The Fourth Messenger goes to Ashby

We’re in the Ashby!

We have left the rehearsal hall and good old Shotgun Stables, rife with noisy and effective heaters, A reasonable facsimile of the set, and all of the tea that you can drink. We have moved into the Ashby Stage as of Thursday the 31st. There is absolutely no doubt that theatre has been crafted carefully and joyfully in that building. Just stepping inside you feel a sense of purpose and focus that tends to inhabit spaces where good work is attempted.

We got started with a wandelprobe last night. I have been a participant in a sitzprobe, but never the wandelprobe. The only difference being that one is mit blocking, and the other has no blocking required. So we got to hear these amazing and complicated arrangements from our incredible band. I actually get to start and end the show in the orchestra, and I am so thankful. I love when the musicians are part of the company, and there’s no better way to drag them into the company then by sticking me right in the middle of them. Hopefully I don’t offend anyone.

So we did all of our blocking on the new set. For some reason the rehearsal hall to performance space move is always a confusing time. We have exact layouts of the floor during rhearsal, but you can’t imagine exactly what its going to be like until you’re actually there, and when you do it always throws you. Not a lot, but enough to make you think carefully about what you’re doing and where you are going.

This can be really beneficial if you’re able to get your brain around the fact that everything that you spent all this time rehearsing may completely change, and in the case of new work, almost certainly will. And we haven’t even had a preview yet.

Tech starts tonight. I can’t wait.