As we prepare for the opening of our brand new, in-the-round production of Macbeth by William Shakespeare here at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Assistant Director Charlotte Marigot gives us a sneak peek into the excitement of week one in the rehearsal room.
An exciting first week rich in discoveries is now complete! The week started with a great welcome by Tobacco Factory Theatres Artistic Director Mike Tweddle. This production of Macbeth is the first in the inaugural Factory Company Season, followed by A View From the Bridge.
There is an exciting feeling in the room and a readiness to discover the world of Macbeth as our director Adele Thomas envisioned it. After introducing ourselves, the world of the play was introduced to us by Adele and our designer Anisha Fields talked us through the model box, as well as the costumes and the ideas behind it. I don’t want to spoil it, and I’m trying to find the right words in order not to reveal anything, but in essence: nature and destiny are the forces Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s ambition battle with.
The day continues with the first reading of the play. We are then ready to dig deeper for the rest of the week and discover our characters, our enemies and friends, and the path we are going to take. Adele runs her rehearsal room with such passion that it is difficult not to see the world of the play unravelling in front of your eyes, even if you only are at the early stage of ‘table work’. And as the actors quickly grasp the nature of their characters the room already feels like a new world has come to life.
Our deputy stage manager Charlie Smalley and myself wrote out the timeline of the play, to which we will refer as we rehearse. The discovery I can share is that the story line all takes place over 6 days and considering what’s happening, that’s insane!
We’ve also found our two favourite warm up games! There hasn’t been a day without our morning volley ball or our post-lunch four square. Not only are they great games, but I suspect that some of the relationships of the play are explored as we play them…
Our Young Company of actors (who have already named themselves ‘The Rebels’) started their rehearsals mid week and, like the older actors during the week, have discovered details on their characters enabling them to identify with them. For the characters of Fleance and James (Macduff’s son in our production) we have the pleasure of working with four young actors who will be playing the parts alternately. We are looking forward to joining the two companies next week and digging deeper into their characters’ relationships!
This week has been great fun and very interesting choices have been made. We are now ready to try them out on our feet!
Macbeth runs at Tobacco Factory Theatres from Thu 22 February – Sat 07 April. To find out more and book visit the main show page.
Posted on 30 January 2018
