Our day out

On Sunday, 3rd May 2015, our youth theatre group TheBYTE travelled to the Royal & Derngate Theatre in Northampton for their performance of The Boy Preference as part of the NT Connections programme. This is what happened...

07:57: Annette & I arrive in the van at Sandringham School to find car park gates locked. If this is the only issue of the day we'd be happy! But it is raining hard!

08:20 The gates of the car park unlocked and a flood of vehicles pile in, closely followed by our coach (Best Banter Bus)

08:30: We set off for Northampton - the cast with Lisa in the Best Banter Bus and Net and I in the van.

09:20 : Arrive in the van at Northampton, closely followed by the coach. It is pouring with rain as we unload for one of the oddest 'get-in's' around - into the foyer, up some stairs, down two flights of stairs with a 180 degree turn.

10:30 : Cast go off for a puppetry workshop and have a total blast! They thoroughly enjoyed making their newspaper figures. Here's something we can follow up in a masterclass, we think. Meanwhile in the theatre, Jack, Christabel, Tegan, Alex, Annette and I (with the support of resident techie and top bloke Andrew) attempt to rig a show that originally took around a day and a half to prepare in just one hour. Amazingly we get pretty close - even though neither of the specified lighting board were available and Jack has to reprogramme all the cues on his laptop. Had our flats been 1cm taller, they would not have fitted in. And the blooming sunflowers won't stick to the them for some reason!

11:45 : We start our dress/tech run. Soon run into time difficulties and go cue to cue. Crucially, with time pressure immense, we forget to plot the very last lighting cue!

13:15 : We continue 'snagging' over lunch.

13:45 : Watch Bedford Free School's performance of Remote. It looks as though they had some last minute cast issues which left two people reading from scripts. They do a sterling job in the circumstances.

14:45 : Into costume for our show. There is a strange calm and determination in the cast after Lisa explains to them this will be last time they ever perform this show which has become so special for them.

15:15: Our show begins. There are two audible gasps from the audience on our two 'reveals' in the first scene. This bodes well!

15:20: The second scene takes off. Wow! What happened there?  I sit forward in my seat as I can see that they are really rocking. I get very excited...

15:25 - 16:10 ; ... and rightly so. The cast are delivering this show with new levels of focus and energy. Oh my days, what a talented bunch they truly are.

16:15: That last blasted lighting cue comes back to haunt us as the final reveal doesn't happen. But it really doesn't matter. Rapturous applause from the full house, including a really impressive number from St Albans who made the trip. Meet Paul, our NT assessor at the end and he seems to have liked the changes we put in - I am too emotional to hold a rational conversation. Backstage the cast are flying high. They know they've pulled off something special. There are quick hugs with parents before the next workshop.

16:30: Cast go off for an art workshop and are astonished when the workshop leader explains how she was inspired buy a trip to an Anselm Kiefer exhibition - the whole basis for our set and sunflower theme!!! Not sure she believed us when we told her. Very weird. In the meantime the 'get-out' is in full swing. This is where the stairs start to be a real pain! But within an hour, it is done and with the van safely packed, us 'support crew' have lovely 30 minutes sitting in the peaceful cafe chatting away about hilarious touring anecdotes, which is what you'll always get when you put thesp types together.

18:45: We watch the Castle Youth Theatre Company's production of Jamie Brittain's Drama, Baby. Our cast loved this show and thought some of the performances were very strong. I have to agree - it played better than it read for me. The CYTC cast did a very good, committed job and I liked the setting.

19:45: Pizza! Loads arrive and the cast fall on it like gannets. They have to eat quickly as the coach awaits outside.

20:25: Depart for home. Annette and I pass the coach on the M1 - much waving. Annette & I reflect that Best has brought together a truly lovely group of teenagers - talented, friendly, intelligent and totally devoted to each other.. sometimes we do things very right at Best. We give ourselves a virtual pat on the back.

21:15: Arrive back at Sandringham School and greet the returning bus which then goes on to Gina's to deliver the cast for a party - a lovely idea and we are so pleased they had the chance to let their collective hair down. As for Annette & I - home to a G & T and too tired to do anything.

02:30: Realise I'm still too buzzing mentally to sleep.

05:30: Start writing this.

06:57: Finish writing this.

There was one other possibly very significant and positive thing that happened during the day; perhaps the underlying reason I couldn't sleep. But let's leave that for another blog.

It was a challenging, exciting, exhausting and inspiring day, brilliantly hosted by Erica Martin and her lovely team at the Royal & Derngate. I certainly will never forget it and for the cast too the day (and their superb performance) will be a wonderful memory.

After the bulldozer

I can't believe we've done it. After all those hours rehearsing, painting, thinking, worrying... all those nights waking up and not getting back to sleep. It's all done. And done very well, I think. The best thing we've ever done at Best.

The arrival of the bulldozer

The feedback from the audiences was something very different to the usual. No platitudes, no gushing, but real enthusiasm, passion and amazement. The cast managed to get across just how committed they were to telling this story and blew the theatre apart. It was infectious.

For my part, I watched them perform without my usual nervous churning - I knew they'd deliver.

So what made all of this happen? Is it a model that can be replicated? There were so many elements it's hard to say...

• As any actor will tell you "It's the text, darling, the text!" And here we had a story that seemed to grow the more you read it. No big speeches, no real polemics. Just a very good story and one that touched on themes and attitudes that are totally relevant today for the cast and audience alike. Elinor Cook writes with such a light touch it was a pleasure to find the detail. She gave us the room to create the world in which this story could exist. Without this story to inspire us, everything else below would have been entirely moot
• We had a compelling vision - that this story could be a chilling and exciting adventure and that is what we set out to deliver. And from the feedback from audience and National Theatre assessor alike, we achieved it.
• We had a loved shared icon - the sunflower to rally us and to bring all the elements together
• We had a cast that are close as friends and totally supportive of each other (and of me). Real talent matched with application and focus. You can't ask for more than that.
• Bringing in a lighting enthusiast at an early stage meant that he was able to get to know the play as well as the cast - his designs reflected that and the (small) investments we made in kit were crucial
• Asking our student DJ to compose and mix/play live was a huge gamble but was a thrilling and unique approach. The first time he played over the rehearsals the mood of the piece suddenly leapt levels. And there it stayed.
• Asking one of the group to co-direct was perhaps the most difficult decision to make, but in the end, the most rewarding. She was able to deliver notes in a way that was so much easier to receive and the cast accepted her insights with alacrity
• Putting time ( a lot of time) into designing and painting the set lifted the mise en scene significantly
• I think we achieved some real 'coups de theatre' - the use of the scrim to make the girls appear/disappear, the sudden appearance of Adelaide centre stage into a scene, the bulldozer - these were risky but (I think) they all worked, and worked well

The scrim

So bearing in mind all of the above - no, it's probably not replicable, because only one of those elements had to fail to significantly alter the outcome. Who knows whether we'll find a text again that will inspire us as much as this one did? That was the basis of all of this.

But the confidence to take more risks is there for next time, and we do have a group of actors that I would work with again in a shot. I miss them already (even if I am their 'Principal') but it's clear there progress with their usual coach, Lisa, has been remarkable and they are in very safe (if challenging) hands.

So now we await the notes from our assessor. He was very friendly with the cast who warmed to him immediately. It will be so good to get some objective notes too - I've been so close to this I can't see the wood for the sunflowers!

Next - a few weeks off before we go to Northampton. I can't wait.

Final stages

With under a week to go a strange calm has descended on the group. All of the technical bits seem to be in place, the show seems to hang together without any bits I'm really worried about - and we are still coming up with new ideas (including a very cool idea for the bulldozer).

It'll be interesting getting these rather large flats into the building but I think my measurements are right. It's the gauze that will be the main issue...

It covered our garage and is extremely hard to work with! Again, I hope my measuring was up to scratch when we come to hang it.

Next we have to 'get in' to the theatre which we'll do on Monday/Tuesday, with Jack and I doing as much as we can to cable up the lights and get things working before the cast turn up for their tech and dress from 4.30pm. 

Alex's soundscape is sounding fabulous and adding a very menacing and pervasive feeling of unease - I think that was a good idea. When it first ran through the rehearsal there was a palpable change in the energy of the room. 

Lisa's been pushing the cast to take more emotional risks with their parts now - taking things to the edge. 

I'm delighted we'll have at least a few in the house for the dress rehearsal with the National's assessor coming on our first night. And then I'll hand over the play to Christabel to run in true pro fashion.

In a week it will be all over (until Northampton in May) and I'll be so sad not to be working with this very talented and really lovely group of people. They clearly have such a bond of friendship it makes me very happy that we've put them together. I pray they have a wonderful experience in the show and that their memories are entirely positive of the show and the process. Mine certainly are.

Break a leg, everyone. I couldn't be prouder of you all!

Dx

Progress and paint

Since the last post, things have moved on. At last we've had all the required cast members in the same place at the same time and the show is beginning to take shape in a very promising fashion. I'm confident that we will have a really top class production and I'm thrilled with how well Emily, my year 11 co-Director, has taken to the task.

Emily directing in a directorial kind of director-y way

Now we need to make sure the tech matches it!

Jack on the lights has loads of fabulous ideas and I'm delighted to have him working with us. The costume is bugging me a little - it's definitely not my forte. We need to nail it down. The dresses for the A-team are fantastic as Sophie demonstrates...

Sophie / Alice 

 ...but the rest of the costumes need to be of similar quality.

It also became obvious to me that asking for help painting the flats was a logistical nightmare. Lisa offered the use of her as yet undecorated office area which has been a godsend so I've been up and down the A414 to Potters Bar a number of times.

I am no artist, but my (rather artistic) son talked me through how to create perspective and how to use tones to create effects. So I bought a load of paint and gave it a go....

First I had to strip the flats.

Old paper all over it - this was 30 mins into the task

Now clear!

A base of a nice Vanilla colour

The eventual landscape of dead sunflower stalks

My son said he was 'pleasantly surprised' by my efforts - this is high praise indeed.

Next I will use stencils cut by my son (clever chap) and spray paint on the decaying sunflower heads and leaves. Pics will follow once I've done that. Then I'll load them back in Lisa's van...

A tight squeeze

and they'll live in my garage until March.

The biggest problem was the sharkstooth gauze which we are using for a couple of visual effects. It is 4m x 3m and we had nowhere to hang it. Instead I had to stretch it on the floor and it was an absolute nightmare. If I never have to paint one of those again it will be too soon!

More reports to follow...

Herding Cats

Well we certainly seem to have a lot of people on stage from time to time! The phalanx of 'new girls' is a mighty powerful sight when it's working well but it's going to take a lot of work (AND FOCUS!!!) to get it right.

 Last night we worked through a number of elements but the real frustration is that we always seem to have a key cast member away. Consequently we're a little behind where I'd really like to have been but with plenty of time to catch up I'm not overly concerned.

With our lighting guy Jack fully on board now and Alex well into his soundscape construction I'm increasingly confident about the finished product.

A local school has offered to loan us all the flats we need (phew) and with the other tricky items already identified I think we are in pretty good shape...

The National Theatre has approved all our artwork so that's all off to the printers now - I guess we'd better start to sell some tickets!

The Boy Preference starts to take shape

To say I am excited about how The Boy Preference is shaping up would be a huge understatement.

Asking Emily to co-direct was SO the right thing to do and despite my control freakery I'm actually loving it. She's a great foil and inspiration and is bringing so many great ideas to the process.

Last night we met with Jack, our lighting genius. Jack has a long history with Best having lit many of our summer academies while he was till at school. I think he'll make our show look superb - and we now have a solution for the tricky 'diving board' issue...

And what's most exciting of all is to see how the cast have taken to it. There are some beautiful, rounded characters already developing and they seem to have instantly grasped the whole feeling of the piece.

I'm on the hunt for props which is turning into a really fun quest. Having tracked down the only remaining sunflowers in the UK last week, I'm after all kinds of other goodies now. More news on this as it comes in.

And finally for now, the National Theatre have finally approved our our poster - and here it is:-

The Boy Preference - week 1

A brilliant week started off by an excellent meeting with co-director Emily. We had a fantastic idea for a sunflower thing. My next thought was 'oh no. the sunflower season is over, where will we find some?' so I got on the phone to all the major growers of sunflowers in the UK and eventually spoke to Nicholas Watts of Vine House Farm north of Peterborough. What a lovely man! He grows around 6 million sunflowers a year and he personally went out and searched across all his fields to find the stalks we needed. We drove up there today to collect them.

"Sunflowers???"  I hear you ask - well you'll juts have to come and see the show to find out (although more hints will doubtless follow.

On the way back we dropped in to see the venue for our partner theatre show at Royal; & Derngate in Northampton. What a beautiful theatre! Two main house - a  lovely'producing' Victorian space (the Royal), a more modern 'receiving space (Derngate) and our studio - the Underground. It's just right for our show.

Then it was back home after a 200  mile round trip to rig up a strange contraption in the greenhouse to keep the mice off the sunflowers till next February! The thing we do for art, eh?

More news next week!

The very helpful Nicholas Watts!

Nicholas retrieving the stalks from the warehouse

The Empty Space

Heath Robinson strikes