Rehearsals

If the actor is having too much trouble with his book down and it is causing too much trouble timewise the ask the actor to pick up the script in the meantime. You should, in your preparation have decided what you are asking of the characters in your play. It is the actors job to portray the character but it must be within the parameters you have already established (perhaps in liaison with the actor playing the role).

The actor must be guided into giving you the character that you want which you may not get if you let the actor do it him/herself. It is a good idea to get the actors to establish a history for their own character (ie before and after the present).

Is their character married?, are there any children?, what sort of a job do they do?, where were they born etc and all sorts of things which will help them recreate their character on stage. Spend a rehearsal hour going over these ideas with your actors and see if they concur with the character that you had in mind. If not, can you comprornise and if you can do that then set the actor straight with what you want. It will usually be a compromise.

As you get closer to first night you should see things begin to improve in all, areas. The final element is to get the cueing tight. This means that actors are quick to respond to each other with their lines. There should be no huge pauses in between two characters’ lines as it slow the play tremendously. However a cue need not be a line, it can be a facial expression or a physical movement like a shrug for instance. Still, even if the cue is not a word cue the cueing needs to be tight.

At this point nerves will be showing from actors and director alike and it is important for you to minimise this in your actors even if you are unable to do it for yourself. You should be very demanding of them at this time but you should offset this by having a laugh and a joke with them in the coffee break (if you have a break.)

You should have a fair idea of the length of the play by now and the committee will be anxious to know this in order to arrange front of house personnel. However, if your play is running 2 and a half hours two weeks from opening night then you can guarantee that by the time you open it should be down to 2 and a quarter hours (hopefully through tight cueing and not forgotten lines).

Your stage manager should now have been included. In rehearsals for several weeks.