The Snow Queen Rehearsal Diary - Week 5

Who'd a thunk it? We've already reached the final week of rehearsals before Tech! Here, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School alumni and Peter O’Toole Prize-winner Dylan Wood brings us up to date on all the latest antics from The Snow Queen rehearsal room in anticipation of previews from 2 Dec.

So we have hit the final week of rehearsals, how that happened I do not know but we are here and its all shaping up fine and dandy.

The first half of week 5 was all about going back to the beginning of the second act and doing exactly what we did with the first act – finesse, edit and fine tune. Going back over everything slowly has proved to be every bit as interesting as when we first looked at the scenes. We are constantly building and inventing, keeping it fresh and fun, but also stripping back and chucking things that maybe aren't quite right anymore or hold things up a bit. Having such an creative and inventive company very much keeping us on our toes. Everything about this play is BRAND NEW. Everything you will see and hear has been created from scratch by our company; the Writer, Director, musicians, us actors, the designers, everyone! There's never a moment when we aren't on our toes.

On Wednesday, we were joined in our rehearsal room by the creative team and Bristol Old Vic staff as we set up to do our first audience run-through of the show. There were smiles all around the room before it even began. You should have seen these smiles when it finished... from ear to ear, totally cheesing! Not to mention a few tear drops. I did tell you last week and I'll repeat it now, 'bring tissues'! We were all happy with the run and overwhelmed with the feedback given but we knew we still had plenty of work to do.

We used the following day to check over any bumps that we encountered in the run, any scenes that didn't quite flow properly and things that needed to be cut or jigged around. Essentially we went back to fine tune again, something we've become pretty good at! Looooads of things changed after our first run and a good few cuts were made, keeping us, as I said, on our toes. Its all for the good of the production and it's now flowing smoother than ever.

This then brings us on to tech! We were introduced to our changing rooms, our incredible costumes, our outstanding set, our sensational lighting/sound and, of course, the magical Bristol Old Vic Stage. Its all just too much, I love it! Bring on opening night!

Also, we all discovered this week that Lee is extremely good at 4 square. Literally unstoppable - which means he takes the crown! Congrats mate... about time!

This Christmas we round off the year with our epic adaptation of The Snow Queen. For more information and to book tickets, click here.