The Play Produced

THE WEEKEND

Sackville Theatre Company is now in its 49th year and is the oldest drama group in East Grinstead. We currently stage three productions a year - one each in April and October with a one-night stand in December. We have an established reputation for our Ayckbourn productions which always sell well, so latterly we have tried to widen the repertoire with Orton's Loot (cast iron money loser!) and Rattigan's Cause Celebre (expensive to mount). Given the economics of performing at our local theatre, Chequer Mead Arts Centre, and their perceived desire to accommodate one-night dates and the inevitable Tribute grumpy old man but with way that they do. Accordingly, off-stage for about five Bands, we have moved to a amazing resilience, charm and we reduced Stephen to around minutes during the whole play smaller venue (75 seat old-fashioned goodness. 55 and Virginia to 45-50. and carries the drive and pace capacity). The net result is Throughout the course of the Similar adjustments in age of the piece. He has to be an that each production makes a weekend. he rediscovers who were made to others in the experienced middle-aged good profit and our general he is and mends fences with cast. actor with good range and a fund is in its healthiest state both his family and his long­ The play slices neatly into keen sense of humour ­for a decade or more. suffering wife. two halves each of about 55 without these Stephen will

Stephen was played in the minutes playing time. The first become a bore with

PLOT original production by Richard half is essentially introductions consequent loss of audience Wilson which gave inevitable, to all the characters and set sympathy. He needs acute

The Weekend is Michael but unfortunate comparisons up of the basic plot about the verbal dexterity and a sense ofPalin's first play and tells the with Victor Meldrew. I think proposed construction of a the ridiculous as well as the story of a horrendous family this disguised the genuine Container Port nearby that will charm to convince you how gathering at Stephen and attack and purpose of the mean building a four lane much Virginia really did love Virginia's country cottage. piece. It is really an highway around the village. him at the beginning of theirStephen is a curmudgeonly examination of why so many Naturally, Stephen rails against marriage. Finding a suitable 'old gil' with a withering wit of the male generation not knowing about things. Virginia is just as important ­and strongly cynical view of between 35 and 55 feel the which leads to confrontation their scenes need to reflect a life in general. He is a typical with his neighbour, Duff long marriage that has gone

Gardner, and his son-in-law. stale and there is the pivotal Alan. Either side of the scene in Act II when the truth interval is a dinner party, which is laid bare as to why they are becomes progressively noisier as they are. Here we had luck. and more drunken as Stephen The real-life wife of the actor lays into anything that conflicts playing Stephen was keen to with his particular values. do that part and they blended Thereafter. the play seeks to together perfectly. Having a explain why he has become real married couple had extra the monster he has and benefits in that we could discover if some form of devote more off-line rehearsal redemption is possible for him time to their more difficult and the family. scenes.

Despite its serious theme it Other parts gave the is written with typical Palin opportunity to use new and charm and is hysterically experienced members of the funny, particularly for Monty group - we were able to cast Python fans. both our youngest (as the

granddaughter) and oldest (as CASTING the Communist cleaning lady)

members. In all the cast is If you haven't got a natural nine: three males and five

Stephen forget it! He is only

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females. (The ninth cast member is the voice of God!) There is also a dog that appears twice.

REHEARSALS We allowed eight weeks

starting in mid-August. Tip: avoid August like the plague! Cast are on holiday and you will waste at least four rehearsals going over things you have already set for people who missed it the first time around. We have two rehearsals a week lasting two and a half hours. Weekend rehearsals appear three weeks before the show. We are lucky to be able to use the actual space we will be using for performance for rehearsal, and we can store the majority of our props and furniture at that venue - so at all times we were effectively working in our eventual performance space.

This is a play that is divided into a number of scenes so we agreed a 'books down' policy three weeks before the actual performance date. It concentrated the mind wonderfully and worked a treat!

The published script has very poor stage directions so you will need to work out moves yourself so that the cast and crew know what is going on. For example, props disappear with a character but

OCTOBER

are suddenly in use again by another character. Character moves are not explained at all so clear blocking is essential.

LANGUAGE Make sure that your

Committee read the play in advance and appreciate the language. This is a modern play with some fruity language - the 'f' word occurs twice! So it is safer to make everyone aware of this upfront rather than endure endless debates later on over its suitability for your audience. We left all the language intact and no one, audience or cast, found it too offensive. One commented that it was ruder on the telly!

PROPS There are a huge amount of

props in this play and it is essential that the cast start working with them as soon as blocking is completed . Most of Virginia's time is spent serving teas, coffees, setting or clearing dinner tables. There is also a phantom piece of 'dog poo' which plays an important part at the end of the first act! Try and get your best props people for this show, as it is very busy. Once again , there is no props list in the script.

SCENERY We have a limited space so

are not able to build elaborate sets. For this play we built a set of French doors at the back and two flats on either side to give an impression of a living room. The flats were papered and painted as appropriate. To lift this 'big wall ' we hung seven paintings and added pot plants, and umbrella stand. Beyond the windows was a painted garden where we positioned some pot plants, which proved very effective .

Our acting area was a carpeted area to the front of the stage. We set the living room to one side and the dining area to the other. Most of the action in the play seems to occur in these locations or at the windows. The entrances to the kitchen and upstairs were conveyed by curtains ­no one seemed to miss working doors and they are not essential to this production .

LIGHTING The lighting in our theatre is

old and very basic so we brought in some of our own to provide greater light to the acting areas at the front of the stage. These were positioned at the rear of the auditorium on T Bars and focussed to the dining room and sitting areas. This enabled us to use subtle lighting changes in the Second Act scene between Stephen and Virginia. We used a phased reduction from one area to the other and were then able to light their intimate scene with very little light, giving added effect to the scene. At the same time, as the scene is set at dawn, we were able to bring up the lights on the garden area as dawn gave way to day.

COSTUMES It is a modern play so does

not present any problems.

Stephen does need a Trinity College, Cambridge blazer.

SOUND There is a lot of it and again

there is no sound plot in the script. You will need doorbells, dogs barking, kitchen noise, telephone rings, and music to cover the eight scene changes. We used Sinatra singing I Get A Kick Out of You for the whole of Act I and the beginning and end of Act II. Prior to the intimate StephenNirginia scene we used the first thirty seconds of Dancing in the Dark performed by Diana Krall. In all there are over 30 sound cues.

OVERALL This is a great play. Not

only is it very funny, it is also emotionally heartbreaking - a combination which works wonders for ticket sales. It has to be played at pace by highlighting the surreal comedy that allows the absurdity of it all to break through. I tried to get as much of a naturalistic acting style as possible - even to the extent of underplaying which had a positive effect, particularly in the difficult second act. We had great fun as did our audience - hope you do too! Oh, it also made a very healthy profit - again!

All scripts. scores and libretti featured in 'The Play Produced'

and 'The Musical Produced' can be obtained from

S'"It " I NG AHAnU Il n'4f. ATIU 'i I N F 1M"

Music and scripts available for all. Discounts for members

Tel 0870 770 2480 Fax . 0870 770 2490

email: everyone@noda.org.uk webSite' www.noda.org.uk

Amateur Stage 11