Mullered Leaves Home: Final Rehearsal: Blog 54

Jordan Barrett and John Rayment

Morning All!

So Mullered by Clifford Oliver took its first steps in this iteration yesterday into Kingsford School in Newham. I missed the first shows unfortunately but hope to see it at Eastlea school today.Natalie reported that all went well.

Final rehearsals were a blast on Monday. The last day always has to be carefully timed, so that the piece is just reaching boiling point, a little bit over and its spoilt, a little under and it doesn't set! It really is like cooking, and indeed we often use culinary language when making a performance, its not unheard for us to say "its really cooking now!". 

Nat, John, Jordan and Karl have created a lovely feel in their team. They operate as an intimate tribe that has a real mix of warmth, humour and seriousness. I like that. Walking in to the studio to see them going through their practice points together is great, not least because as they work together in this way they coach and share new ideas and ways of seeing.

My day was enriched too by the arrival for lunch of my new friend and unexpected director Tim Major. Those of you who read this blog regularly will have met Tim pretty much as the same time as I did. (Accidental Conversation with Director Tim Major: Blog 25, An Accidental Meeting: Director Tim Major: Part Two. Blog 32). 


When I describe Tim as an unexpected director I ought to explain that he is not so to himself of course - he's just unexpected to me. And its not that I didn't know that Tim was a director, of course I did. I saw him for two years going down the corridor to his panto rehearsals (his company made the panto for the Broadway for five years). He always looked to me in those days a bit like the white rabbit scurrying toward his rabbit hole! Always deeply intent and focused on the day ahead. We hardly passed the time of day then, each bound in our own creative bubbles I guess. We met but we didn't really meet.

But following a number of enlightening exchanges with Tim about process etc; I invited him to join me for a coffee on Monday to carry on our conversation a bit more. Well as it transpired the timing of our rehearsal had gone a bit astray earlier and when Tim arrived we were just about to warm up and do a run through. I invited him to watch and more importantly to be a critical eye for me. I must point out here that directors are generally pretty precious about their rehearsal space for all the reasons I have touched on in other blogs. But this also means we are not really that great at sharing practice - which is a bit odd as we all want to make the best work we can but feel very exposed too in the time of making. Its a delicate and vulnerable area. But my intuition about Tim is such that I knew he would understand the context and space and indeed my ways in. As such I even asked him to make notes - not a usual practice for me.

We started our warm-up with further Truth Stick exercises, again about locating emotion and transmitting and transforming it. And then to a full run through. Boiling point in a show is interesting and pretty much like cooking. Its very visible and erupts from calm most exquisitely. But if you let it just boil of course it will quite quickly evaporate or burn depending on its density. This performance was the penultimate, so "coming to boiling point". 

Karl Jackson and Karl Jackson's Image

After the run through, I gave my notes, and much to my own surprise, and to Tim's I think I invited him to give his notes directly to the actors. He didn't have many, but they were specific, precise and astute. I think John in particular appreciated them and the one or two for him were added and adjusted later in the afternoon. Its so refreshing to get that outside but experienced eye looking at your work. An infinite joy!

A quick lunch at the Galleon Cafe with Tim where we carried on our conversation and then for me back to the studio for the full dress at 4pm.It went well, although I stopped it ten minutes in as it had got off to a slow beginning.
But after that false start we were on our way. 

Natalie Dacosta and Jordan Barrett

 It was where it needed to be before being served to the students at Kingsford yesterday.Well done Team Mullered. I will see the show today and let you know how it went.

Have a good one.

Ps: Sorry to John Rayment for calling him John Raymond in my last blog - you would think I would know our actors names by now! I have changed it John!