Rehearsal Room Rant
I have always said that one of the unforeseen thrills about returning to the stage at my age was working with younger people. No matter how much you believe in something, you can still learn from those in their 20’s whose passion isn’t tempered with decades of Real Life disappointment and cynicism. I have thoroughly enjoyed pitting my skill set against a younger actor’s desire to perform on stage – it’s almost athletic.
However, there are some professional lines that are being crossed, and my own boring middle-aged rubric on “How To Live Your Life” is really being upset by it. I am in my second of three rehearsal rooms this year, and because I see the same amateur behaviour repeatedly – without any kind of reproaching from Director or Stage Manager – I really feel it’s time for everyone to understand simple things you should be doing in a rehearsal room:
You committed to this – show up every time you are called. No other shows, no previous commitments unless the entire cast knows about it in advance.
Get there on time: If rehearsal starts at 7, that’s the ‘Baton Drop’ for the orchestra. Get there 5 minutes before that. Need to warm up? Get there 10 minutes before that. Need to eat? Get there 20 minutes before that. Take transit? Catch the bus before the one you need to ensure you are there. A 7.00pm baton drop means you need to be there by 6.30, latest. If you can’t…phone, so carry your contact list with you.
Can you come prepared? Read the script? Do some research? Know how to pronounce all of the words, names, and have a sense of the history, place, and dress and deportment of the time? Surely this is just as important as learning the words? Talking of which……..the acting can only start when the book is down. Learn it…all…very quickly. Teach yourself how to do it.
You need your script…and a pen, pencil, highlighter. Carry them with you all of the time to ensure you have them.
Eating! Aren’t there enough hours in the day to eat before you get to rehearsal? It’s like a community soup kitchen in there, everyone head down in Tupperware. We have a break – eat then; or before you get there, or after you leave, just not while you are working, and not in the room.
Social Media. No. Simple as that. I was once directed while the Director had a phone in his hand – NO! There is NO phone call in the world as important as this thing you are doing right now…no, really, there isn’t. Turn the fucking thing off, and don’t go near it. No laptops, either. Scripts are paper – there is no other way.
And it’s not just Actors! Directors…listen up.
Acting exercises. Come on, how old are we, 12? This is taking important scene-working time away from the rehearsal process. If you need games to find a character, do it on your own time: They belong with voice warm-up, stretch, and mental calming: Do it before rehearsal starts, and get ready to work. After all, you are now getting here 30 minutes early, so you have time.
Meetings with Designers, announcements from Artistic Directors, and other ‘suits’? Do it before rehearsal – call everyone 30 minutes earlier than required in order to make sure these vital messages are passed on…but don’t take away from our Professional rehearsal time – there is never enough of it.
Directors – learn shorthand. For the last thirty years, Directors have failed spectacularly to read their own hand-writing when reading back notes they have written. I don’t have time to wait for a note that ends up as: “I have no idea what this means, do you?” No…you wrote it, you decipher it. I know I stand no chance of changing this…it just drives me to distraction.
There are the 9 Deadly sins that I have experienced – how about anyone else? I know I sound tough…or old and cranky, but I believe that you should bring your ‘A- Game’ every time you enter a public arena to act – including the rehearsal room. After all, people, we are creating actual people, times past or future, alternative universes, and all of the emotional jungle that Humans go through,– this is not easy, and it takes all of your concentration to do it.
It’s not like this is ‘Fun’ or anything.
