Three Sisters Blog 3

Week 2 –(Days 6 – 11)

We’ve made lots of progress with the play this week and it’s taking a great shape. On Monday we started working from the beginning of Act 2, but skipped over the blocking of Natasha’s transformation sequence until Wednesday, although we did chat through it with the cast. We worked a bit of comedy into Carnalachie and Dorbie fumbling around in the dark before their entrance in order to provide a bit of light relief from the heaviness of Act 1 but we’ll have to keep looking at this as rehearsals go on because we don’t want it to be too slapstick. A reference to a ‘onesie’, which was cut last week, has been put back into the script so that this piece of dialogue has a stronger reference to ‘future’.

On Tuesday we went back over some the blocking that we worked with yesterday to consolidate it and play with a few other options. Then we continued working on with Act 2. We started to become conscious that we haven’t been using the stairs all that much in the blocking up to now and, as using them will provide some interesting levels on stage, we started to factor them into the scenes a bit more. The movements in the second half of this Act are quite complicated in terms of making sense of the text making the various different conversations within the group work. This meant that we had to work through each page of the script quite slowly but we ended the day with a basic shape that makes sense for us to come back to on Wednesday. As a company we tried to get to grips with what the stylised look of the play would be exactly and now all have a good idea of this to take forward into next week when we start looking at the play again from the top in more detail.

Wednesday saw us consolidating and tidying up the blocking for Act 2 before we loosely choreographed Natasha’s transformation sequence at the end of Act 1. This allowed us to then run Act 1 & 2 together in full without stopping so we could get an idea what the running time would roughly be and, more importantly at this point, see what it looked like altogether and if there were any parts of the basic blocking that needed to be reworked. Everyone felt the run went really well for the first time we had done it and that it was looking good. We spent the rest of the afternoon working the scene where Doctor MacGillivery gets a bit of a party going. As Sylvester can play the spoons we had been looking for a place to work this into the play and, having found the perfect moment, we went back to choreograph and block this scene properly to some rehearsal music.

On Thursday we started working with the blocking of Act 3, which was slightly less complicated than the previous Acts as there are less instances with all the cast on stage at the same time. Saying this however, there’s more coming and going on stage and, as we aren’t changing the set to a bedroom for this Act as is scripted, it meant that some of the stage directions were no longer practical, meaning we either had to change them slightly or cut some of them. John joined us for rehearsals too and made a few more minor cuts and tweaks to Act 3 as he was watching it and we were working on it.

After playing with a few more blocking options for parts of Act 3 on Friday, we were able to run the whole Act straight through to get a sense on it as a whole. As we need to establish that Act 3 is set in the early hours of the morning we decided that Olive and Renee should be wearing their night things, covered by a shawl type item, in order to help visually establish this for the audience. Not only this, but it would make more sense for these two characters not to be dressed at this time in their own home.

For the last few hours on Friday we were able to start blocking Act 4 and managed to get quite a way through it. So that we could finish the week having blocked the entire play we had a rehearsal on Saturday afternoon this week where we blocked the remainder of Act 4 and looked at the movements for the set change into this Act. Again, as we did with Natasha’s transformation sequence earlier in the week, we loosely marked it and worked out who could move which items of the set from a practical point of view (which cast members are available and don’t have a costume change, who can physically life things etc.). We will be able to look at this in more detail later on but for now it allows us to run Acts 3 and 4 together to look at the fluidity of it.

All in all we are in good shape for the middle of the rehearsal period and, now that we’ve blocked the entire play, we can really see the character and relationship arcs growing throughout the play. Getting to the end of the play this week has allowed us to see clear time passing between each Act and be able to compare the character dynamics in the very beginning of the play to how they are left at the very end.

Three Sisters Blog 2

Day 3

– We started the day with a discussion about how much time passes between each Act, as this will have an impact on the development of characters and their relationships with each other – in particular with Maddy and McShane’s relationship.
– There was some debate over the use of the word ‘Ballroom’ in Act 3. The original Chekhov play references there being a ballroom in the house, however the house in John Byrne’s version is less grand than in the original. The very word ‘ballroom’ comes with grand connotations so we thought about changing it to something else. We couldn’t settle on anything so we decided to stick with it for now and see how we could play it.
– We then went on to table read Acts 3 & 4 before John, Andy and Beth made some very minor cuts to feedback to the cast.
– After lunch we re-read Acts 3 and 4 but this time with some improvised movement, as we had done yesterday with Acts 1 and 2. This proved to be incredibly useful as we could begin to see the impact of the ending of the play already.
– Andy and Charlotte then pinned down the set, entrances and exits and what furniture we would need, along with where it should be placed on the set.
– Everything is now in place for us to start blocking the play tomorrow!

Day 4

– We talked the cast through the mark up and all the entrances and exits – where they lead in the world of the play.
– We then started to block the play from the very beginning of the text. (There will be some stylised atmospheric movement set to music to open the show but we will come back to this in later rehearsals.)
– The configuration of blocking of the 3 sisters was played with quite a lot when we began so that we could settle on the most appropriate and interesting opening ‘picture’ for the play. We’ll continue to play around with this as rehearsals go on.
– We added a line for Maloney to say on his first entrance. It was simply written that he enters the room but this looked strange. We went back to have a look how this was written in the original Chekhov version and adapted Soleni’s line there to fit our Maloney character.
– We played around with Carnalachie’s entrance with the Birthday cake in order to explore how it could make the biggest impact and interruption to the bubbling argument between the 3 sisters.
– It was decided that the record player won’t actually play anything, as is written in the script. Ross and Andy are keen not to have to place the time so explicitly and the Beatles song would pin the time down even to a year.
– We blocked up to page 8 today.

Day 5

– We picked up where we left off today and worked from page 8 in blocking the play. We also started to explore the moments where we could establish the stylised movements. As the play is written in quite a naturalistic way but we are wanting to stylise it, we have to find these moments and work on them in such a way to make everything work together and ‘look’ a particular way in order to create the atmosphere we want to achieve.
– There are moments in Act 1 where we are holding a moment (many times an awkward moment) in silence and stillness before then using the next line to break this and jolt the scene back into action again. This seems to be working really nicely in stylising the piece.
– We moved the chaise lounge more into the stage space and facing out to the audience, as opposed to laying across the stage left wall. The horseshoe formation of the furniture we had originally was looking quite contrived and forcing the actors to retreat to the edges of the set. By moving the chaise lounge more into the space we allow for more interesting blocking. This meant that we had to play with the configuration of the picture of the 3 sisters at the very top of the play some more with the new formation of furniture.
– The Beatles song playing on the record player that we cut yesterday remains cut but we are now thinking that it might be nice to have it play a nursery rhyme or something to show the Doctor still thinks of Renee as a little girl.
– We blocked to the end of Act 1.

It has been a very busy week in the rehearsal room this week but things are already looking great now that we have the play on its feet. Next week we’ll be continuing to block the rest of the play in this way and I’ll check in towards the end of the week to let you know how we’re getting on………..

Three Sisters Blog 1

Beth Morton Assistant Director of Three Sisters will be blogging about the rehearsal process. Be sure to keep checking back for weekly updates

Three Sisters rehearsals are now underway and our cast and creative team have got off to very busy but great start……as assistant director I’ll be keeping you updated with what’s going on in our rehearsal room for the next few weeks so make sure you watch this space.

Day 1

-After an informal ‘meet & greet’ session for the whole cast, crew, and creative team to get to know each other over a coffee we immediately got to work with a first read through of the script. The stage management team, production manager, John Byrne (writer), Andy Arnold (director), Me (assistant director) and our 10 strong cast gathered around a rather large table to listen to the play for the very first time. Andy also talked about his overall vision for the piece and the stylised way that he is looking forward to exploring throughout the rehearsal process. We also talked briefly and initially about our ideas for the characters and accents but these are things that will grow and develop as the rehearsals go on.

– The design team then joined us and we looked at the set design with Charlotte Lane, who is designing the set with John Byrne, and she talked us through her model box, which is a scaled down model of the stage and set that we’ll be playing on. John Byrne then took us through his sketches for the costume designs and explained his thinking behind them.

– After timing the play during the read through we decided that it was a bit long and could benefit from some re-working. The cast were released early and the rest of the afternoon saw Andy and I sitting down with John to re-work and make cuts to Act 1 of the play. The three of us also spent some time making some tweaks to the set design with Charlotte.

Day 2

– Andy, John, Charlotte and myself looked at and discussed the new model box that now included the tweaks we had discussed yesterday before the cast arrived for rehearsals.

– The cast arrived and first of all Andy went through the changes that we had made to Act 1 with John yesterday. We reflected on these changes then as a group and the cast shared their thoughts on them too. This resulted in some of the lines that had been cut being put back into the script as the discussions with the cast pointed out that some lines were useful for developing a character or their relationship with another character. Other lines were added back in as they were important in setting the scene.

– Once we had agreed on the changes to Act 1 we had a second read through but this time, instead of the cast sitting round the table to do it, they got on their feet and started to put some improvised movement into it. This was a very useful exercise in getting the cast to think about how they feel about and behave towards the other characters. Do they want to be near them? Do they not? Do they need to be stood near a certain character to be included in a particular conversation? There is an awful lot going on in Act 1 of this play and to see the actors on their feet reading the play makes it easier to make sense of what is actually happening, for both the actors and director.

– We then sat around the table again to re-read Act 2. After hearing it for a second time John, Andy and I again went away to make some cuts and changes to this Act.

– These changes were then passed onto and discussed with the cast, as they were for Act 1 and afterwards we, once again, read the updated version with the cast improvising some movements. This brought us to the end of day 2 and will leave day 3 to take a similar shape of reading and re-working / cutting the script.

– After rehearsals Andy and I had a brief discussion with the Stage Management team about what furniture we’d like to use in rehearsals and what we think the furniture that will be used in the show will look like.

Tron Ambassador and Partner Schools Scheme

Tron Participation run a host of schemes for schools and pupils to get involved in;

Tron Skillshops
Drama classes for pupils P1 – S6. Weekly workshops held at the Tron Theatre for participants to explore the art of theatre making.

Interested in joining in the Autumn then be sure to come along and see the work the present groups have been making.

S3-S6
Lost
10th-12th April 7.30pm

P4-P7 + S1-S2
But Why?!
13th JUne 7.30pm
14th June 2.30pm

Tron Ambassadors
The Tron Ambassadors scheme gives S4-S6 school pupils the chance to be behind the scenes of a
working theatre. It enables them to make a deeper connection with the Tron Theatre and
gain a better understanding of the industry.

We are recruiting new Ambassadors for the 2014/15 term.

Tron Ambassadors will –

•Meet 1-2 times per month at the Tron Theatre (after school weekday meetings)
•Take part in tasks and challenges out with allocated Ambassador meetings
•Keep in contact via email with Tron Drama Officer on related tasks and challenges
•Take part in a variety of theatre workshops/master classes
•Attend Tron Shows
• Host Tweet Meets within the Tron Theatre linked to Tron productions
• Promote the Tron to friends and family
• Blog, tweet and post about the Ambassadors scheme, Tron shows and events
•Work as a team to create a Front of House event at Tron Skillshops show

Does this sound like something you would like to be involved in? If so, email deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk to find out further information.

Partner Schools
This scheme allows Tron Participation to work closely with 2-3 schools each academic year and share our expertise. We work with schools within Glasgow and the surrounding local authorities.
The Partner schools programme is a mix of in school workshops, theatre trips and back stage tours. The partnership is hosted via Glow allowing us to keep in touch.

Would you be interested in being one of our partner schools for the 2014-15 academic year. If so contact Deborah on deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk

Tron Participation and National 4 / 5 Drama

Tron Participation have been busy pulling together an array of resources that can support the delivery of National 4/5 drama units. These resources are in the form of videos, images, interviews and much more. Be sure to check our Curriculum for Excellence and Virtual Learning Pages to find resources.

Tron participation will continue to upload resources in the coming months. If you have any questions or feedback regarding these materials please contact Deborah McArthur, Drama Officer on deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk

Remember December – Tron Participation Show for Nursery and Lower Primary pupils

Flora is very, very forgetful. But it doesn’t
bother her or make her fretful. She forgets
to brush her teeth just before bed, to tidy
her toys or to remember anything her mum
and dad said!

She ties knots in her ribbons and in pieces of
string, but it doesn’t really help her
remember a thing. Flora looks in her pocket
and what does she find? Her letter to Santa
all sealed and signed. She’s forgotten to post
it. She didn’t remember! What will happen
on the 25th of December?

Join Flora on a snowy night and help her try
to put things right. To deliver her letter, so
her name’s not missed, from Santa’s Claus’s
Christmas present list?

TRON THEATRE  CHANGING HOUSE
PREVIEWS: SAT 30 NOV + SUN 1 DEC £6
TUE 3 – TUE 24 DECEMBER
£8 / FAMILY TICKET £21 – £28
FOR TICKETS AND GROUP BOOKINGS CALL BOX OFFICE ON 0141 552 4267

Autumn at the Tron Theatre

We have been busy bees putting our Autumn programme in place and we are happy to share with you some of the opportunities that will be coming up over the coming months.

Macbeth
The Tron theatre in co porduction with Horsecross Arts will present Macbeth Tuesday 8th – Saturday 19th October 7.45pm. Check out the Tron website www.tron.co.uk for further information on tickets. Don’t forget we have a schools discount for this production. Tron Participation has an outreach programme of work to coincide with this show. Be sure to check out our ‘Productions’ page on our Glow area for details of what we have on offer.

Partner Schools
After the success of our partnership with Mearns Castle and Greenfaulds High Schools we are happy to announce we will be partnering with three new secondary schools for the 2013-14 academic year. These schools are Eastbank Academy, Caldervale High and St Andrews RC Secondary School. We look forward to working with them and will keep you updated on our progress.

Tron Ambassadors
We will be recruiting new members to join our Tron Ambassadors scheme for the 2013-14 season. Last years Ambassadors were a real asset to the Tron, hosting social media calls, reviewing our shows and creating a front of house event to coincide with our S1-S2 Skillshops performance in April this year. We have put together an exciting programme of activities for the new recruits to get their teeth into. Deadline for applications is Friday 6th September at 3pm. For further details or an application pack please contact Deborah McArthur.

Classes
We have a whole host of classes from Drama, Set and Costume Design to Script Writing. These classes are for participants 6months upwards. Check out our website www.tron.co.uk for further details. Classes start back 31st August onwards.

We have updated our Glow area and added some new resources so please make sure you check it out. We will be adding to the site, as always, throughout the Autumn season so make sure to check back regularly and keep in touch with us. We have a live noticeboard on our Glow area and we want to keep a dialogue going with schools.

If you wish to find out further information about our Macbeth outreach work or our Partner Schools programme or would like an application pack for our Ambassadors Scheme please contact Deborah McArthur, Drama Officer on deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!!
Best Wishes
Tron Participation Team

Hot off the press…….

Tron Participation Autumn 2013 Newsletter is available now, find it on our Glow area noticboard. This will allow you to see what we have planned for the coming academic year.

Highlights from the newsletter –

HORSECROSS ARTS + TRON THEATRE COMPANY PRESENT MACBETH
Tron Theatre Company and Perth Theatre bring a co-production of Macbeth to the Tron
Theatre in October. This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to see a classic text brought to
life on the Tron main stage. To coincide with this flagship production for schools, Tron
Participation is offering a variety of educational opportunities.

FREE pre-show workshops for schools booking to see a performance
Macbeth Associate Director Marcus Roche will deliver an interactive pre-performance
workshop based around the theatre of making a text active. Marcus will use techniques
straight from the rehearsal room to explore the language, plot and the characters
in Macbeth with your students.

The workshop is suitable for English classes and Advanced Higher Drama classes looking
at the Author as the Director and can be delivered in a rehearsal room or cleared classrom
to a maximum class size of 35. Duration: 1 hour 30 mins

Engage with our production of Macbeth on GLOW
A package of resources will be created and shared on the Glow portal that will cover
different ways to approach classic texts; look at how to stage a classical piece of theatre;
and how to design for a classical text. These resources will be in the form of interviews with
theatre professionals involved in the creation of Macbeth, photographs and videos.

To find out more about these opportunities contact deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk.
Please note: there are a limited number of free workshops available
so early booking is advisable.

TRON AMBASSADORS

In 2012/13, Tron Participation embarked on an eight month
journey with five S3-S6 pupils in a project
called Tron Ambassadors. The group worked on
social media calls, tweet meets, and wrote reviews,
press releases and direct mails. They toured the
building, met Tron staff and organised front-of-house
activities for one of our Youth Theatre shows. It has
been an enjoyable and educational experience for all
involved.

Following on from the success of this scheme, Tron Participation would like to invite new pupils to apply to become an Ambassador for the 2013/14 academic
year.

• Do you have an active tumblr, wordpress, Twitter
or Facebook account?
• Do you like to share your thoughts and opinions
with others?
• Would you like to find out how a venue like the
Tron Theatre functions?

The scheme is open to school pupils S3-S6 who are
passionate about theatre and who are able to work as
part of team. We are looking for people who are
willing to attend a variety of theatre productions at
the Tron and who love to use social media to talk
about what they’re up to.

If this sounds like you, contact Deborah McArthur on
deborah.mcarthur@tron.co.uk for further details and
an Ambassador application pack. Deadline for applications: 3pm on Fri 6th Sept 2013
There will be an Ambassadors recruitment workshop w/c 9th September and Ambassadors will be
appointed w/c 16th September 2013.

One week to go…..

A week today this fantastic show opens here at the Tron Theatre – dont miss out!!

NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND presents
THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH
by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, in a new adaptation created by Lu Kemp and Abigail Docherty. Written by Oliver Emanuel. Directed by Lu Kemp.

Tron Theatre
Wed 22nd – Fri 24th May 10.30am and 1.30pm
Sat 25th May 11am and 2pm

£10 (£7.50)

Age Suitability: 6 – 10 Primary 2 – Primary 6
Running Time: 50 minutes
Curriculum for Excellence links: Expressive Arts, Social Subjects, Health and Wellbeing
Free National Theatre of Scotland workshop in your school on a first to book basis

“I’ll swap you my dad,” I said.
“Oh-Oh,” said my sister

An exciting, new interactive performance for younger primary school audiences ages six and upwards.

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is a humorous, theatrical adventure, which is a little bit about being a sibling, and a little bit about being a genius. It is a new stage adaptation of the popular children’s picture-book by bestselling author and illustrator, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

Tom and his little sister think Dad is so boring that they swap him for two goldfish! When Mum finds out, she’s not best pleased and Tom and his little sister have to ’GO GET DAD BACK!’ Pupils and their teachers are invited to help Tom and his sister on their mission to get Dad back.

Unfortunately though, it’s not that simple. Nathan doesn’t have Dad any more. He swapped him for Vashti’s electric guitar. And Vashti swapped Dad, with Blinky, for a Gorilla mask. And Blinky swapped Dad, with Patti, for Galveston the rabbit. And Patti lives a very, very long way away.

The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish

Tron Participation are happy to announce

NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND presents
THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH
by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, in a new adaptation created by Lu Kemp and Abigail Docherty. Written by Oliver Emanuel. Directed by Lu Kemp.

Tron Theatre
Wed 22nd – Fri 24th May 10.30am and 1.30pm
Sat 25th May 11am and 2pm

£10 (£7.50)

Age Suitability: 6 – 10 Primary 2 – Primary 6
Running Time: 50 minutes
Curriculum for Excellence links: Expressive Arts, Social Subjects, Health and Wellbeing
Free National Theatre of Scotland workshop in your school on a first to book basis

“I’ll swap you my dad,” I said.
“Oh-Oh,” said my sister

An exciting, new interactive performance for younger primary school audiences ages six and upwards.

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is a humorous, theatrical adventure, which is a little bit about being a sibling, and a little bit about being a genius. It is a new stage adaptation of the popular children’s picture-book by bestselling author and illustrator, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

Tom and his little sister think Dad is so boring that they swap him for two goldfish! When Mum finds out, she’s not best pleased and Tom and his little sister have to ’GO GET DAD BACK!’ Pupils and their teachers are invited to help Tom and his sister on their mission to get Dad back.

Unfortunately though, it’s not that simple. Nathan doesn’t have Dad any more. He swapped him for Vashti’s electric guitar. And Vashti swapped Dad, with Blinky, for a Gorilla mask. And Blinky swapped Dad, with Patti, for Galveston the rabbit. And Patti lives a very, very long way away.

Check out The Tron Theatres Glow page for more information.

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