We survived our stagger!

Congratulations on last Sunday’s “Stagger Through”! To be able to run the whole play from start to finish, only six weeks after beginning rehearsals, is an achievement in itself. That so much of it was so watchable at this stage, is testimony to the hard work that so many of you have put in, in rehearsals so far. Shane is doing magnificently with so much of the burden of the show resting on his shoulders. I hope that his example, of being so on top of so many of his lines, will spur those with many fewer lines to get them fully learned in quick time!

Of course, the halting nature of some of the scenes reminds us all that the hard work now really begins. We must firmly cement in our minds not just the lines, but the movements and motivations that shape our characters in every scene. We must remember that we each “exist” in real time for the whole duration of the play and must not lose concentration by being drawn into watching the scenes in which we personally do not take part.

It was very impressive to see Hannah, Katy and the crew work so efficiently with not just the microphone changes and complications but also all the props and such scenery as we were able to put in place. All the crew are doing a wonderful job and making my life so much easier by their diligent attendance at all rehearsals.

So much of the play is close to being fabulous. The characters of all the main protagonists are secure. The Pilates and the Council are really sparking off one another and all our crowd are adding the realism that our “Jerusalem” demands if it is to become “real” for those who come to see the play. Our “Legion” is growing and under fine command, perhaps just still being a little too nice for a fascist occupying power!

Our Monday night rehearsal of the Council was a thrilling improvement on the foundations laid before and if all our other scenes take the same leaps forward from here, we will truly achieve the dramatic standards that our subject matter requires.

“The enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood!”

God bless, Kevin.x