Interpretations

I am a member of Oxford Playwrights.  I have just sent an email to the group, telling them about today's rehearsals where I went to watch 'Wonder'. I thought I'd pass on my correspondence.

I have just returned from London where I sat in on rehearsals of 'Wonder' a play of mine. In the summer ART tried to put on Wonder but it just became too much to learn, on top of all the other plays, in such a short time. The rehearsals today lasted 5 hours (including short breaks) . In the summer we spent (probably) about 2 hours in total i.e. a series of read-throughs, little direction and even less discussion.

There were several things I found very interesting about today so I thought I would share them with you.

Although I wrote the play, I am not directing it. So I was able to see how others interpreted my words - and also how easy it is to write ambiguously without realising. Here's an example:

Jennie :      OK, can I play? The light went out, but where to? Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream ??

Claudia:      Strange people!

I had not considered that this could be interpreted as Claudia calling blind people 'strange' - she is in fact referring to the other characters on stage.

In the original (attempted) staging we had the characters lying on the floor as they considered whether they were looking up at the stars...or down. Under Hugh's direction the characters are lying, yes, but this is conveyed by them standing up looking directly at the audience. They convey the fact they're lying down by one taking off a coat to rest his/her head on it; another one lying (standing) with arms out (which you wouldn't if you were standing up.) This is much more effective than my original method, notleast as there are no visibility problems.

Another area was the script itself. In the summer we took the script as finalised. Maybe a tweak here or there but in general no changes were made in rehearsal. In today's rehearsals there were seven of us able to make suggestions about tone, looks and words used.Some bits were deleted, very occasionally a character was switched.

In the original the play starts with Tom sitting in a chair and three other people walking up to him from behind. In today's rehearsals the actors (all four) walk through the audience to the stage. Tom sits alone and then the others approach, ad-libbing as they go. This is far more natural.

I mention all this because this is the first time I have sat in on a play written by me, being directed by someone else. It's an idea playwrights here who, like me, are still relatively new to seeing their work performed, might consider. Maybe even as an exercise. We THINK we know what we are conveying - but that is not always how others see it.

End of email.

Three plays - Call on Me, Circles and Wonder are being performed at 7.30pm on Tues 20^th, Wed 21^st and Thurs 22^nd November 2012.

Venue: The Dogstar, 389 Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8LQ.
(Nearest tube: Brixton).

Chris Sivewright co-producer