Auditions

I wasn't sure how many people were going to turn up to audition for the two parts that were available. 

Two ladies came to the read-through, and a third had said she was unable to make the read-through, but would be auditioning, so I knew that I would have a decent choice of female actors (known as "actresses" in the "business", I believe!) to choose from.

But we saw no male actors (aka "actors"!) at the read-through, and a mail-out for interested people was not as successful as we'd hoped.

On the night, however, we had five ladies and three men come along to audition.

We started off playing some fairly silly games (the human knot, primal scream and tag photograph), to get everyone moving, engaged, comfortable and warmed-up.

I'd given everyone notice of the audition pieces the week before.  Three monologues for each character, and one dialogue between both characters.  I left it up to the actors to decide which monologues to do, or if they wanted me to tell them which one to perform.

I won't go into huge detail about individual performances here, as that would be unfair to the people who didn't get cast.  Suffice to say that I was very impressed at the level of preparation that everyone put into their audition pieces and they all showed a great understanding of the characters and the thought processes which the characters were going through during the pieces.

Usually at an audition, there are a couple of people who are obviously unsuitable for the part and they don't change your mind when they read the lines.  But this time round I could easily have found a justifiable reason for casting any of the auditionees in their respective parts. 

That made it a very hard decision.

But in the end, I was able to cast Miranda (Jennifer Hampton) and Frederick (Mat Robinson) as they both managed to embody their versions of the characters more completely than the other candidates.

Now I've got my actors I have to firm up the rehearsal schedule and then in a month (actually, 3 weeks!) time we start rehearsing.

Pre-Production

I guess that to the 'public', the task of casting the actors and starting rehearsals is the beginning of the production process, but it actually starts a long time before.

In the case of The Collector, the process started well over a year ago, in mid-2011, when I submitted a handful of scripts to the Artistic Director's script-reading committee to consider for inclusion in the 2013 programme.

At first, none of those plays were accepted.  Instead, the Feb 2013 green room show was going to be Harold Pinter's Betrayal, and I was asked whether I would like to direct it.  I jumped at the chance!

After re-reading the play a couple of times and starting to think how I would stage it, in June we heard that we'd been refused a licence to perform Betrayal.  Normally this is because a professional company is going to revive (luvvie-speak for "do a production of") the play.

After this setback, the choice of plays was revisited and the committee plumped for my earlier suggestion of The Collector.

Once I had the go-ahead, my pre-production tasks began, in around June this year.  We scheduled tentative read-through, audition and rehearsal dates (to be confirmed once all prior productions were scheduled).  Enough scripts were ordered for everyone involved in the production - this is a very small cast and crew, so seven scripts should be enough.

From that point, I started reading and re-reading the script in earnest, making notes on the character traits of the two protagonists and thinking about how we would configure the Green Room venue to best stage the play.  In this latter task, the input of experienced RAODS members such as the chairman, Neil, and my producer, Helen, was invaluable.

For my birthday, in August, I got a copy of Katie Mitchell's book The Director's Craft, and I've spent some (but not enough) time working through the directing method which Ms Mitchell uses.  Maybe more on that another time.

In early September we designed the graphic to be used on the posters and flyers, with the invaluable assistance of the Plaza's graphic design team.  You can see the result on the right of this blog.

In October, the read-through and auditions were advertised in the company's newsletter.

By this time, I realised that there was plenty of paperwork to be getting on with.  People attending the read-through would need sheets of information about the play: to tell them when the auditions were taking place; notes on the characters; how the auditions are to work; when rehearsals take place, etc, etc.

Last week we had the read-through.  This was quite disappointing, in that only 2 ladies turned-up to read, and no men!  So the past week has been taken up with frantic emails, phone-calls and Facebook updates, to find out whether anyone was actually interested in auditioning.

The auditions are tomorrow evening.  We will soon find out how successful our last-minute efforts have been...

Collecting

Romsey Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, who run the Plaza Theatre in Romsey have chosen The Collector as their first Green Room production of 2013, and I am directing it.

In the past I've blogged about the directing process.  It's probably not that educational for anyone else but, looking back at my previous efforts, it's a good way to remember the great fun we've had on previous productions.

So, around we go again.

The Collector is a play by Mark Healy, based upon John Fowles' novel about a young man, Frederick Clegg, who becomes obsessed with, and kidnaps, an art student, Miranda Grey.  It explores their changing relationship and Miranda's efforts to escape and to persuade Frederick to set her free.

The book was made into a film, starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar, in the late-60s.