My Master Builder– Week Two

We begin Monday morning where we left off in Scene Two on Friday, working at a slower and more detailed pace than we did in week one. We start asking questions about the characters’ backstories and the history of their relationships. The actors clarify the specifics of particular lines and words to ensure they really know what they are saying moment-to-moment. If there’s anything from the script that still feels extraneous or isn’t sitting right, I make notes for Michael to discuss with Lila over the phone later in the week now that she is back in New York.  

Ibsen’s plays are famous for their exposition. This is the introduction of important background information at the beginning of a story that will become relevant at the end. It can be tricky for an actor to play moments of exposition – such as two characters who have been married for twenty years, or another two who haven’t seen each other for ten – so Michael directs the actors to find ways to really own these lines. They can’t be thrown away because the audience need to hear them, but they must feel believable.  

Throughout the week, Greg Shimmin, our Company Stage Manager, and I are juggling the rehearsal call around costume fittings with our designer, Richard Kent, and brilliant Costume Supervisor, Lisa Aitken. The actors are beginning key discussions with them about their characters and how they might dress for a summer’s afternoon in the Hamptons in Act One and their outfit change for the extravagant party in Act Two.  

On Tuesday afternoon, Richard joins us in the rehearsal room to discuss the geography of the Solness’ house. A significant amount of the play is set in the atrium, but we want to be clear about the direction of other rooms in the house and the surroundings to make logical sense of where characters enter and exit from. We finish early as Ewan and Michael have a press interview with a journalist from The Guardian and Elizabeth has to travel to the BBC studios to discuss the upcoming production on The One Show.  

Ben Wright, our Movement and Intimacy Coordinator, joins us on Wednesday and Thursday. When he’s working on intimate scenes, Ben operates a ‘closed’ rehearsal room, leaving only the actors involved in that moment plus Michael, me and Lucy Bradford, our Deputy Stage Manager, in the space. At lunchtime, Greg and Chris Carr, our Assistant Stage Manager, manoeuvre a large table up to the rehearsal room that is the exact height and length of the one we will have on stage. This is really helpful for Ben, Elizabeth and Ewan, since the table features heavily in one of the scenes they are working on.  

By Thursday afternoon, we have hit the big emotional scene at the end of the play – the marital argument between Kate and Ewan’s characters. This is a scene we will avoid rehearsing again and again. It requires such a big release of energy and emotion that it should take care of itself once the wheels are off. Michael says that with some scenes it’s better not to try to ‘crack them open’, to avoid them getting stuck and overly performative or emotive when they are being performed day after day.  

By Friday morning, we have reached the end of the play again, so we finish at lunchtime, giving the actors an afternoon to go over any scenes where they feel less confident with the lines, ready for our third go through the play next week.