I had emphasised very firmly to everyone (in the only way I can, via WhatsApp) how important it was to have the whole cast there today to rehearse the Ball scene – just about the only scene with everyone in it. And very nearly everyone was… except for Romeo, Juliet and Paris, who apart from Capulet are the most important people in the scene (though Juliet/Richa did turn up later.)
And I was able to block the scene reasonably successfully (with me standing in for Romeo, much to everyone’s amusement), so that everyone seems to have a grasp of the basic structure of the scene… except for Romeo and Paris, of course.
We even had time to block the end of Act 1, the death of Tybalt, which is another scene with the crowd. And to be fair, there were a couple of strong moments… though moments they only were, bearing in mind the reduction to the script caused by my adaptation and the translation seemingly even shorter. But Capulet/Bikram really can act, adding in overt thoughtfulness to his delivery, and Pawan/Tybalt is a real plus. So I don’t know why I felt so down about the whole thing. I suppose it is that when there are people missing, I know that the blocking is not yet done… and blocking is the least interesting part of directing. When I want to get on with giving the acting some extra polish… which it really, really needs.
