Slightly disconcerting to arrive at the Examination Hall to find no-one there. Not an exam, but no cast members for rehearsal either. They had given up on being able to use the Hall, it seems, and had congregated in the Dance Room. But soon enough we all managed to be in the same place, bar Wolf, Fox and Donkey… and then the latter two arrived, so for the first time ever we had an (almost) full complement of actors.
It took a while to get going, but that was largely my fault; I will indulge in telling jokes. Not a series of gags, you understand, merely me allowing myself to wander off the point. The rehearsal was entirely devoted to The Men, the slightly shadowy figures who first comprise the humans of the tales – Hunter, Shepherd, Farmer – as well as the “invisible” characters who form the other aspects – the hole that Fox, Goat, Donkey fall into, the winch that gets them out again, the group who capture the forest…
This did mean there were times when actors were not being used, but they always had other scenes to rehearse between themselves, so none (with the exception of the wonderful Sharanya, who plays the doctor, and who patiently waited her turn to say her few lines) could claim they had nothing to do, even when I wasn’t using them. Though whether any of them actually used that time efficiently is seriously in question. (But maybe I would have been the same…)
What quickly became apparent was that we had somehow stumbled upon the most terrific “hole”. Arya P. had been somewhat erratic in his attendance (or I had somehow overlooked him, it not helping that he shared his first name with Zeus.) In any case, he did not really have a role – a random bird, the character who holds the finishing tape…
And I had really struggled with how we were going to create, and manipulate, the hole. I was fairly sure it could be done, but could not get my head around the actual details. I knew that it was to be made out of two hoops, with black material fixed between them, to create a five-foot or so tube. So a character could step into it, have it pulled up to indicate falling, and then have the bottom hoop lifted to indicate a character emerging at the bottom… A bit complicated, but Arya grasped the idea immediately, and seemed to have the discipline to be quiet and patient inbetween bursts of action.
It was just as well, for it seemed we scarcely had enough actors for the Men. The trickiest part of all was showing Fox climbing up Goat to scramble out, and this was seriously tricky. Fox had to be persuaded that she was not going to fall and seriously hurt herself; Goat that he was not going to rupture his kneecap, but actually I think we had it worked out, with two strong Men helping to spring her out. In the absence of Wolf (not required in the first half of the play) we enlisted Lion to play a part… only he somewhat misunderstood his role, and very nearly flung her up in the air!
But even if we did not entirely iron out the exact sequence, let alone practise it enough, I was pretty happy with it. Other scenes too we managed to work out: the taunting of Lion, the death of Stag, even the execution of Goat (including Doctor – hurrah!) For just about the first time, we pretty much achieved all that I had hoped for from the rehearsal.
But best of all had been the discovery of Arya. It seemed we had our Hole, in one. And so he will be described in the programme: “Your mother will be so proud,” I told him.
