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Theatre rehearsals are an exhilarating mix of creativity, collaboration, and delightful chaos. Our Director Paul, believes they are often the best part of the whole run and if you open yourself to embrace the work ahead in a positive and creative way, you can create fantastic memories and lasting friendships.
Bringing a group of diverse humans together to bring the script to life bit by bit can be stressful, but also a lot of fun and with it memories to last throughout your career.
In this blog we explore the vibrant world of theatre rehearsals and uncover the joy and lasting memories created over the days, weeks, and often months leading up to a final show.
The Magic of Teamwork
One of the best parts of rehearsals is the strong sense of camaraderie that can be built. This camaraderie can set the tone for how the whole production runs, so it's important that the rehearsal rooms are a joyful safe space to work, be creative and importantly......naff things up. However, teamwork can also create it's own problems.....NERVES....and especially first day ones.
For 'The Polar Express' we have a cast team of 43, all with an extremely diverse level of experience, for some it's the first gig out of drama school, others their first professional gig at all, then there's seasoned performers with West End contracts proudly on their CV's. It's a heady mix to contend with, before we even consider how neuro diverse the cast is.
Ask yourself, 'HOW MANY OF THE FOLLOWING HAVE I FELT?' on the first day of a new production.
'What if I'm not as experienced as others?' ........'What if they all know each other?'..........
'Did some of them go to a better drama school than me?' ........'Will the Director expect me off-book day one?' ...........'What if I cant remember the lines/lyrics/moves?' .....'am I really good enough?'
These feelings and nerves are totally natural but can tighten a performer up, closing them off to creativity opting instead to play it safe. This closing down can often make a performer seem disinterested or even stand offish. The same can indeed be said for the audition room.
It's important on day one to create togetherness, an atmosphere of care and support and a true safe space. The rehearsal room sets the tone of the whole run. The first job for the production team therefore is to relax people.
"We like to bring humour into the room, from our opening presentation to the team. Despite the different positions in a Production, it should never be a them and us situation, so we also like them in that moment to meet us as us, the humans we are and not the 'job titles' we hold for the production."
At Twisted we believe every contract you take in the industry should create memories for you, you worked hard to become a performer so you deserve to soak up each moment from rehearsals to show end, in doing so it will keep you energised. We are creatives, our work should always be a pleasure.
In our rehearsal rooms, we put a big focus on encouraging cast to be free, to enjoy the process, to be playful and overall.....have fun. After all, a cast who enjoy the show will lead to an audience who enjoy the show.
As you head to your next rehearsal room, instead of the questions above....remind yourself...'I'm already good enough, that's why I'm cast. I'm here to learn the show, have fun and create memories'.
Day 1 - for production teams
Heres some of the things we do as a team on day one, that we hope relaxes our cast enough to begin their contract journey in the best way. *Like everything in the arts it's subjective, but they have certainly worked in our experience.
NAMES - We love the reaction we get from each team member as they walk through the door and we call them by their first name immediately. It brings down barriers, brings up self-worth and aids to relax people.
SELF - A whole team welcome speech we believe is huge. We do this as soon as all have arrived and are seated. In the speech we introduce our job roles in the production, but more importantly who we are. This includes a little bit about our career, but mostly who we are as humans. What drives us in the production but also in life. We believe it's a moment of connection, and we guarantee that it will land with some of the nervous faces in front of you. EXAMPLE: Our Director is autistic, a fact he used to hold back through fear of judgement from people. However, as part of his opening speech, he proudly informs the cast of the fact. So often this has led to cast members coming forward at the end of the day to say that they too are neuro-diverse and how great they felt that they could be open about it. Connection made.
LAUGHTER - A few gags throughout your opening can allow for instant relax.
EXPLAIN - Setting out the process ahead, what's happening first etc can really let cast settle. Some will be sat in their heads...'Is it singing first, I'm worried'......and this means any speech you give won't be fully absorbed. So break down the day.
BONDING - What happens after introductions is the key period for bonding. We keep the team together and launch a series of games that A) get people used to names B) energise.
JOIN IN - Joining in or demonstrating the exercises bonds you with a cast. You are no longer the stuffy judge watching from afar, you are saying....'Let's do this, let's have fun'....you are showing your team that you don't expect them to do things you wouldn't.
(DAY ONE GAMES)
We feel that jumping straight into script work and scenes can again heighten the nerves, so instead we select warm up exercises that allow the cast to get to know each other, to be creative and to have some fun with the pressure off. All the excercises however are still chosen to have a use in building the work we are about to do. We usually start with games that create ideas for how to build the characters they will be playing, such as movement games. Here's a couple we regularly use.
THE NEEDLE: Use an imaginary needle and connected cotton thread and pierce through a body part, (example: chin, forehead, top of head, knees etc), as you pull the cotton thread the body part is used to lead you around the room. Use it to consider character movement.
THIS MORNING I: Cast in a large circle, each steps forwards and announces their actual name/pronouns and then introduces their character name, followed by 'This morning I...', followed by a silly action which the whole group copies.
Day one 'Polar Express' rehearsals
The Unexpected Hilarity
Rehearsals are often the breeding ground for unexpected hilarity. Lines are forgotten leading to a spontaneous, improvisational scene. Or someone makes an over the top character choice that doesn't work for the show, but is hilarious in the moment.
These moments should be embraced, they are allowed and making mistakes in this space prepares for mistakes when it's the real thing. Allowing this fun and pressure free environment really helps performers to let go, and as a result reveal their best work.
We do not jump on cast for 'lines,lines,lines', too early in rehearsal, we want them to grow the character, the intentions, the journey. We don't want them stressing and running for books if not quite word perfect. It will come, they are professionals.
So in rehearsals.............LAUGH.......it really is ok. If a Director screams and shouts at you for your every move or missed line, then it's no longer a creative space. So as a team, laugh together.
Studies show that laughter can reduce stress by 40%.
The Joy of Discovery
Rehearsals are far more than just memorizing lines and choreography; they are a journey of self-discovery for actors. Each character presents an opportunity to explore new emotions and challenges. For example, an actor might uncover a talent for a specific dialect after months of practice, while another may tap into a hidden vulnerability during a powerful scene. We allow our teams to really explore, 'I'll tell you if it's too much or too little so just play'.
So as an actor go into rehearsals with play in mind. A polished performance on day one of rehearsals seldom explodes during the run itself.
The Roadmap to Growth
Rehearsals are not just practice; they are vital learning experiences for everyone involved they play a crucial role in honing skills. It's a good excercise in rehearsals to revisit techniques or exercises that have long since been forgotten from drama school days, or indeed finding new ones.
We will say to our team, 'please don't feel patronised by doing this activity', and so often the feedback is it's something they used to do but haven't for years and glad to have refreshed it, or it's something completely new.
So even if you're someone who truly fears the rehearsals process, throw yourself into it with the idea of learning something new, or refreshing and honing existing skills.
The best actors never stop learning.
Creation of a Cast Family
At Twisted, whilst we look for the best quality performers available for our production, we also look at who they are as a human, how they work within a team. Rehearsals are a fantastic place to observe these transactions and mould that cast family.
By doing so, the production really flourish's and you build a strong casting pot for future or ongoing work.
As a performer in the room, don't be the one saying, 'look at me', be the one saying, 'wow, look at them, that was awesome. Your cards will be marked extremely positively.
As a company we are delighted that so many cast return to our productions, and alongside that we see people who missed out in audition apply again and again. We believe it's because of how we create our audition room and rehearsal room vibes.
Always remember, BE YOU, it's the best tool you've got.
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