The serious business of getting on a play

Friday already..... The beautiful weather has returned, and it seems a shame to have a full day of rehearsals down in our basement room, but the game is afoot, and we have some real momentum, and plenty of work to do. There are now so many people in the rehearsal room, with all of the translation and production elements, that asking Ayako to practise her section before the play is putting her pretty much on the spot, but she rises to it, and we map out the way that her beginning will work. Iris, once she is established, remains outside the site, and watches the story unfold, along with the audience. She maintains her ability to communicate with the audience. Norang, who is looking for Yoghurt front of house before the play, can communicate with the audience then, but once she is inside the site, that line of communication is broken. We have come to the conclusion that we should think of the audience as the people of the city, and the characters view them in this way.

The morning rehearsal is working out the structure and shape of the first section of the play, and practising it. There is a slow rythmn inevitably, to which people are adjusting. It is a little like a film set, with every 'take' being followed by a number of simultaneous discussions, before being pulled together for the next one, so these gaps between are long. But the decisions being made feel right, and we are lucky that the level of agreement between the creative team members is generally very high.

The set gets nearer to finality bit by bit. In the afternoon, Yeon had arrived with the wooden mock-up version of the fence arrived, and there was a long discussion while the actors worked with Ayako on the Brazil song, and the digging songs. The idea gets simpler and simpler, which feels right. It is very clear that we don't need a whole fence panel now, because we have worked out a way of using just wire and posts and plastic for the beginning of the play. Every time we use something in place of the real version, the actors make the substitute work so well, we start doubting that we need the 'real' one. Today it was a danger sign, 'borrowed' from the entrance to the theatre, which Yudai made so funny, that it seemed wrong to lose it. But this keeps on happening, and we are all aware that we are in the narrowing down stage now...

Having decided another simplification, which involves the fence wire swinging round, so that the audience moves from outside the building site to inside, we rehearsed the first section of the play, which was looking in good shape. Ayako improvised along with the action, and that element of the play is evolving. The last section of rehearsal was a run of quite a chunk, taking us up to Brazil. So Young arrived to watch, and to update us on the newest costume designs. They are now much more everyday than the original designs, which were very beautiful but not quite right for our needs. There is still a quirkiness to them which we want to maintain.

After rehearsals the team divides for a range of events. Some are at a traditional performance, others at the concert for which Minato has come to Seoul. For me, it is off up into the mountains, to go to a party held by Buksetung Theatre, with a barbecue outside their new base - Jimin, In U and the newly-married Sori. They had taken the day out of rehearsals to climb Pukhansan, and welcome in the Spring. I am very jealous, maybe they made the right decision. AnywayI gatecrashed a truly wonderful evening with very special friends.