Another fascinating day with The Three Belles, Joe Bishop and Will Keel-Stocker today. Full rehearsal this time, with props and full stage layout. The next time we work this, it will be at The New Theatre Royal in rehearsals on Saturday.
Here are some shots I snapped today:
It has been quite an experience. I’ve never written like this before – in a pragmatic and collaborative way, and it opens up whole new possibilities. Fascinating stuff.
My thoughts?
How hard everyone has worked! From Chloe, the sound and lights woman closely annotating the script, through the Belles learning lines, working the staging, perfecting their characters and applying themselves to selling tickets – through Joe Bishop working up his character, and how he has managed to arrange a surprise guest appearance, to Will Keel-Stocker making the music happen, arranging the scores and in between times learning his lines, too. I suppose I have worked on it, too, but this has been such a positive experience it hasn’t felt like work.
Latest news is the Dress Circle is sold out, the stalls are nearly full and the theatre has now opened the Upper Circle.
You can get your tickets for Sing Sing Sing from the New Theatre Royal, here. The show will be on Saturday 2nd February, at 7.30 pm.
Betty – rich, impulsive, living for the moment. Betty is neither good nor bad, but a bundle of self-interest whose real pay-off in life is enjoying the now. She’s also a Polar Responder. If you tell her she can’t do something, she’ll do it, just to prove you’re wrong. It makes her morally complex, and at times unpredictable – both in her thoughtlessness and her generosity. She is exciting because of it, prone to daydreaming and being creative – and is also morally ambiguous and certainly not the best person to go to for advice.
Gail – poor, smart, feisty – she’s a redhead who will put you in your place if you step out of line. Gail is your salt of the Earth working class gal, who says what’s on her mind. She’s all too aware of her vulnerability in a world in which her hometown is being flattened around her. Unlucky in love, she’s looking for a man who can do right by her, and although she is at times hostile to “Lady Muck” Betty, she also knows Betty has a certain careless charm that she wants to learn. Watch out for Gail losing her temper – because when she blows her stack, it’s nuclear.
Dorothy – A sweet-natured and honest young middle class woman who has just married, and whose man is away fighting. Dorothy is steady, reliable and caring. She has a sweet generosity in her nature that is fed by her faith. She always sees the good in people, and trusts in Providence that things will work out right. She loves Gail and Betty very much, and although she sometimes becomes exasperated with the latter, she maintains an optimism that Betty will grow and mature in time to become a moral person. Whether she is right, needs to be seen!
