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...