Hi my name is Richie Campbell and I am one of the actors working on the under 11 scripts. Today is the first day of rehearsal so it’s all very new for everyone. We firstly have a meet and great with the staff and other actors and then have a read through of all the scripts. We begin with ‘THE CUSS FIGHT’ by Tom Yatsunami. This play is set around a specific neighbourhood and the character Homer G is a well-known bully. I play Ven M, who is a new boy to the area and has taken sweets from members of Homer G’s crew, so he can be the new top bully. They set up a cuss fight, but soon get distracted by their school teacher MR. CHILDISH. This piece is really fun because we are playing 11 year olds so we created characters with lots of attitude and energy. Nick Khan (who plays HOMER G) and myself are having great fun finding different walks, handshakes and cussing gestures for the characters to make the piece even more exciting. There is also a great twist at the end from the writer Tom as he makes the character MR CHILDISH join in with his own ‘CUSS FIGHT’. Look out for the dance moves!!!
Its 8.30pm and I’ve just finished for the day. Phew! What a day. Its always a bit crazy – the first day of rehearsals. I’ve just finished a design meeting with Becky, our designer. We’ve been talking about costumes and what each character will wear. When you’ve got 22 plays to work on that’s a lot to think about. My brain is fried! We have some good ideas though. It’s been a really good first day for me as director. The read through was great, the actors are really good and it was brilliant to hear all the plays come to life. This afternoon we also managed to rehearse quite a lot of the plays. In the Vixen Association Script there’s lots of great characters that are fun to explore on stage. We also looked at two plays that are dealing with serious issues, Home is Africa by Amy Robinson and It’s not all it’s Cracked Up to Be by Chontae Gardner. I think its great when young writers are really brave and take on such subject matters. We ended with the Dark Rider by Shireen Yawer, which involves a big chase sequence. I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it but the actors had some great theatrical ideas that are going to work really well. I’m off home for the day – looking forward to tomorrow a lot.
Suzanne Gorman
Director
Its 8.30pm and I’ve just finished for the day. Phew! What a day. Its always a bit crazy – the first day of rehearsals. I’ve just finished a design meeting with Becky, our designer. We’ve been talking about costumes and what each character will wear. When you’ve got 22 plays to work on that’s a lot to think about. My brain is fried! We have some good ideas though. It’s been a really good first day for me as director. The read through was great, the actors are really good and it was brilliant to hear all the plays come to life. This afternoon we also managed to rehearse quite a lot of the plays. In the Vixen Association Script there’s lots of great characters that are fun to explore on stage. We also looked at two plays that are dealing with serious issues, Home is Africa by Amy Robinson and It’s not all it’s Cracked Up to Be by Chontae Gardner. I think its great when young writers are really brave and take on such subject matters. We ended with the Dark Rider by Shireen Yawer, which involves a big chase sequence. I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it but the actors had some great theatrical ideas that are going to work really well. I’m off home for the day – looking forward to tomorrow a lot.
Suzanne Gorman
Director
