A Midsummer Night's Dream– Week Two

Our second week of rehearsals saw us build on last week’s shape and placed a special emphasis on movement and physicality, in the knowledge that we will lose our choreographer at the end of this week. I was assigned the role of Dance Captain due to Ben Wright’s impending absence and my perpetual presence! I had a joyful time learning snippets of movement, a line dance and rhythmic enchantments with the rest of the company.

Our ensemble has begun to work at ease with each other, rehearsal room banter is in full swing and the actors are becoming more comfortable speaking the language and inhabiting the space. With this has come more in-depth questioning about characterisation, which Michael has assured us we will delve into next week in more focused scene work.

The ‘fight scene’ is looking particularly exciting, with lots of moves and frantic action for our Deputy Stage Manager, Lorna Earl, to scribble down in her cue book – only for it to be changed by something even better the next time we return to it. The actors are bringing creative ideas, both pre-prepared and spontaneous, and the room feels open for that.