Rehearsal

We started off with an improv warm up about our characters. We got into partners and improvised a scene (that is not in the play) based on something we wanted to explore about our character. I was paired with Asa and we did my little scene first which was George's interview for the position of 1st lieutenant. I didn't think this would be that useful but it really was because when asked about past experiences with the navy, I told him when I was younger I served with my regiment.
When I researched George I found out that his father was a captain and got him a position as a second lieutenant when he was roughly 12 years old. I don't know George's personal experience on his childhood, but when asked about serving with my regiment as a young boy I said it gave me a firm basis for knowledge and skills. But after the exercise, I thought about what it would really have been like serving with the marines at such a young age. Would it have caused damage? Was he scarred? Did he see things a child of his age shouldn't have?
I also was asked about family. I wasn't sure about George's marital status at the time so I said that I had a wife and two young children, Matthew and Lily. I was asked how I felt about leaving them behind, what my plans were in terms of keeping contact, etc. I said I was confident that my children were in good hands with the rest of my family and would grow up to be resourceful members of society and if possible, I would latewr bring them over to Australia so they could be part of this new country. In reality I'm not sure how most officers would have felt about leaving their family behind, especially their children. I don't know whether they were particularly close with their children, if they came over to Australia or if they were ever reunited again.

We switched over and did Asa's scene. Asa is playing the role of a convict, Robert Sideway and in his scene we improvised a conversation between a prostitute he lives with (me) and himself. He's just come back from a round of pickpocketing and saw his favourite actor, David Garrick, come out of the theatre. Through this improvisation I realised how intelligent Robert Sideway is. Most of the convicts or people of his class wouldn't have cared for much let alone the theatre but Sideway's love for it shows how clever he is. He seems to have gone to watch several of Garrick's plays and loved them, showing a level of understanding for literature. Asa plays this very well and onstage, the intelligence exhumes from his character. He has the common touch yet has his airs and graces.

We ran though act 1 and the transitions need to be quicker and sharper. People can sometimes slack when it comes to that and are unsure of that they're doing. We all need to be off book as soon as possible because some scenes are doing well but having a script in your hand takes away from the scene. We all really need to work on volume too.
I think the scenes that are really strong and working well are the scenes between Duckling and Harry because James and Tiffany don't acknowledge the potential awkwardness that could be in their scene. They got over that pretty quickly and when they're onstage, the chemistry between them seems true. They don't lie about it and take their time.
A scene I think can improve is still the discussion between officers scene. When we haven't ran over it after a few rehearsals it gets shoddy and boring, though it has been boring for quite a while. Pace is the main issue in this scene because it's such a long scene but there's nothing entertaining about it. The stakes are quite high in this scene but we aren't playing that yet.