Singing in the Rain

After five days of beautiful spring sunshine, the weather broke at midday, and the glass walls of the Arko City Theatre flowed with rain.  Yudai kicked Young Ju on the way down to Brazil, and needed a carefully applied melon ice lolly to reduce the swelling under her chin.  Apart from that, it was a good day.

Certainly we worked hard.  We got to the end of the play working fairly briskly through it, so that Ayako could get a sense of the whole.  Tomorrow is really her day, when we introduce the character of Iris [pronounced 'ee rish'] the musician.   We did have a sneak preview with the drums though, both with a dance to warm up, and a usk through the digging section.

We have identified four keywords for this stage in the production.  We knew in October that we had created something good, but we want now to take it on to something, SIMPLE, BALANCED, BEAUTIFUL and SPECIAL.  The words are up in three languages on our rehearsal wall.  Much of this stage is about finding neat simple solutions to the issues that arise, and we have been trying to dispense with anything that has not got sufficient reason to be there.  The balance is between the three cultures, and this needs constant vigilance.  Also part of the mix is the constant search for clarity.  Everything has to be clear enough to the speakers of each of the three languages.  Sorting that out, while dealing in the three languages between us, can take some doing.

Lunch today was delivered on a motorbike, because of avoiding a walk through the torrential rain to our restaurant.  We had an indoor picnic of chinese food, and then for the first time a full afternoon rehearsal session.  The actors were wilting by the end of another highly concentrated day.  But most of us still managed an evening visit to the Korean National University of the Arts, where I was doing a workshop, and a great late session in a well-known meeting place for artists and intellectuals called Ooh La La.  Makkoli [rice wine] and egg rolls and fishballs, in the company of some old friends.