We’re so very nearly there…

So we are now only a week away from the set get in at Itchen Valley Country Park, two weeks away from the technical fit up and precisely two and a half weeks until the technical rehearsals!  Safe to say this is why we haven’t updated our blog as much as we should have done as we have been quite busy trying to get everything ready in time (especially with the amount of props Dan has decided he wants as usual!).

Over the last month myself, Dan and Amy have been busy in the office as well as the rehearsal room (where the cast have been especially busy working hard preparing the show for their performances).  When it comes to our productions, as a youth theatre we rely very heavily on sponsorship and support from local companies and businesses in order for us to be able to afford to put our shows on.  For The Jungle Book, we are very fortunate that RBS Scaffold and Selwood are our production partners.  RBS also sponsored our Christmas show in 2010 and this summer they are building all our structures and technical towers at Itchen Valley Country Park for us!  Geoff from RBS has been incredibly helpful and from next Monday, he and his team will be coming onto site and building all sorts of wonderful structures for us – some for our lighting towers so we can light the scenes but also some for our set, so look out for monkeys clambering over things!  Selwood have also been fantastic, and they are providing us with generators and other plant equipment – things that are so crucial when we are working in an outdoor environment!  So we are so grateful for these two companies and also all the other businesses and organisations that are helping us.

As the DSM (deputy stage manager) for the production, my role in the rehearsal room is quite demanding but also very exciting and creative.  It is the DSM’s job to mark down all the blocking for the production in a copy of the script as well as keep rehearsal notes, so that everything that happens in the rehearsal room can be circulated to the rest of the creative team.  For instance, when Dan decides what props he would like for each character, or a particular piece of set that needs to be included in the scene, this is recorded in the rehearsal notes and is sent out to the creative team, which includes the designer, the musical director, the choreographer,  the stage management team and the technical team.  This way, they are all able to follow the directors’ vision for the production without being in the rehearsal room.  This makes the process smoother when they come to work directly on the piece, knowing what is expected on them.  We are also holding regular conversations and meetings with these members of the team as well so that we all know at what stage each department is at.  Last week, we had a production meeting to discuss all the technical requirements that lasted two and a half hours!  Clearly there were lots of items to discuss – including updates from our lighting designer Elliot about what equipment he needed us to order, how many radios we need to hire, logistics about when set pieces were being delivered and even a discussion about the hire of portable toilets! 

Another one of my roles as DSM, is to collate and record all the props that will be needed for the production, and then to collect and source them.  As much as possible, we are begging, stealing and borrowing what we can (not actual stealing obviously) and we are always blown away by people’s generosity so this is keeping me very busy to make sure that everything is in place as soon as possible.  We’re at one of my favourite stages of the production process now, at the point where everything is starting to come together and we can start to see the results of months of preparation and hard work.  Carl Davies our designer also comes down to start full time at the end of this week, so we’re really going to start to see things happen now and very quickly too.

I am currently writing this blog whilst in a rehearsal – and before you ask, no there is no other work for me to be doing.  Ivan Stott, our wonderful composer and MD (musical director) is teaching our cast one of the songs from Act 2.  This particular one is for Mowgli’s mother to sing to Mowgli after he has returned to the man village – and I would like to say it is beautiful.  The music Ivan has written is gorgeous and the cast have lovely voices – I might be biased about this but I am really excited about this production, possibly more so than I usually am, it is going to be a really wonderful experience for all involved.  I really can’t wait.

Louise Rickwood

Youth Theatre Coordinator

DSM – The Jungle Book