Read-through

So, we had a read-through of the play on Monday evening and it went extremely well indeed.

As with all Stoppard plays it's a very wordy piece with lots of innuendo, spoonerisms, and other word-play gags. These don't usually work well when reading a play cold for the first time. But credit where it's due, the Ottershaw gang put their souls into the reading and we had a great time reading the play through.

Now I'm looking forward to a good turnout for auditions.

[And, of course, not looking forward to the decision-making process that follows...]

Poster rethink

Ok. Two things:

1. I forgot to set up an email notification for comments, so I hadn't noticed when anyone had left remarks here. Thanks though, Jo!

2. I've re-re-redesigned the poster. I can't be bothered to post the picture into here, but you can see the (definitely) final design here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptmoore/3171262318/

Poster Rethink

I think I identified the issues with the poster and I've had a play around with it this morning. So this is now the new version. I think it's a lot clearer and more vivid.

Full-size versions of the poster are available at my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptmoore/3140469319/

Auditions

I've booked the hall for the Razzle auditions. We'll be at New Haw Community Centre on Mon 5th January for a read-through of the script (and some post-Xmas drinks and nibbles), then auditions on 12th and 15th January.

Razzle Dazzle

Blimey, I must be doing something right. Ottershaw Players have very kindly chosen me to direct next summer's production at the Rhoda McGaw theatre in Woking. That will be 5 years in a row that I've been given this responsibility. For the record, the previous shows were Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Habeas Corpus, Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime.

For May 2009, we've chosen On The Razzle by Tom Stoppard. I put together a proposal for the committee a couple of months ago, which was accepted after everyone had a chance to read the play. I had indicated that I was happy to propose the play without myself in mind as director, in case anyone else fancied having a run at it, but at last month's meeting it was decided that I should take the play under my own wing.

As is now traditional for me, I've started a blog dedicated to the play, on which I can record my thoughts, plans, decisions, frustrations and (hopefully) triumphs.

At the moment I'm still in the "mulling over" phase: reading the play, trying to make decisions on how I'm going to present it. I had a brief flirtation with bringing the whole play up-to-date and doing it in modern dress, but realised quickly that the entire plot would be undermined by a simple phone-call, so I think we need to keep it in the mid-19th century.

My other concern is the set. This play needs several settings, which can change rapidly, so I envisaged a general setting using lots of fabric and using 3 or 4 trucked pieces to construct the different scenes. However, our set for Oliver Twist is a behemoth and pressure is on to re-use as much of it as possible. We'll see - so far it's nothing like what I had planned for...