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| Kathryn Browning (L) as Stella and Roberta Chaves as Edith in Cause Célèbre |
Well, it's a wild ride, I must say. Remember the comedy "Noises Off?" I can now relate totally! Technical glitches the first three performances, especially opening night when the lights were cut in the middle of two scenes. Saturday night I blanked on a line (arrggghhh!!!) and made a rather awkward recovery. At the Sunday matinee a doorbell announcing my entrance failed to ring, leaving actress Roberta Chaves ad-libbing lines like, "Hmm, I wonder where Stella could be?" until the technician discovered the problem just as we were about to make a loud door-knocking noise (the bell was unplugged.)
But after three performances I think it's beginning to settle down. The blocking is now set and the stage manager has things under control. Members of the cast - all highly experienced in theatre - have been wonderful. Just delightful people. So supportive of each other. And the
reviews coming in are encouraging.
I think this play was exactly right for me. I have a decent-sized role (six costume changes!), but the venue is not so huge as to leave me feeling unbearably anxious. I've learned to trust my improvisation instincts and found that I can get laughs. (I've never thought of myself as someone cut out for comedy, so will now have to amend that.) I've learned the joy of telling a story straight through, start to finish, to create in my mind a four-walled room on stage that I can comfortably move about in, and to boom it out and cheat to the boundary mics in a theatre space with acoustics that are less than ideal.
And I look fabulous in hats!
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| The cast takes a bow. |
Winston Churchill said that success isn't final and failure isn't fatal. That's as good a motto as any for an actor, and something to remember when the doorbell fails to ring. (Hah!) I'm looking forward to taking on another play later in the year in a bigger theatre. But for now I have eight more performances of
Cause Célèbre and I'm having a grand time!
Your enthusiasm really fills through! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry about technical glitches; they'll always be there, lurking.
Know what? I came to a point in my stage acting career where I actually hope there's going to be a minor technical glitch, so I'm free to improvise something, ad-lib, and give vent to my creativity, never losing focus on my character. But don't tell around; directors might think I'm a jinx ;)
Have a great weekend!