Last week I mentioned the feeling of not falling into a real routine. In the case of this third week, it’s felt the most different.
A section of the play is in Chinese, so Jude brought in her friend An-Ting to teach us the phrases. We’ve added more time in the schedule to practise it. At random intervals, you can hear someone start one of the phrases before imploding in on themselves. But it’s okay. We still have time.
On Wednesday we spent the morning at the Lyric Hammersmith filming the trailer and some other video bits in their Green Screen studio. Antics were had, especially when struggling to clean up plastic confetti that static clings to your skin (it’s followed us back to the rehearsal room). During filming a member of the cast accidentally smashed two bowls. I won’t name name’s in fear of retribution from the Lyric. But we got every thing we wanted filmed, and we had a lot of fun. It was a welcome break from our regular programming And that’s worth breaking a few bowls for right?
Right?
In less exciting excursions, the cast have also been learning their lines, doing more actioning, going over parts of the play. Some things aren’t so different.
At the end of the week we did a run-through. It’s great to see the piece as a whole. But it’s not perfect, sometimes it’s quite rough, sometimes parts are skipped over. After the run Jude and Bethany talk about the run and more additions to the design. It’s clear what work needs to be done, but regardless we’re happy. We have a show.
In all these little events I’ve realised how close we are to the end of rehearsals. I ended up seeing the last night of Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, which only intensified these feelings, that the next people in this space would be us. On the tube home I thought about the passage of one show ending to another beginning. How the last performance is the end of a long journey, fulfilling all the work that has gone into it. It will be replaced by something half-formed, in the way any theatre is half-formed before an audience sees it, and completes it. In any case, the show will be on soon. And that’s very exciting.
Trust runs from 22 February.