REHEARSAL DIARY 2 by Wayne Tunks
Tuesday January 30, 2018
It has been a big day, but oh so rewarding. After a very humid and manual day, I’ve just arrived home and the wind is picking up. The cool change is looming and I am just sitting on my front steps, enjoying the breeze and reflecting on a successful day.
We have been very fortunate, most bump ins (preparing the theatre for non-theatre types) happen in a day or two. I’ve had shows where we have one day in the theatre before we open. But because we open The Depot Theatre’s 2018 season, we have been able to access the theatre early and can stagger our preparations. So today we moved in most of the furniture. We hired a truck from Balmain Rentals. Cheapest around, and the quality of the trucks has improved over the years, but they are still a rough drive and on a hot day there was no air con – hello, first world problem. Cast members, Brendan Paul and Jasper Musgrave joined me, (okay, Jasper had finished his first day at Year 11 and was just waiting outside the theatre, asleep at a table, so I roped him into helping) and we drove out to Blacktown. So, yes, by leaving at 3.20pm we caught every piece of traffic possible. Panic set in about half way there, Balmain Rentals closed at 5.45 and there seemed no way we could make it back in time. In the fastest move possible, we arrived, loaded in the things from my parent’s garage and headed off. Shout out to my folks for letting me take over their garage and shed with props and sets from my shows. Anything you could possibly need is in there, even a kitchen sink.
We loaded in 5 minutes, grabbed a drink because Blacktown may just be the most humid place in the world and headed off at 4.50pm, 55 minutes before Balmain Rentals closed. Reverse traffic was much kinder, and the truck actually warmed up and let me drive the speed limit on the motorway, even with the oil light flicking on and off and the hand brake light staying on, even though it was down. At 5.40 we pulled into the Depot, I opened the theatre and we dumped all the things on the footpath and I “speed” off at 5.45pm. I pulled into the rental place at 5.53, thank God they had moved to Marrickville. They were still there and there would be no overnight late fees.
A happier and hot Wayne arrived back at the venue, we grabbed some cheap Chinese and then set the set. Soon we were rehearsing and while it was still a sweat box, there was a great atmosphere, we had a set and were about to do our first full run. We did a bit of choreography for a special surprise part of the show. Naturally when I create choreography, it always has a little Madonna feel to it, which can’t be a bad thing. And with the help of our cast member, Andrew Wang, we were dancing our sweaty hearts out and ready for a first run.
Now the first run of a show is not meant to be pretty, you lose a lot of the emotion you are developing because often you are just thinking about what is next. And yeah, we had some of that, but as a whole I couldn’t ask for more than the cast gave me last night. Everyone committed to making it work, and work it did. No one tripped over the new set and it was great to suddenly have a lot of the hand props. The shape of the show is there, the skeleton is fully formed and now we just need to flesh it out more. And God I am excited about getting this in front of audience.
It was a long day, a typical indy theatre day, but so bloody rewarding.
Wednesday January 31, 2018
Another big day for “According to Otto”. It was the finish of our online fundraising auction, so we had a few last minute bids and raised some much needed funds. If I was ever asked about what the hardest part of producing is, it would be that, raising money to put on shows. When I started it was easier, companies would give you items or money, that’s rare now. Crowdfunding certainly has helped, but there’s only so many times you can hit friends up for straight up cash. I’d run an online auction before for a show and it went okay. This time we got more prizes and we raised a lot of money, which is a sweet relief to me. I will go into debt for my shows, but its nice not to have to this time.
Tonight was a smaller rehearsal for us, just the members of the Brooks family. There was our leading man, Otto (Jasper Musgrave), his sister, Ava (Tasha O’Brien), his parents, Gavin (that would be me) and Corrine (Jacinta Moses) and Gavin’s Mum, Lesley (Felicity Burke). Rehearsals with these guys seem like a friend’s get together. Jacinta is one of my closest friends and we have worked together many times, including as husband and wife in my upcoming web series, “After Nightfall”. This is Felicity’s third time acting in one of my plays, she also directed, “Silvertop Ash”. Tasha appeared in “The Girlie Show” for me two years ago, and while I only met Jasper a year ago, he feels like family. So it was a great night, with some amazing work done. I was unhappy with the blocking of the first scene, so we reworked it. It went from boring to massive, to just right. It’s a fun scene for us actors, so let’s hope the audience enjoy it as much as we do. We worked all the family scenes and I went home feeling satisfied that this cast are really bringing gold to the stage.
Thursday February 1, 2018
A rest day from the play. Still hit the social media trail and with the auction finished, had to send out loads of emails. Plus, ticket sales continue to soar. When sales are good, I find myself checking the ticket numbers a lot – I get such joy when the numbers rise.
My big moment of the day wasn’t play based. I went to go see 90s girl bands, SWV and Allure at The Metro. Amazing night, and got to meet the ladies after. Amazing night, concerts, my other obsession. Live entertainment is the shit!
Friday February 2, 2018
A nice and early start at the theatre, which is never good after a late night. After a black coffee, Louise Mason, our brilliant lighting designer, and I started work on construction and rigging lights. I say we did it together, but really I’m there for a moral support. She is a one woman working machine and I feel like I’m just in her way most of the time. She’s climbing ladders, putting up lights, drilling up flats and I’m just holding things. Then actress, Jacinta Moses, arrives and she’s sawing wood. Everyone gets trusted with tools except me, and rightfully so. I just supply the tunes, the coffee and the conversation. But I love these days in the theatre, the excitement of getting the show ready. Plus, these ladies are two of my closest friends, so it’s great to spend time with them.
We had lunch, they left and I had the theatre to myself, so I sat up in the bio box, pulled out my trusty iPod classic and starting planning the music for the show. I know the tunes I wanted, but now was the time to work out what went where. Then my assistant director, Daniel Pollock, and leading man, Jasper Musgrave, arrived. I quickly went through music cues that effected Jasper’s monologues and left the men to rehearse in the rehearsal room. Jasper is so keen and Daniel had some great ideas, so it was nice to leave them to work together as I went off to teach.
The night finished, I was exhausted and there was wine, but it was a satisfying day in the theatre.
Sunday February 4, 2018
The day began with a trip to Kmart, it really is an indy producer’s best friend. Amazing looking plates for $1.50 each and pants for my costume. Kmart, never change.
Then in the evening we had another rehearsal, we are really gearing up for opening, so we are just doing full runs now. Though we did start with a rehearsal of the second last scene, after watching the full run the other night, I realised something didn’t seem to flow, so we quickly fixed that. We were without cast member, Brendan Paul, who was away at Short+Sweet, so we all filled in for him. It’s been a while since I played 16, but I was convincing, kind of! It was a great one, characters are really cementing, and we are slowly getting used to the transitions between scenes. My lines are getting better, need to work on them again before the next rehearsal. Man getting older sucks. When I was a teen I could read something a few times and it was in there, now, it takes solid hours of concentration and real dedication, and possibly a spell from a white witch.
I love working with my stage daughter, Tasha O’Brien, but we have a moment in the show where we are looking at each other and then have to freeze, and keep looking at other as Jasper (Otto), speaks. And in his lines he says, “It’s been hours since I spoke to him”. The pair of us, being big Prince fans, always hear “Nothing Compares 2U” in our heads and then we laugh. Corpsing on stage is not a good look, so need to get that one under control.
But I feel good, we still have a lot of work to do, but we are going in the right direction – and that doesn’t always happen in the theatre.
Monday February 5, 2018
Another day, another night in the theatre. With the full cast back, it was time for another full run of the show. It always seems shorter when you put it all together, and the runs certainly go fast. The cast have worked so hard that it is all paying off now. Now we are able to look at smaller things, because the fundamentals are all in place.
Our lighting designer, Louise Mason, joined us for the rehearsal – our first audience member. Now she’s seen the show, she has seen how fantastical and frenetic it is, so we can begin plotting later in the week.
Tickets keep selling well and we are at the point I get to in rehearsals where I just want an audience, which is a good sign, it means we are almost ready.
