L.A. Blues: Redux, Part 2

*The following was written on May 24th 2012*

In the words of Ozzy Osbourne, we’re going through changes. Not the menopause, you understand – we’re too young/old/masculine (delete as appropriate) for that. No, L.A. Blues is changing again. Which is becoming quite the theme this time around, I suppose. I have already written about the new cast, poster, dynamic, director/actor decisions, etc… New is the new new and all that. The difference is that while each of the previous circumstance-changes has resulted in more than a little expleting (is that a word? it is now) and kicking of furniture, the latest batch of tweaks are entirely intentional. Because, despite the impression I may have been giving, change isn’t always a pain in the arse. Yes, it is annoying when the European football causes Coronation Street to be switched to a Thursday, but sometimes change is good. During the previous run of L.A. Blues, there were decisions made concerning blocking during rehearsals that turned out to be an annoyance during the actual run of the show. [Blocking, for those unfamiliar, is the term used when deciding where the actors move/stand/etc…]

Those familiar with the Cobalt will know that it has no stage. But it also has no raised seating. For L.A. Blues we needed one or the other. So we built a stage (see picture below for the undressed stage). As you can see, the stage was split in two – an upper, smaller area and a lower, larger one. For the first run, I decided that most of the action should take place on the lower level. It was more central and closer to the audience. The problem was that it made some of the most important scenes very difficult to see. Key lines and actions were delivered from a sitting position and I don’t know how much the audience missed. For me, and I’m sure for others, some scenes might as well have been from a radio play. No one complained. No one even mentioned it. But I noticed it. And it bugged the shit out of me every night.

So doing it again given me a chance to address the mistakes made back in December. A lot of the action has been flipped – scenes that took place on the lower level now occur on the higher one, and vice versa. Interestingly, as well as (fingers crossed) allowing the audience to see more of the action, it has allowed us approach things in a way that we hadn’t realised before: Does it really matter that Billy now goes to the bar rather than sitting at his table? Yes. Does moving Winifred away from the action in Act 2, Scene 2 really increase the tension? Yes. How much meaning can moving a cocktail glass really have? A lot.

I don’t know if anyone who saw the show the last time will notice. Hopefully you will. Hopefully you will enjoy it more and get more out of it. Even if you don’t, I think it is important that you come along again and see for yourself. Which is better, L.A. Blues or L.A. Blues: Redux. You won’t know unless you see both. Go on, you know you want to...

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