Faustus Rehearsal Process June 13th

Wednesday 13th June 2012

Today we had a run through before the actual show, sorting out any last minute problems with blocking, ques and making sure people get into the light while on stage. The run through went well, the only problem really was people were too late coming on with their ques and there were gaps between each scene. So as a scene is just finished and they are exiting the stage, people should be coming on stage for the next scene to keep the pace of the play going.

I then got everyone to quickly top and tail the whole play, just so everyone was clear about where they enter a scene and where they exit. I got everyone to just say their first and last line of text, so we were all clear when to come on stage for the next scene. We managed get that done quickly, as everyone knew where and when to enter and exit from.

We pre set all props for tonights show making sure everything was in place ready to start at 7.30. To fit in with Brechts style of performance we all had white faces, to make us all neutral so the audience look at us as actors, he characters we play and not for what we look like. This ties into his thechnique of breaking the fourth wall, you are able to have that interaction with the audience as they really believe you are that character and not an actor playing one.

I think the performance was really good, it ran smoothly, everyone knew their lines, their ques, the show was a success. The only main critique for us all was to not be afriad of the space, not stepping back out of the light and trying to stay away from the back of the stage. Keeping all the action at the front, having that confidence to be able to own and command the space and making it believable. Letting go and giving it all within a scene, to fully embody a character.

"A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls". Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German dramatist, poet. repr. in Brecht on Theatre, pt. 1, ed. and trans. by John Willett (1964). "Emphasis on Sport," Berliner Börsen-Courier (February 6, 1926).