Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play - week 3
Wrap me in a towel with some bottles on my head and call me Lisa Simpson! It’s week 3 of Mr
Burns rehearsals.
We now find ourselves in the penultimate week of the rehearsal period. And that means several
things. Firstly, it was the final week of being “on book” and having scripts in hand. Everyone has
been really hot on lines through the whole process and it’s fantastic to see how detailed our
scenes become when we aren’t staring at our sheets of highlighted paper. My character in
particular has a long unbroken section of speech in act 1. A monologue, for those who don’t
constantly mince their words. It always feels like a big responsibility to have your *big speech
moment* and I particularly felt a drive to perfect it.
Our director Omar was really helpful in this
endeavour, giving me specific notes, reassuring me on what was successful and carving out some
time to work on the monologue, while the rest of the cast looked at a different moment of the play.
This led me to have much greater confidence leading into a run of the whole first half of the show.
We had called this “run” a stagger through, a walk through and then eventually gained the
confidence to graduate to run of the first half. I was impressed with how much had been retained
from everyone and felt really heartened by seeing how all the moving parts fit together. It made it
extremely clear to me which moments to focus on when I did some independent work at the
weekend and aware of what needs my attention going into our final rehearsal week.
The best part of the week for me was easily the PROMO STUFF. There is definitely a better term
to encapsulate this (making of promotional materials?) but it’s not as fun. We recorded a number
of different scenes and musical moments for the show trailer. And filmed cast interviews. I love
seeing PROMO STUFF for a show I’m in, it’s surreal and at the same time solidifies in your brain
“this is really happening!”. It’s also the time when I send the trailer to my friends who promptly
reply that they’ve already booked tickets. Indeed, the show is selling out fast and I’m keen to see
how our trailer serves to increase the buzz that there already is.
Going into next week we’ll be adding more detail to the second half of the show. This act contains
some of my favourite moments (and the infamous “Willy grabbed his rake” line) so I’m really
looking forward to it. The writing is so gripping that I find myself re-reading the script even while
warming up or waiting to rehearse again. So I can’t fathom how brilliant an experience it will be for
audience members. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a play like this and can’t name another one similar,
it’s going to be an absolute treat for anyone lucky enough to nab one of the few tickets left.
Written by Ida Regan
Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play - Week 2
Dressed as an anthropomorphic mouse and singing a demonic alternate rendition of “Toxic” - it must be week 2 of Mr Burns rehearsals.
So much has happened since my week 1 blog! We’ve learnt many more songs, tackled new instruments and I defected from team Aldi to Lidl (try the smoothies). Indeed, everyone’s routines have been punctuated by necking back Ginger Shots. It’s a classic voice thing. If you see someone with a can of ginger-juice-concoction walking purposefully through Derby’s streets, they are a member of our cast. Vocal heath has been paramount as we spent several days working on the second half of the play which is nearly sung through. There are rich and impressive 6 part harmonies that span my whole vocal range. So a lot of emphasis has been placed on warming up effectively and maintaining a focussed mind to grasp the material. It sounds fantastic, which is a relief.
In “what percussion is Ida playing this week?” We actually have some new developments. Additional instruments include boom whackers (rock on) and bottles (seems adorable, is actually haunting). Boom whackers (again, cool name dude) are long tubes which when hit against something produce a tone. Different lengths correspond to different notes (shorter = higher). Itchy and Scratchy play a jaunty tune with them. It’s hilarious and terrifying, my favourite combination.
The bottles are fairly self explanatory, playing them like diet coke shaped flutes. I am a virtuoso at these and entertained the cast by playing three blind mice in our lunch break.
Speaking of entertained, some of my favourite moments this week have been cast bonding exercises. It’s amazing to see how well we’re gelling in the rehearsal room, cast and creatives. This certainly contributes to how much progress we’re making with the play and how polished it is already. Two of the best moments will be recounted for you now.
Firstly, a task has emerged to fit the Act 3 line “Willy grabbed his rake” into popular songs. Helen Potter (Quincy) took ABBA: “I am Willy, here’s my rake: ahaaaaa”. Omar, our ever fab director, had a completely different spin with Red Hot Chilli Peppers. And I picked Queen, rattling off such puns as “I want to rake free” and reducing the opening of Don’t Stop Me Now to “Tonight, gonna grab myself a real big rake”. It’s high brow entertainment. Only those of an erudite mind will truly grasp its depths.
The other top comedic moment was a game devised by Nathan Richard Smith (playing Sam). It consists of walking up to someone and shaking their hand. They then have to say the first full name that comes to their mind, no notable names allowed. The results were side splitting. I lasted quite well through the rounds but was eventually out because apparently “Tuna Can” and “Window McCarpetfloor” are not acceptable names. I was attempting the say-what-you-see method to mixed success.
I am intrigued and excited to see what we get up to next week. Whatever happens, you’ll be the first to know! Until then…
Written by Ida Regan
Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play - Week 1
Standing on top of a sofa, holding a prop gun aloft and rapping Snoop Dogg: It can only be Week 1 of Mr Burns rehearsals.
The first day started as these things often do - with a circle of introductions. Name, role and (with an interesting twist on the format) Simpson’s character you feel most spiritually linked to. With that in mind, hi! I’m Ida, playing Maria, and I’m soul bonded to Milhouse. We both wear glasses and I highly relate to his infamous line “my mum says I’m cool”.
For the uninitiated, the eponymous Mr Burns of the play does in fact refer to the eccentric Springfield power plant owner. The piece explores how pop culture could survive an apocalyptic event and opens with a group of survivors entertaining themselves around a campfire while describing the events of Cape Feare. A truly *chef’s kiss* Simpsons ep.
Our director Omar Khan has been fantastic in his guidance through any heavy material. We’ve been tasked to research the effects of radiation poisoning AND then rehearsed a slick acapella version of “I like to move it (move it)” in the same day. The text is fantastically detailed and Omar takes the time to help each of us parse all the little clues we have to grasping our characters. I find myself having lots of sudden realisations as things click into place. It’s a play he’s wanted to tackle for a while and it shows in his slick and confident directing style and stream of ideas to try if anyone gets stuck. Like this:
I graduated from drama school in 2020, my final term was cancelled due to the ol’ Panny-D and I still feel like a very new professional-art-person. The imposter syndrome can get intense and I’m hard on myself when I don’t do everything perfectly on the first attempt. The rest of the cast is populated by such staggeringly talented people that just watching them work feels like being in a masterclass, and I look around wondering what clerical error allowed me to be in this room and have my name on the call sheet. But this team is so supportive, uplifting and kind that I see every challenge as an opportunity. And Omar especially is adept at working with actors of any experience level. The cast and production team make me feel like a veteran and push me to constantly raise my game.
The play is multidisciplinary and contains songs, movement, dancing and - best of all - me banging (playing?) a drum with skill and impressive intensity (watch for that with bated breath). I also dabble with some xylophone (hold on to your hats). We have worked through so much material in the first week alone, tackling 3 songs and ending the week with a run of the entire first third of the play. It feels like unheard of progress so I’m spending my day off counting down the hours until I can get back in the room again and get going on week two.
Written by Ida Regan
RTYDS Connect Artist journal 2/12/21
It’s been three months since the start of the ‘Connect’ project, and it’s been great to speak with other members of the cohort, sharing our ideas on how we’d like to see theatre change for the better.
In November, I shared my project ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Widowhood’ at Bedlam Festival as part of their scratch night. While the sharing went well, with some great pieces of theatre being explored in front of a fantastic audience, the journey to getting it shared was most definitely an uphill struggle, and I’m interested in exploring how the industry could support artists in similar situations in the future.
The first issue was casting. The role calls for a female, aged between 35-50 from a South Asian background. The actor we had worked with in our R&D for China Plate’s First Bite festival was unavailable, so I spoke to somebody else I had been in contact with to take on the role. She did an amazing job and I’m very glad to have worked with her, however, she was based in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was problematic for two reasons.
Firstly, having to ‘import’ talent from other regions is an issue. Although Stratford is within the Midlands, it is by no means local to Derby. Given that 12.6% of the population of Derby identify as Asian, why is it so difficult to cast for Asian roles? This question becomes more troubling when we look at Nottingham and Leicester, whose Asian populations are 13.1% and 37% respectively. I believe there is an issue with representation, but I also feel this issue is systemic. In the youth theatre I run, not one of the children aged 8-12 is from a South Asian background, with only a single child being from the global majority. In addition to this, having to travel from Stratford to Leicester, which is where we were rehearsing, isn’t cheap. To make it worthwhile, we had to pay additional travel expenses on top of our actors' fee to make her time worthwhile. And given that our budget was extremely limited, this proved a strain, which leads me into my second point.
We were unsuccessful in securing a commission we were hoping to get for the project, which meant we ended up having four weeks to try and raise the money to enable us to share the work. Bedlam festival offered us a fee to share the piece, however given that we were a collective of individuals rather than a solo performer, it was only enough to cover one person’s fee. Our goal was to try and raise close to £2500 to allow for writing, a week of rehearsals, wellness support, and travel. Our initial instinct was to not attempt a crowdfunder for two reasons given the timeline and stage of development. So how were we going to raise the money?By contacting individuals and organisations directly, with a specific ask.
This is by no means reinventing the wheel. In fact, some of the biggest shows in London rely on individual donors to get off the ground. However, this patronage has a whiff of nepotism about it, and often the success of your fundraising is dependent on who you know. It’s also a rather degrading part of the job. So what can we do to help other artists avoid this in the future?
Well, part of our budget included £150 for a wellbeing support practitioner; another line was for travel. I’d personally like to see organisations being bolder, offering micro-commissions with quick turnarounds for specific components of project budgets, that enable artists to make and explore their work. Theatres in the East Midlands do a fantastic job of offering in-kind support to local artists, but I’d like to see this go one step further. Why can’t they offer £30 towards travel expenses that would otherwise make a project impossible to get off the ground? What happens when more people include wellbeing support into their budgets because they know it will be supported by one-off matched funding from a venue who believes in wellness being a core aspect of theatre?
In the end, we raised around £1400, which was enough to get in a room and explore the work. It also meant that I contributed a small amount from my own pocket to ensure everyone else on the team was paid fairly. I didn’t mind doing this, because I was in the privileged position of being able to do so. But for those artists who are just starting out, for whom a train-ticket for an out of town actor means a budget becomes infeasible, having nowhere to turn to for financial support, and there not being anyone local who can step in, becomes a real problem.
RTYDS Connect Artist journal 9/8/21
Who are RTYDS?
The Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme (RTYDS) is a professional artist development programme for new and emerging theatre directors in the UK. The scheme seeks out and nurtures talented theatre directors; developing their skills and experience by placing them in the UK’s leading regional theatres and providing unique training and professional development opportunities.
What is a Connect Artist?
The ‘Connect Artist’ scheme was born from conversations with freelance artists during lockdown. Initially conceived as a 12 month role for two individuals, the aim of the program is to discover how we can best reach those directors and theatre makers that experience barriers and inequality because of race, gender identity, educational background, class or disability. The role has since developed into a 7 month project with a cohort of 5 different artists, myself included. RTYDS believe that this is a process that needs to be designed alongside freelance artists because their knowledge, skills, creativity and lived experience needs to sit at the heart of the change we are trying to make.
…and what does that mean, exactly?
It basically means that each artist is going to spend some time exploring more deeply how to connect with a particular community in a meaningful way. In my case, I’m interested in reaching out to South Asian artists, particularly within the East Midlands, because the numbers represented within theatre don’t represent the local communities. In particular, in the youth theatres I work with across Derby & the Midlands, I see very few Asian faces, which ultimately leads to a representation issue that gets passed down from generation to generation.
So, what are you going to do about it?
The first step is reaching out to South Asian artists across the region, to engage in conversations and find out what their perceptions of the cultural landscape are. This can be with emerging artists, to find out what training and opportunities would be most useful; or with ‘established’ artists, to hear about what the quality and quantity of roles are like for people from the South Asian diaspora. Then, if it feels right, I would like to bring these artists together, building a network that can skill share, shout about roles and opportunities, and support each others work and professional development.
I am also interested in bringing theatre to a younger generation of potential artists, to share a career in the arts as a viable future. Whether this is workshops delivered by established artists who look like them, recruiting more South Asian youngsters into existing youth theatres, or setting up a whole new group to support and nurture the next generation of young Asian talent remains to be seen. This will all be built and shaped by what the community says is missing.
When does the project start?
September 2021. To be clear, the hard aims of the placement are simply to have time to reflect and write my musings down in this journal. By the end of this role I will have a list of action points that outline a strategy for establishing this South Asian network. My personal aims are to see a quantifiable increase in the number of Asian youngsters engaging with theatre in the East Midlands, but we shall see how we get on…