In todays rehearsal we began working through the order we had agreed in the previous meeting, these were our main progressions:
1) Sitting in the coats - agreed this felt like a nice opening that sets up the piece well, couldn’t do much in rehearsals to it because we need the handkerchiefs and such to rehearse with
2) Barbershop Oct-ette - Pip will musically conduct this, improvised it in rehearsals but it needed to be structured well
3) Facts and Statistics Scene - had already been rehearsed
4) Jodie Snobbery Scene - We were initially unsure as to what this scene was about and how it fit with the message of the performance. I said that perhaps Jodie should be talking to one audience member on the front row about how (like Jodie) that audience member was above everyone else in the room, and to bring in her clicking scene into that. Although we didn’t rehearse this the group agreed that this fits in with the piece much better and is more engaging. I later also said that perhaps (instead of just standing about behind the clothes rail like the rest of us were as this went on) perhaps we should arrange a small movement sequence with the costumes behind the rail giving us something to do. Was a loose thought when I suggested it but I feel something is needed for us to be doing other than pretending we’re not there.
5) Next Popping Head Scene - Just rehearsed from the ‘you, you, you’ section trying to find a way of getting Jodie out of the coats. Pip thought that I should push my hands through the coats from behind Jodie and unbutton it for her and then she will get out from there. With Zoe’s new character base I suggested that Pip said the final line ‘would it help if I just shown you some nips?’ as it fitted more with her persona. We then also worked with Jodie throwing her coat at Pip to initially install some tension in the group.
6) Man’s World - Decided to build it so that we were almost getting naked before the girls cut off the action pulling the coat rails in front of us to mask us. This introduced the ‘magic’ scene changes which we liked. The magic scene change stems from something I had seen in a previous musical theatre production where the set would change by a screen sliding across stage whilst stage hands behind it removed/placed new set in its place, it gave the illusion that the previous set magically disappeared and the new one magically appeared. The coat rails act as this screen removing people and set when it was getting inappropriate/unnecessary. Zoe appeared from this too.
7) Zoe’s Initial Scene - Didn’t rehearse this just worked out how we would get into it.
8) Conveyor Belt - again just worked out how we would get into this, using the clothes rails as a changeover technique/ disguise technique!
