Directors Notes Issue 1

We hope to set a new record for Leeson Park Players tonight when we will have a full cast at rehearsals. Needless to say, as Director, I'm giddy with excitement. We have 18 rehearsals left before we hit the stage on November 30th for the production of "The Memory of Water" and my main concern is how to stop the cast from getting bored.

A number of suggestions have been made. We could start each rehearsal with a game of hug-tag, the rules for which can pretty much be found in the title. Unfortunately, the lack of a full cast would lead to people hugging themselves, which is not a sight you want see in a Methodist Hall. We could hum the vowels as loudly as possible while standing on one foot. I don’t see any practical benefit in this, apart from loosening inhibitions (and with the amount of bed hopping that goes on this play, that’s no bad thing).

As for the play itself, it’s coming on nicely. Books down next week will change all that of course, when the cast will be transformed into a collection of gibbering idiots, gazing at the ceiling with screwed up eye-sockets and thinking “I knew this bloody line when I was in the shower earlier”.

Other than that, my main concern is the cast and crew party on December 2nd. My experience is that you can never start planning these things early enough.