Open Wardrobes

Last night was my third rehearsal for Hanging of the Greens which will be entirely blocked come Monday. So I've now had a couple of nights working with all the kids onstage and I have to say, they are a great bunch. When you play a family with others onstage and don't yet know everyone that well, it takes a little while to build that family chemistry, but we're already well on our way. These kids are incredibly expressive, they know how to react, and already I can start to see them interacting together as a family. I only knew one of the kids prior to this show (Ali, who plays my oldest daughter Keera), and so I feel that I'm still getting to know them, but I am enjoying every minute of the process. I have seven kids in this show (which is exactly 7 more than I have in real life) and each of them just seem to fit the part given to them. The youngest two (in terms of characters, I haven't quite figured out everyone's real life ages) who play twins Regan and Morgan, make a great team. Watching them I feel that they must be actual sisters (they aren't), so tangible is the twin connction between them. I love how these two characters were written, the one twin quiet and the other rowdy, but still the sense that they are an inseperable duo. There is a moment when I as the father have to pull Regan, the rowdy twin, aside to reprimand her for some mischief... and the penitent, puppy-dog eyes I receive are enough to melt anyone's heart. And so, in character, it is hard to be angry. When it comes to his children Briant is definitely something of a pushover and most of the discipline is left to his wife Aleena. There is a moment too when 12 children at once give the puppy-dog eyes to all the adults - surely this must qualify as some kind of psychological warfare? I think if you put enough children together, all making those sad eyes, even the most stone-hearted person can be made to do anything! (Clearly if I ever have children I too will be a pushover!)


So it is going very well, and to have these sweet moments already, after just a week and a half, portends great things for the performances. As for myself, I am still searching for exactly who Briant is, his relationship with each of his children, with Aleena, and so on. For me, when I can figure out the physicality of the character, that usually is when things really start to click. (One of the reasons I like to be able to put down the script as soon as possible.) My next rehearsal is Monday, so if I am wise I shall spend much of the time between now and then thinking about these very things.