Women of Lockerbie : Day One
Day One : Discussion, Read-through & Beginning work on Suzuki Method
Today was our first cast meeting for our show The Women of Lockerbie.
The meeting opened with a bit of round-table discussion.
To begin with, Connie presented her scene design concept for the show (which I will get a picture of and post here later). Some of my absolute favorites scene designs I've ever seen have been Connie's work (including a magnificent set of Buried Child where she actually managed to make it rain in the theatre!). This set is going to be no different. It is absolutely gorgeous! It's going to be a raked (tilted) stage covered in grass (like the hillsides of Scotland) and with several strategically placed rocks on it. These rocks will at first appear to simply be stones on a hillside...but once the audience gets a closer look at it, they'll realize that these rocks once formed a large Celtic cross that has fallen and broken upon the hill into pieces.
Like this cross - only much bigger:
There will then be water that is trickling down one of the broken pieces and pooling into the circular center of the cross to create the "stream" where the women of Lockerbie wash the victim's clothing in the end.
Once Connie finished presenting her idea on the play's set design, Keone (our director) began to present his vision for the play. He discussed the difference between representational theatre and presentational theatre and how we were going to attempt to mix the two of them together in this place. This play is written in the style of a Greek tragedy so it makes sense that we'd call upon presentational theatre techniques - but at the same time we want the audience to be able to connect with the play and what is being discussed, and thus we will need a certain level of representational as well.
After Keone discussed this vision, he began to discuss a little more of the event that took place on December 21 1988. He showed us a slideshow of images from that day - images that all of our characters would have ingrained into their heads by now - and it really was heartbreaking.
Images of shrapnel.
Images of where a large section of the plane fell and killed 11 Lockerbie citizens.
Images of piles of collected debris.
Images of the monument that is in place there.
And then he came to one image. And the second he turned to it, I felt absolutely sick.
The face of the man that killed my son. Or my character's, anyways. I could only sit there and stare at that picture and wonder what on earth it must be like for Madeleine to have to see that face on the news. What would she feel? Anger and grief and hatred and numbness and vengeance and sickness...and the overall question of Why?! that would never be answered for her.
Then, when we discussed the recent release of this man back to his homelands where he was given a heroes welcome, I couldn't stop thinking about one of Madeleine's lines that never fails to cause my heart to break:
"I want justice! I won't find peace until there is justice!"
It hurt, looking at those pictures. But I think it gave the whole cast a better understanding and reverence and appreciation for the text and the event we were working with. Suddenly it wasn't just a play we were acting in. It meant something.
After Keone finished with his presentation on his vision for the play, we took a quick break and then came back together for our first Readthrough of the show.
The Readthrough went well. You can tell that the pictures and the discussion beforehand really effected several people - myself included. There were a few times when several of us got choked up over a couple of scenes. It's very difficult material to deal with, that much is for sure. But we all got through it and I think we're starting to discover the rhythm and flow of the play and how the text works for it.
After completing the Readthrough, we went to the Black Box to begin the first in our lessons on Suzuki.
Suzuki is a movement method that Keone likes to teach. It helps to create strength in the ensemble as well as physical and mental focus. It's incredibly difficult and challenging - but I'm excited about learninng more about this technique and how it can be implemented into our performance.
For an idea on what Suzuki is, here's a video I found that briefly touches on it :
Keone talks about being grounded and beginning to learn the overall heartbeat of the ensemble and eventually being able to move and breathe and think and act as one. It's interesting stuff and I'm curious to see where all it leads this particular ensemble as far as self-discipline goes.
It's the very first in what is absolutely certain to be a long and rather difficult rehearsal process. But I'm excited about it and am grateful to be able to take part in the telling of this story.
Now, more than ever, it's become important to me that it not be an event that is forgotten.
Today was our first cast meeting for our show The Women of Lockerbie.
The meeting opened with a bit of round-table discussion.
To begin with, Connie presented her scene design concept for the show (which I will get a picture of and post here later). Some of my absolute favorites scene designs I've ever seen have been Connie's work (including a magnificent set of Buried Child where she actually managed to make it rain in the theatre!). This set is going to be no different. It is absolutely gorgeous! It's going to be a raked (tilted) stage covered in grass (like the hillsides of Scotland) and with several strategically placed rocks on it. These rocks will at first appear to simply be stones on a hillside...but once the audience gets a closer look at it, they'll realize that these rocks once formed a large Celtic cross that has fallen and broken upon the hill into pieces.
Like this cross - only much bigger:
There will then be water that is trickling down one of the broken pieces and pooling into the circular center of the cross to create the "stream" where the women of Lockerbie wash the victim's clothing in the end.
Once Connie finished presenting her idea on the play's set design, Keone (our director) began to present his vision for the play. He discussed the difference between representational theatre and presentational theatre and how we were going to attempt to mix the two of them together in this place. This play is written in the style of a Greek tragedy so it makes sense that we'd call upon presentational theatre techniques - but at the same time we want the audience to be able to connect with the play and what is being discussed, and thus we will need a certain level of representational as well.
After Keone discussed this vision, he began to discuss a little more of the event that took place on December 21 1988. He showed us a slideshow of images from that day - images that all of our characters would have ingrained into their heads by now - and it really was heartbreaking.
Images of shrapnel.
Images of where a large section of the plane fell and killed 11 Lockerbie citizens.
Images of piles of collected debris.
Images of the monument that is in place there.
And then he came to one image. And the second he turned to it, I felt absolutely sick.
The face of the man that killed my son. Or my character's, anyways. I could only sit there and stare at that picture and wonder what on earth it must be like for Madeleine to have to see that face on the news. What would she feel? Anger and grief and hatred and numbness and vengeance and sickness...and the overall question of Why?! that would never be answered for her.
Then, when we discussed the recent release of this man back to his homelands where he was given a heroes welcome, I couldn't stop thinking about one of Madeleine's lines that never fails to cause my heart to break:
"I want justice! I won't find peace until there is justice!"
It hurt, looking at those pictures. But I think it gave the whole cast a better understanding and reverence and appreciation for the text and the event we were working with. Suddenly it wasn't just a play we were acting in. It meant something.
After Keone finished with his presentation on his vision for the play, we took a quick break and then came back together for our first Readthrough of the show.
The Readthrough went well. You can tell that the pictures and the discussion beforehand really effected several people - myself included. There were a few times when several of us got choked up over a couple of scenes. It's very difficult material to deal with, that much is for sure. But we all got through it and I think we're starting to discover the rhythm and flow of the play and how the text works for it.
After completing the Readthrough, we went to the Black Box to begin the first in our lessons on Suzuki.
Suzuki is a movement method that Keone likes to teach. It helps to create strength in the ensemble as well as physical and mental focus. It's incredibly difficult and challenging - but I'm excited about learninng more about this technique and how it can be implemented into our performance.
For an idea on what Suzuki is, here's a video I found that briefly touches on it :
Click to viewKeone talks about being grounded and beginning to learn the overall heartbeat of the ensemble and eventually being able to move and breathe and think and act as one. It's interesting stuff and I'm curious to see where all it leads this particular ensemble as far as self-discipline goes.
It's the very first in what is absolutely certain to be a long and rather difficult rehearsal process. But I'm excited about it and am grateful to be able to take part in the telling of this story.
Now, more than ever, it's become important to me that it not be an event that is forgotten.