With various people unavailable for this week’s rehearsal, we decided to focus on the first half of the play, for which we had most people; in particular, we wanted to focus on Connie, who is playing Ahmad. Most of the other people in the first half already know their role, from last year’s performances, but Connie has had very few rehearsals in the role.
One of the problems we have had with such a changing and uncertain cast, is that we have no idea who is able to be there from week to week, so pretty much every time we have to rehearse whatever is possible with the people who turn up. It does make for an uncertain and somewhat haphazard atmosphere, frequently jumping around in the script. Chiara, oor major contact with WeRESTART, has offered to record the blocking, but up till now thar has been an impossible task, as we have jumped around the script. But today, we were able to start (more or less) at the beginning, so she had a chance to seer how the story and play develops.
We could also spend a little more time with Jesus and the “cookies for a reason” scene. Jesus tends to improvise his ines to some extent, but as his English is a little weak, this does tend to mean he stumbles around, which slows the flow of the dialogue. But this too is starting to be more consistent.
As for Connie, she did well; in particular, she has clearly made an effort to learn her lines. Characterisation is a little uncertain as yet, to make the character more masculine, more ravaged by the experiences he has gone through. But I am confident she is committed enough to get there. If I could be as certain of the other, more minor roles, that would be reassuring.
