For the third week of our Making Macbeth series, Assistant Director Charlotte Marigot describes the fast pace of rehearsals and how the company are discovering their characters.
This week we carried on putting the play on its feet. It was a special week since, due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to find a different actor to take on the role of Banquo. While this change was in motion, we carried on working out Act 2 and I stepped in to read for Banquo (this is part of the job of being an Assistant Director!). It was very interesting to see the play from an inner angle. As with last week, we looked at what had happened before each scene starts, kept an eye on our timeline and shared our invented memories for our characters, which inform their relationships with other characters. As we are getting deeper in the play, we now have a stronger sense of the different allegiances between the characters and the scenes are taking more depth.
We are now half way through our rehearsal process and are ready to run as much of the play as we can and deepen where needs be. Character arches are becoming clearer and going from scene to scene accentuates our awareness of how fast the events of the play happen and create a sense of urgency, which is perfectly suited to the play.
As we progress through the week, we welcome a photographer and filmographer who capture rehearsal photography and footage for our show trailer. Costume fittings also take place and we organise a ‘prop parade’. Going through each of the props for the play is essential for us to see everything together and understand the details of them all. It also reminds us of the aesthetic of the world we are creating.
Our last session of the week is spent with the fantastic Kev Curdy who has devised great fight sequences for us! Overall we sense that we are a week away from our technical rehearsal, which is deeply exciting, but which also means there is only two weeks before you can see it all…
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 13 February 2018
