The Cripple of Inishmaan– Week Five

This week has been intense and exciting. Stage Management are now busy packing up our rehearsal room, ready for the move to the theatre next week. It feels strange to say goodbye to the room we’ve spent the past five weeks in, but thrilling to know that the play is ready to find its feet in the theatre.

Michael was clear from the beginning of the process that by week five we would be running the play with props, costumes, sound and music so that the actors could move into technical rehearsals as prepared as possible. Bit by bit the show is emerging. Tuesday saw our first stagger through and then, gradually, people from the many departments working on the show provided the actors with their first audience – always a nerve-wracking experience, especially with a comedy.

In the theatre there will be a revolve to take us from scene to scene, but in the rehearsal room it has been all hands on deck for the scene changes – moving boats, beds, counters, shelves filled with peas, and clearing up broken eggs as quickly as possible so as not to disrupt the flow of the runthrough.

Each time the play is run we learn more about it, discovering what still needs work, what is landing nicely and what might need to change once we are in the theatre.

The end of the week saw the return of Martin McDonagh, to watch a run and offer his thoughts. Another nerve-wracking moment for the company! It has been five weeks of incredible hard work but everyone is looking forward to the next step – technical rehearsals, hopefully a few dress rehearsals and then our first audience.