Tally's Blood 4

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I spent all of yesterday compiling the sound and music CDs. With some research and with Sarah’s kind help I’ve managed to compile a really nice aural accompaniment to the action. Music and sound effects are such key elements to creating atmosphere and nostalgia in this , and I think it will really add an extra dimension to the run on Monday. I'll ask Linzi to operate the deck.
The acting performances continue to grow- inevitably some faster than others, but with just under 4 weeks to go until we open I am feeling delighted with the progress we've already made.
Karen, Jennifer 1, Michael, John, and David are all now completely off-book. Jennifer 2 (Lucia) lags behind slightly the rest- but forgivably, as she has been busy performing in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest this past fortnight, and has only been able to attend weekend rehearsals for Tally’s Blood. However she is so well cast, even though I do say so myself, and is charming and very believable, even as a 5-11 year old girl in Act 1. Throughout the play, her relationship with Michael’s Hughie is very sweet but never remotely sickly, and it’s beautifully but effortlessly modulated. Michael too has invented some delectable little details for Hughie. It’s never laboured or over-stated though, and along with Jennifer 2 he is adding more and more delicately understated but highly effective physical and vocal touches to his characterisation. The audience will really connect with his character.

The only member of the cast I remain slightly concerned about at this stage is Robert (Massimo). Having had the pleasure of working with him on several previous occasions I know he will eventually find it, but Massimo is outside his usually playing range, and he is floundering a bit right now. Massimo needs to be comic, light, touching and warm. Robert seems disinclined or unable to learn the lines, and appears ill at ease with his own work. Of course, he has other things on his mind, having discovered last Monday that he’s unlikely to be able to continue with the university course he was so enjoying because he has been refused student loans- in which case maybe it’s perfectly understandable he comes in looking preoccupied and weighed down by stuff. The trouble is his current disposition really doesn’t go with the optimistic and spirited Massimo at all. I really want Robert to get much more fun out of Massimo, if only to make up for the shittiness of his own life outside rehearsal. I was relieved to see that it appeared to make a perceptible difference to his work the other night when I directed him to look for opportunities in the script to smile more. When Robert relaxes he radiates such warmth, but then he’ll relapse into melancholy again just when the scene needs another hearty injection of cheeriness. Robert still appears nervous and uneasy- ungrounded- as he constantly transfers his weight (Standing or sitting- he looks, quite literally, shifty!), and isn’t really finding a true fit with this avuncular, jolly character of whom it is said repeatedly everybody likes. It may just be he isn’t used to playing comedy, but he definitely comes across as too dejected and down-in-the-dumps for the positive archetype Massimo is meant to personify. Robert has shown me his Psychological Gesture of expansiveness for his character and it's very close to what I want from him, but I intend to have him explore and develop it further by irradiating it with a range of qualities such as Joy, Largesse, Honesty, Sunshine, Passion and Mirth. I do love working with him though. He has such a dry and sardonic wit, a smokescreen for a sensitive, kind and magnanimous nature. He buys us all sweets and biscuits and who wouldn’t love him for that ? :-)

Jennifer, as Bridget Devlin, is just great to work with. She takes direction so well. She is like an acting sponge, soaking up everything I suggest to her, and so delighted when I suggest certain nuances which she eagerly incorporates with subtle facial expressions that transmit many-levelled, emotional complexity and insight. How satisfying she is obviously thinking deeply about and working so hard on developing her part away from rehearsal. She has such sound creative instincts, and she absolutely loves her part. She’s just a real pleasure to work with. I can’t wait to see the scenes she has with Rosinella when they are performed in front of the full houses because I know the predominantly young audiences will really connect with Bridget’s tragic emotional trajectory. Jennifer makes her journey compelling.

John is also doing good work as Franco. What John lacks in experience he more than makes up for in stage charm and good looks. He too is an eager student. I do wish he was a better singer and dancer, but then the schoolgirls in the audience are going to love him anyway. He reminds me of a young Paul McCartney to look at. He needs to articulate with slightly more care and project his voice more in the intimate scenes with Bridget.

David has made Luigi his own and his comic timing of the scene with him, Rosinella and Hughie in Italy is a delight. Each time they run it now they find something to add that makes me laugh more. It’s one of my favourite scenes in the play, and I never expected it to entirely work when I first read it. David has the opposite problem to John in that he tends to over-project, but he takes direction well and I am confident that he will have adjusted this the next time he is in rehearsal.

Oh and then of course there’s Karen. What can I say? I may be biased but I love being able to work with my wife again- for the first time in about a decade I think. Accusations of favouritism and nepotism from those who auditioned for the part of Rosinella and didn’t get it will prove utterly, utterly groundless. She is so very funny in the role. She manages to balance Rosinella’s ugly and unattractive qualities and attitudes with a cathartic, livid energy that is actually very satisfying to watch. It seems odd to say this but this Rosinella’s actually at her most loveable when she is her most bitter, twisted and racist! Her hybrid Glaswegian-Italian accent is perfect. Her timing is just wonderful. I cannot tell you how relieved and delighted I am she agreed to play the role for me, and how fantastic it is to know she is having such an enjoyable time. I hope that directors and agents will come and see her in this and finally give her natural talent the chance to flourish in other leading roles. She amazes me with how she manages to make it look so easy and effortless.

I still don’t have a costume or a lighting designer, or any technical operators for the desk. We are also short of folk to build Christina’s set. These issues are starting to concern me a little, but it will come together, it always does. We have a production meeting on Sunday.

I can’t wait to see its effect on audiences. We have made such astonishingly rapid progress I have to trust we haven’t peaked too early! It’s very early days perhaps, but I think we may just have a hit on our hands! I am to say the least very, very proud of what we are doing.