We are working through the first rehearsals of the play, setting the blocking. "Blocking" means who goes where, when, and how they get there. We set aside character development and voice production, and stumble around the stage trying to figure out how to get the available actors from one interesting and compelling visual arrangement into the next one, with the least fuss possible.
My script has a series of mysterious pencil glyphs down the right margin. They are, mainly, the first initials of the characters currently on stage, arranged as from an overhead view. And then there are scrawled arcing arrows and musical notes to try to remind me what I want the speed and feel of an action to be like. I am very impressed that the actors are picking up so quickly and smoothly what I am throwing at them from this hen-scrawl.
Our stage is small and the main entrance for the actors is through the audience. There is one other exit that only one actor gets to use, so there are some real traffic issues as people come and go. However, I think this is going to come together nicely.
I think we will finish blocking act 2 tonight, a day ahead of my schedule. Then we can start going crazy with voices, characterizations, and finding the noisy and quiet, the fast and the slow bits in every scene.
More than a month to go, still. Pleeeenty of time...
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