PREVIEW #1
I entered The Green Room, only to find that STAGE MANAGER was on the telephone, having paged me for what he gave me to understand was "the 6th time" to tell me that a C.B.C. Radio/Radiocanada interview had been postponed until tomorrow.
(I had been unaware of that interview, as I had received only 2 pages, both of which had arrived while I was in transit to the theatre that day!)
STAGE MANAGER was quite flustered because I had not responded to the last page, which had informed me of said postponement.
I told him that stopping off to respond to the calls would have made me late for the day's line run, which I did not think would have gone down well, & that I had prioritised accordingly.
I arrived @ rehearsal expecting to find that we would have a line run, as scheduled, but instead, PLAYWRIGHT was there sitting next to ACTRESS in the front row.
Apparently, he was there to be photographed by THE TORONTO STAR™ (again, news to me!), with us in the background on the set in civilian clothes, rehearsing dialogue, & asked me whether I knew if it would be happening or not, as the photographer was no less than 25 min. late, which had caused STAGE MANAGER to flap while making a series of calls on his cellphone to PUBLICIST in an effort to locate PHOTOGRAPHER.
I now realise that this stressful mode is STAGE MANAGER'S preferred mode of operation: rather than relaxing about things which are beyond his control, he obsesses about them, whether because he wishes to be seen & heard to be "doing his job", or because he is just that sort of personality.
ACTRESS introduced me to PLAYWRIGHT, who, when he learned that I was English (despite Jamaican parentage), gave me the cold shoulder, as I had expected would be the case, & ACTRESS resumed her monopolisation of his time, while DIRECTOR hovered in the vicinity of the Control Booth, as various 1970's vintage Reggage songs were played.
This suited me well enough, as I was able to return to going over the script, since PLAYWRIGHT had declared his intent to attend PREVIEW #1, despite DIRECTOR'S stated wishes to the contrary.
He also wanted to be present for the line run, which I would have found to be counterproductive, since it was my perception that the reason we were being made to do it in the first place was in order to assuage the company's fears about PLAYWRIGHT being in attendance for PREVIEW #1.
DIRECTOR informed us that if Sunday's performance had gone badly, she would have made us do another run of the show prior to PREVIEW #1, instead of working various scenes, which we did.
I was relieved, as I was already experiencing a strong Sympathetic Nervous System response to the fusspot direction I was getting about dialogue/action in ACT II, Sc. 2.
A great deal of energy goes into politicising & schmoozing, but I'm "not That Guy"; I'm there to work, so when a situation ceases to be useful to me, I choose either to be physically present, but mentally absent, or to remove myself to the Dressing Room, so as to isolate myself from the high-tension, unchannelled Chaos radiating from others in the vicinity, not least of whom is ACTRESS, who is quite loud & domineering in all matters, @ all times.
The line run itself went as I expected, with ACTRESS imposing her own will upon the proceedings, chomping noisily on a crunchy salted snack, which I found to be rather crass of her, given that it made her delivery of dialogue garbled.
I don't know whether she's hypoglycaemic or if eating is yet another manner in which she manifests (or attempts to curb her neuroses), but I have never enjoyed being in the company of women who are constantly shovelling food into their faces.
I read the script in my Dressing Room again, then we performed PREVIEW #1, which went quite well, despite my having been given advance notice of who would comprise the audience that evening: namely, PLAYWRIGHT, ARTISTIC PRODUCER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, et al.
ACTRESS & STAGE MANAGER thrive on the sort of intel that I consider to be utterly superfluous/potentially detrimental to the execution of my contracted task(s), while I go out of my way to isolate myself from the audience before & after the show.
MARTI MARADEN was in The Green Room during the note session.
I earned the pint of BODDINGTON'S™ that accompanied my supper this night.
(I had been unaware of that interview, as I had received only 2 pages, both of which had arrived while I was in transit to the theatre that day!)
STAGE MANAGER was quite flustered because I had not responded to the last page, which had informed me of said postponement.
I told him that stopping off to respond to the calls would have made me late for the day's line run, which I did not think would have gone down well, & that I had prioritised accordingly.
I arrived @ rehearsal expecting to find that we would have a line run, as scheduled, but instead, PLAYWRIGHT was there sitting next to ACTRESS in the front row.
Apparently, he was there to be photographed by THE TORONTO STAR™ (again, news to me!), with us in the background on the set in civilian clothes, rehearsing dialogue, & asked me whether I knew if it would be happening or not, as the photographer was no less than 25 min. late, which had caused STAGE MANAGER to flap while making a series of calls on his cellphone to PUBLICIST in an effort to locate PHOTOGRAPHER.
I now realise that this stressful mode is STAGE MANAGER'S preferred mode of operation: rather than relaxing about things which are beyond his control, he obsesses about them, whether because he wishes to be seen & heard to be "doing his job", or because he is just that sort of personality.
ACTRESS introduced me to PLAYWRIGHT, who, when he learned that I was English (despite Jamaican parentage), gave me the cold shoulder, as I had expected would be the case, & ACTRESS resumed her monopolisation of his time, while DIRECTOR hovered in the vicinity of the Control Booth, as various 1970's vintage Reggage songs were played.
This suited me well enough, as I was able to return to going over the script, since PLAYWRIGHT had declared his intent to attend PREVIEW #1, despite DIRECTOR'S stated wishes to the contrary.
He also wanted to be present for the line run, which I would have found to be counterproductive, since it was my perception that the reason we were being made to do it in the first place was in order to assuage the company's fears about PLAYWRIGHT being in attendance for PREVIEW #1.
DIRECTOR informed us that if Sunday's performance had gone badly, she would have made us do another run of the show prior to PREVIEW #1, instead of working various scenes, which we did.
I was relieved, as I was already experiencing a strong Sympathetic Nervous System response to the fusspot direction I was getting about dialogue/action in ACT II, Sc. 2.
A great deal of energy goes into politicising & schmoozing, but I'm "not That Guy"; I'm there to work, so when a situation ceases to be useful to me, I choose either to be physically present, but mentally absent, or to remove myself to the Dressing Room, so as to isolate myself from the high-tension, unchannelled Chaos radiating from others in the vicinity, not least of whom is ACTRESS, who is quite loud & domineering in all matters, @ all times.
The line run itself went as I expected, with ACTRESS imposing her own will upon the proceedings, chomping noisily on a crunchy salted snack, which I found to be rather crass of her, given that it made her delivery of dialogue garbled.
I don't know whether she's hypoglycaemic or if eating is yet another manner in which she manifests (or attempts to curb her neuroses), but I have never enjoyed being in the company of women who are constantly shovelling food into their faces.
I read the script in my Dressing Room again, then we performed PREVIEW #1, which went quite well, despite my having been given advance notice of who would comprise the audience that evening: namely, PLAYWRIGHT, ARTISTIC PRODUCER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, et al.
ACTRESS & STAGE MANAGER thrive on the sort of intel that I consider to be utterly superfluous/potentially detrimental to the execution of my contracted task(s), while I go out of my way to isolate myself from the audience before & after the show.
MARTI MARADEN was in The Green Room during the note session.
I earned the pint of BODDINGTON'S™ that accompanied my supper this night.