Rehearsal 27th August

Today Kitty and I rehearsed with Hannah back in Bath, embracing yet another new rehearsal space and a new array of rehearsal props. We worked through the notes from our run in Cambridge last Friday (though it seems like much more than a week ago!), trying out new edits and ideas within the piece.
One of the notes that I found particularly useful was the encouragement to let the breath and giggles free- particularly in the first section of the play. It helped establish the childishness of the younger ages, and thus meant I felt freer within these units.
Another element we worked on was tidying and developing transitions between specific units. One of the major challenges of this play is establishing a huge event in just a couple of sentences, then leaving the emotion of that behind and moving forward in time (sometimes many years) in just a few seconds. I located the areas in which I need to solidify and secure my own emotional triggers in order to allow myself to do this, and am continually working to ensure I am totally familiar with these and able to get the most use out of them.
Another on-going working point is the establishment and acknowledgement of Virginia's age in each segment. Some of these are significantly easier than others. Perhaps the most challenging is to subtly show the shift in a couple of years. So for example establishing the 24 year old Virginia from the 26 year old- whilst also taking into account all the other elements of her life; her mental state, her feelings of vulnerability or periods of mania. I think this is perhaps the part of my work that requires the most attention at the moment, and is certainly the thing I intend to concentrate on over the next few days.
Kitty and I had found time to run the piece a couple of times earlier in the week, and I feel that this really helped the sequence of events sink into my bones. I feel far more able to trust that I know exactly where the piece is going and thus able to feel each moment as it occurs, rather than having a corner of my mind working logistically through the play as we ran it- reminding myself where the boxes need to be moved, or which items of clothing or props I need to use or set.
So next time we all meet will be the dress/tech weekend- where all elements will finally come together, where music will meet projection, costume, set and of course the words. It's all getting very exciting!!!