Returning from the weekend away – on a houseboat in Port Alfred - I felt a little sheepish* (*hungover) at having abandoned Dion and the cast. The notes from Janet had been largely implemented on Friday afternoon and Saturday and there were just a few touch-ups left to do. I felt sad for the cast losing so many more lines after the show ran for 1 hr 30 on Friday and it’s meant to be 1 hr. We knew this was possibly going to be the case, but in a way the fact that the actors were working up to now with a fuller text, has helped them find the essence of their characters. Again, the beauty of Shakespeare’s art is that the character is in the language. That's how I justify and cope with the guilt of dishing out line cuts so late in the process.
We worked on our new party sequence, a stronger stylized approach with a heartbeat underpinning the whole scene, including the lovers sonnet, and concluding with a thumping beat from Tybalt as he withdraws with “this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall”.
We staggered through the last through scenes to implement new tighter blocking, bringing the action much further forward on the stage, and reigniting the heartbeat underscore from the moment Romeo hears the news of Juliet’s death, speeding up through to his arrival at the tomb and slowing down until his death, and then Juliet’s heartbeat taking over till her real death. We even have some wicked drumming from Ilana to accompany Tsegho’s brilliant witchdoctor apothecary.
After these final changes, we only had time for a top-and-tail run to cement the transitions and blocking changes. The cast were given an early finish to go and make preparations for leaving on tour tomorrow. Dion and I used the rest of the afternoon to get the piece of wood we use for Juliet’s bed and tomb scene chopped smaller, a mission we felt very self-satisfied about achieving. Then our own time for packing. Being very restrained with my shoes for this journey, only three pairs.
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