With preparations for Arabian Nights now in full swing director Amy Leach gives us the lowdown on how things are going from the rehearsal room…
It’s always a momentous occasion arriving at the first day of rehearsals – a heady mix of excitement and nerves – and never more so than with Arabian Nights. This production has been over a year in the planning. During that time, I’ve listened to Arabic music, I’ve pored over reference images, I’ve worked with Hayley (our Designer) to create the set, I’ve cast and assembled our talented creative team, and I’ve daydreamed about how we might bring these magical stories to life. But you can only ever be so prepared as you step into the rehearsal room and begin to work everything out with the team. Thoughts you had on paper don’t always work in the flesh, and new ideas get suggested.
Our first day started like most first days with a meet and greet where the Arabian Nights team met all the staff from the Library Theatre and each other. After a read-through, we presented the design to the cast, using the model box to talk them through how the set will work and the concept for the design. Whilst each actor was measured and saw their costume designs, we watched a BBC documentary called ‘The Secrets of the Arabian Nights’. And we finished the day with another read-through but of a different sort. The concept for this production is that a group of storytellers bring these stories to life in a derelict palace under the stars, much as the market traders would have done across the Middle East hundreds of years ago. So this time, rather than sitting on chairs, we sat in a circle on the floor and the actors were free to move around the room and to act out the stories as much or as little as they liked whilst they read. Our composer and musician Arun was on hand to play music as he saw fit, and something quite magical happened. Without any rehearsals, the company began to bring the stories to life. They played and they invented and they laughed. And I knew we had the perfect team to perform this play.
I always think of rehearsals like doing a good paint job. You need to put the primer on first, then a base coat, then another layer of paint, and then maybe some varnish. So the rest of the first week has been about the primer. We’ve been exploring each of the stories in turn and trying to get our collective heads round how we bring them to life – what the style might be, how we might incorporate music and dance. And we’ve had our flu jabs.
Arabian Nights runs at The Lowry Fri 30 Nov 2012 – Sat 12 Jan 2013. Family deals and children’s tickets are available for only £10 at all performances. You can book tickets online here or from The Lowry Box Office on 0843 208 6010.