I was allotted a three-hour slot this morning – my final, and in most cases my only – opportunity to meet and assess the participants in the program. This would have to be enough to get to know them, and assign them characters in the play: to set a variety of improvisation tasks, loosely connected with ideas in the play. But of course it was not as straightforward as that, with the time constrain4d by lateness, and two participants not arriving at all. The first to arrive were the eight students from RJPM, required to fill out the cast. Next to arrive were the four students from different schools that I had met yesterday, so no progress there, with time leaking away. Others started to drift in from then on, to participate in a game of zip, zap, boing (of course.) And eventually I could start the lesson/workshop/audition.
We started with a pair of announcers proclaiming some sort of introduction, in an exaggerated style, mimicking the two presenters in the play. Followed by master/servant scenes, to see who might be suitable for the bullying role of Auntie (though in fact I had a very good idea who this might be. Then, in larger groups, improvising a scene with a satirical approach, based on a scene from a soap, or a TV commercial. And finally some spontaneous improvisation – Crossing the circle, what else – which was much enjoyed, but took up longer than I had expected – we had run out of time. And now I had to cast the play.
When I was here last year, casting had lasted a week, and was still a nightmare; not so much the casting itself, but identifying which student was which. Though there were forty of them that time. But on this occasion, I had the services of two wonderful assistants: Ms Anuradha and Miss Sana, two English teachers from the RJPM campus. I am speaking with the benefit of hindsight, this being some days later, but throughout the program they were superb. I was presented with a booklet with every students name and picture by the end of the workshop) – no problems of mis-identification this time.
So, casting over Rehearsals to come.
