense of the word and
utterly beguiling and totally symapethic as the crippled boy on
death's doorstep. The other boy playing Tim was rather less than
tiny. Rather Chunky Tim would have been a much more apposite
description! He looked as if he had eaten half the set and dined out
in the most glutinous eating establishments in Victorian London!
Chris quipped that the big boy maybe had a glandular problem and that
was why he had poorly legs because he was so obese that he could
hardly stand on them!
I opened the
conversation up to ask the actors, Adam and Chris what it was that
they were enjoying the most so far in rehearsals.
Adam bashfully said
that is just so nice to be doing a Christmas show and that he had
watched The Muppets' Christmas Carol at the weekend! “ Got that
(Muppets show) out of the way! No seriously, Christmas Carol is just
a story that keeps on giving. It's timeless and in our production on
stage it will feel different every night and however subtle the
ensemble are we always going to find different things that audience
give us each night. It's just a feel good show done with a nice group
of people.”
I asked if their
Scrooge was good and got a wave of enthusiasm back. Chris said “
Yeah, definitely! Jim's great! He's fun and has a very good command
of the room!”
Christopher concluded
the interview by saying something I totally agreed with: “ A
Christmas Carol is my favourite Christmas story. Out of all of 'em I
absolutely adore it. At the end it has that special feel good moment.
You go through all the trouble and strife and the greed and the
poverty and then out of all of that gloom, doom and shovelled up
black snow, the freezing blue cold there is that tiny little light of
hope and warmth and love. And family! Every year, because I don't see
my family as much as I'd like to, this show, in a special way sends
you to that place where you can be with your family. Hopefully me Mam
and me Dad and me sister from up north will be seeing this show at
Derby this year and that will be very special.”
Adam is playing in A
Christmas Carol through the Brian Weaver Fellowship and will be in
the ensemble as well as playing the roles of Fred and Young Scrooge.
Chris is playing Jacob Marley, Mr Fezziwig, Ghost of Christmas
Present and Old Joe.
See
Derby Theatre website for booking details.
