DAY 1
It's great to see all the cast assembled for the first time. They sit around the table taking turns to read through the script word by word, line by line and not in the characters that they will play in the production. David instructs me not to say anything. In fact I am to be treated as though I am not in the room. This is to enable the cast to comment freely and to allow me to hear the script afresh. It has to stand on its own two feet without the writer defending it. It does stands up pretty well but I spot some yawning gaps and a few places where the dialogue is over-written.
DAY 2
More of the same. I find it incredibly difficult to keep quiet but realise what an invaluable process this is, allowing the script to be scutinised in every detail almost as if it were an A Level text.
A number of key questions are raised and several inconsistencies come to light. Towards the end of the day I am allowed to speak and answer some of the major queries the actors have about their characters. I am particularly concerned that Huw Higginson is not happy about how his two roles merge in the current version of the script.
DAY 3
A trip for us all to Fred's garden in Radcliffe Road during the morning. A couple of TV crews follow us around and John Branwell and Michelle Collins appear on the local evening news talking about the play. It's great pre-publicity for the show. In the afternoon the script is subjected to a radical cutting/editing operation where scenes are sliced, pruned and welded back together again. David reckons we need to lose about 20 pages of script. I find this really hard because some of my favourite scenes and in my opinion, some of the best lines in the play, get the chop.
DAY 4
The Lab is transformed into the Octagon stage and we work with a substitute set made up of chairs and tables to get the feel of the space and how we might use it within the actual production. It becomes obvious that the set has to almost replicate Fred's actual garden and the work the men do there has to be as authentic as possible. There is even talk of using a real steam engine! I learn to become more objective about the script and even suggest some cuts myself.
I re-jig the script overnight and present the new draft the following morning.
DAY 5
Poor Huw Higginson falls ill during rehearsals and is taken off to hospital for observation. If you are reading this Huw, you'll be pleased to know that in your absence most of the nagging questions you had about your (dual) role have been ironed out! Sheila Dibnah joins us for the whole day and sees the re-vamped script on it's feet. As well as offering some inside knowledge, she also performs an improv with John McArdle. Sheila is very moved by the new version of the play and is not the only one in tears at the end!
As a result of this intensive week the script is quite a bit thinner, I know that its time-line needs a radical re-think and it has become abundantly clear that the design element and the work element of the play have to be carefully co-ordinated and fed into the script.
I've found this part of the process illuminating, inspiring and exhausting.
Time for a rest over Christmas before another draft of the script is due in the New Year.
