Rehearsals began, after I had handed out the scripts and assigned the roles. And we now had a full contingent, with our two absentees making an appearance. Something of a rarity for me, it has to be said. More often than I care to remember, the first time I see the entire cast together has been the dress rehearsal… or sometimes the opening night. Nobody seemed too upset about the role they had been given, though in truth virtually all of the roles are the same size, ie small. There are twenty-two parts/actors, and the whole thing lasts about twenty minutes, including movement sections.
I ought to explain a little about the play, to put all of this into context. I wrote it specifically for this occasion and its demands: a short, snappy piece with lots of characters, so that everyone would have a speaking role. (In fact, at first there had been many more characters, when I had thought there would be a greater take-up, but fortunately I discovered the actual number some time before, so was able to modify it and reduce the cast.)
The title is ironic, for what is shown is a dystopian world, of supposed equality, apparent perfection, but ruled over with an iron fist by Auntie, the country’s despotic ruler – motto “Auntie knows best.” Her oppressive regime provokes a rebellion, which is at first suppressed, but ultimately overthrows her. Which makes the whole thing sound a bit heavy, but in fact it is a surreal, satirical comedy, and ends with a colourful explosion of joy and release.
In the morning rehearsal, we worked our way slowly through the script, practising the four separate scenes which make up the depiction of Utopia: a classroom in which all pictures must have a blue sky and yellow sun; a restaurant in which the limited menu was declared yummy; a call centre with the well-known cliches; and a hospital where Dr Perfect (an actor, not a doctor) took the limelight, as well as the movement sequences which punctuated the action. But it did not help that we had been allotted a very small classroom, allowing very little space to move. Nor did it help that the actor playing the one more substantial role, Auntie herself, was clearly losing her voice, despite our efforts to get her to save it.
Partly because f this, and because I could see that the cast were starting to wilt, in the afternoon, once we had completed working our way through it, so I decided to finish with a more relaxing game: Who killed King John (too difficult to explain) which they seemed to enjoy. I felt pretty relaxed about our progress, despite the lack of time, for we seem to be on track. They all know what to say/do, where to go. And tomorrow we need to add some quality.
