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Tally’s Blood is an extremely popular play in Scotland: up there (-or do I mean ‘down there’?) with the likes of The Steamie and Men Should Weep in terms of its profile and reputation. But the critics may well have a point when they claim this status is undeserved. I have to take this into account before I get steeped in the rehearsal process and can no longer be properly objective. Tally’s Blood is not of the same calibre as Romeo and Juliet, it never pretends to be, even though it ostensibly deals with similar subject matter. But it feels important for me to acknowledge its shortcomings before I go into rehearsal. It’s probably unkind of me but I can perfectly understand why some would think the drama is about as multifaceted and complex as an episode of River City or Home and Away, with characters that are just as conventional and 2-dimensional. However the sentimentalist in me can’t help but have a soft spot for it. Call me soppy and simple-minded but it makes me laugh and cry, even if it doesn't make me think. Only the intellectual snob could condemn it utterly. It never pretends to make any serious demands at all on the audience. It deals with notions about romantic and parental love that never go beyond the blindingly obvious and trite. It is not by any stretch of the imagination what might be called a ‘deep’ drama. It’s pure, shameless entertainment. Now, because I am used to directing plays that only four or five people ever really want to see (and those four usually belong to the chin-rubbing cognoscenti), Tally’s Blood is clearly a very different kettle of fish.
Imagine my surprise and delight (-quickly supplanted by crushing dread) when I discovered that 400 tickets have already been sold. Yikes. It is still 10 weeks before we open. I fully cast the play just yesterday, yet the theatre tell me the tickets are going like hot cakes, with almost a half of the 10-night run completely sold out! This has never happened to me in 30 years, either as a director or as an actor.
Even though Tally resembles nothing more than a soap opera (albeit with socio-historical scruples) this doesn’t mean it is going to be a piece of cake to direct. Far from it. I foresee much work to be done in terms of deprogramming the actors who may believe they are required to dig deep. Their journeys will involve un-learning, just getting them to relax, have fun and not give themselves a hard time. Most of them are highly versed in performing far more sophisticated dialogue, and they must be discouraged from over-complicating things by trying to be clever, or worse- agonising over their characterisations, or dwelling on ambiguities where there really are none. Clever-clever, meta-theatrical references and allusions to "the Artistic Process” which I’ve been so enamoured of in my past work would be utterly out of place here. Di Mambro’s play is an uncomplicated piece of populist, ‘rom-com’ nostalgia with a token PC stab at the serious theme of racism. Full stop. Rosinella, Lucia, Hughie etc- all are bog-standard tellyfodder archetypes. It will be enough for it all to be played in primary colours. Simplicity must remain the watchword. It’s not high art by any stretch of the imagination, and any attempt by me to impose a directorial interpretation that seeks to ‘enhance the writing’ in smart ways will merely ensure the show dies a death. Keep it really simple, Mark… and rehearse it fast! Get the laughs and those tear-jerker moments and you won't go too far wrong.
I like the fact that the play is about love. That is important to me. But di Mambro isn’t trying to be poetic or high-minded about any of this. I'd just be happy if I can shame a few hard-bitten cynics into dabbing away moisture from the corners of their eyes.
60% of the director’s job is really to do with my casting it properly. I like to think I have done this, although time will tell. Meanwhile I’m just really looking forward to getting the cast together and starting properly in just over a fortnight’s time.
Imagine my surprise and delight (-quickly supplanted by crushing dread) when I discovered that 400 tickets have already been sold. Yikes. It is still 10 weeks before we open. I fully cast the play just yesterday, yet the theatre tell me the tickets are going like hot cakes, with almost a half of the 10-night run completely sold out! This has never happened to me in 30 years, either as a director or as an actor.
Even though Tally resembles nothing more than a soap opera (albeit with socio-historical scruples) this doesn’t mean it is going to be a piece of cake to direct. Far from it. I foresee much work to be done in terms of deprogramming the actors who may believe they are required to dig deep. Their journeys will involve un-learning, just getting them to relax, have fun and not give themselves a hard time. Most of them are highly versed in performing far more sophisticated dialogue, and they must be discouraged from over-complicating things by trying to be clever, or worse- agonising over their characterisations, or dwelling on ambiguities where there really are none. Clever-clever, meta-theatrical references and allusions to "the Artistic Process” which I’ve been so enamoured of in my past work would be utterly out of place here. Di Mambro’s play is an uncomplicated piece of populist, ‘rom-com’ nostalgia with a token PC stab at the serious theme of racism. Full stop. Rosinella, Lucia, Hughie etc- all are bog-standard tellyfodder archetypes. It will be enough for it all to be played in primary colours. Simplicity must remain the watchword. It’s not high art by any stretch of the imagination, and any attempt by me to impose a directorial interpretation that seeks to ‘enhance the writing’ in smart ways will merely ensure the show dies a death. Keep it really simple, Mark… and rehearse it fast! Get the laughs and those tear-jerker moments and you won't go too far wrong.
I like the fact that the play is about love. That is important to me. But di Mambro isn’t trying to be poetic or high-minded about any of this. I'd just be happy if I can shame a few hard-bitten cynics into dabbing away moisture from the corners of their eyes.
60% of the director’s job is really to do with my casting it properly. I like to think I have done this, although time will tell. Meanwhile I’m just really looking forward to getting the cast together and starting properly in just over a fortnight’s time.
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1 comment:
Glad you got the casting done Mark! And congrats on the ticket sales...
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