L.A. Blues: Redux, Part 1

*The following was written on 18th May 2012*


There is a period between casting and the first read-through during which a director experiences a number of things:

1. confidence that he has the perfect cast 
2.  a combined feeling of doubt and fear that he has cast the wrong people
3. an inability to remember exactly what each auditionee was actually like
4. a sense of self-belief that he must have made the correct decision
5. a renewed (and infinitely more potent) feeling of doubt and fear that he has cast the wrong people
6. acceptance that what is done is done and that everything will work out fine (a mental state made more manageable with the knowledge that if it doesn’t work out, he can always fire everyone and look for replacements)

The above is a fairly accurate description of how I felt in the week between casting our new Fats Rothstein and actually having the whole cast sit down together and read through the script. I needn’t have worried so much. Killian has proved a worthy addition to the cast and is very much holding his own against Sorcha and Matthew.

But, as I had feared, things are different. This is no mere revival anymore. Each actor (sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly) has his own interpretation of a role, a line, a movement. Each actor also has their own energy. All of this affects how the other actors act and react. Which effects the production as a whole. In short, while we expected to begin again for every scene that features Fats, we did not anticipate revising the scenes from which he is absent. For example, decisions made by myself and the actors in rehearsing Act 1, Scene 2 (the initial meeting of Winifred and Fats) have resulted in a need to look at how Winifred and Billy behave in Act Two.

I’m not complaining. Well I am. But not because of the changes. Theatre is a creative process and change is necessary – to force one actor to mimic his predecessor is unfair and unproductive. I am delighted that we are moving in a new direction. It has allowed us to explore the script in new ways and gives us an opportunity to make the play even better than before. The problem is that we timetabled the pre-production period based on a revival structure. And now we are starting from scratch within a very short timeframe. I’m happy to reboot. I just wish that we had more time.