Wow! The first week of blocking is over. It seems like only yesterday I was searching for the perfect piece. Now, I’ve got my cast in front of me performing at their best. Over the past few weeks I’ve been wrestling with many ideas and not really knowing what to actually do. To have my five performers and I sat round ‘blocking’ or plotting out each and every move and how they do them and what it means starts to make the Young Directors’ Festival much more real.
I am not going to lie, after the concept meeting I was a bit daunted by the fact that in a couple of months the piece I am directing from Love and Information by Carol Churchill will be on the Hexagon stage. I was a nervous wreck, but as soon as I got into the swing of actually directing (a job that I had been itching to do since July) it felt surprisingly natural.
The actual process of blocking is enjoyable. For the past few weeks I have been jotting down any ideas that spring into mind and then about a week before it was the first blocking session I made a clear plan of what I’d be doing and how. Then in the actual rehearsal I went through it bit by bit for the performers and it was as if something clicked in their minds and they suddenly got it. Which I was beyond happy about. Whether the cast would share my vision was one of my biggest worries coming into this process. Love and Information can be a complex script to read on paper, with that being said once the moves had been put in, the play came to life.
Since joining Stage2 in 2011 and moving up from Stage1 (a group for 7 – 10 year olds) soon after, I’ve only ever missed a few shows. From only ever being out of the performer’s shoes a few times, becoming a director was a huge change of perspective for me. The difference between being a director and an actor is that both require creativity but directing takes a step further by having to think of the wider picture and tell the whole story.
Looking forward, I am both excited and challenged by the idea that Love and Information will be performed in only a couple of months. My nerves aside, I know without a doubt that my amazing cast will be able to bring my original ideas to life and for it to become an experience I’ll always remember.
By Georgie Nott
Georgie joined Stage2 in 2011 and has fulfilled a multitude of roles since she’s been in the company. Most notable was her work in Steven Berkoff’s Requiem for Ground Zero and her role as Dott the Cleaner in the Award Winning Teechers by John Godber.
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