11.29.08

Countdown to The Tempest

Posted in Family & Friends, London, Theatre at 5.59 pm by Caitlin

Last chance for tickets to see me in The Tempest.

I’m playing Miranda in an amateur production of The Tempest on Tuesday night. Today was the first dress rehearsal and we have another run-through on Monday night.

We are performing at the Candid Arts Trust in Angel-Islington, which is an atmospheric room filled with ready-made props like red velvet thrones and melted candlesticks.

The play has been substantially cut – total running time is under an hour and a half and we will actually be doing two performances on Tuesday night since we can only accommodate an audience of 35 at one time. We are not doing a straight interpretation but in keeping with the magical essence of the play we are doing an Artaud-style interpretation where we are trying to give the audience more of an immersive experience. The main character Prospero, who is my father in the play, is played by three different people sharing a magical cloak and we also have the parts of the sprites and monsters – Ariel and Caliban – shared. Some of the scenes such as the opening shipwreck scene will be interactive – though we are trying not to go over the top because we don’t want to completely lose the audience!

I’m really looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong – it’s amateur, we’ve officially only had two hours a week for 10 weeks to rehearse, and I’m not expecting the world of it. But I think it’s coming together really nicely and is something a bit different to the stodgy Shakespeare productions that are sadly all too common. I play a reasonably straight character but it’s fun reacting to the different characters and scenarios – I absolutely adore my fellow thespians’ creation of Caliban, not to mention my favourite scene of all where two of the shipwrecked mariners are drunk.

I’m not sure whether the 7pm or 9pm production will be better. The 9pm performance will be more rehearsed but then again, the opening night of a show is traditionally better than the second night. I have my fiancé and two other friends coming to the early performance and I have two spare tickets for the 9pm show if anyone is up for it. It’s a little experimental and interactive but in a fun way, not in a threatening, pretentious kind of way! Tickets are £8 each and I could probably get tickets to the early show instead if that’s preferred.

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