The Caretaker Rehearsal Diary – Week 3

While The Caretaker rehearsals continue powering ahead, Assistant Director Chino Odimba updates us on the latest rehearsal room antics as the company prepare to take on our powerful adaptation of Pinter's 20th century masterpiece.

264 hours left until the show opens…

The sun is blazing outside and the windows are open in the rehearsal room as we get started on another week of rehearsals for The Caretaker.

Now that we have ‘interrogated’ the text, and got the play on its feet, the next phase of the process seems to be about deciding what we’re keeping in the show. The ideas of what motivates a character to do the things they do seem to be all encompassing.

Each scene/moment of the scene is worked through with this in mind. This is a more forensic way of working with the text, but it does start to make the words come alive in a completely new way!

As well as this, we are now at the point of the rehearsal process where the actors want to feel that they have ‘coming off book’ – being able to work without referring to the script. This is one of the things as an Assistant Director that I can help with. I spend an hour or so most days with each of the cast going through their lines – prompting them when they miss something – and discussing the meaning behind why they might be saying something. I thoroughly enjoy working with the cast in this way but I am not sure how much the actors do – there are certainly a few choice words of frustration when they miss a line!

I am always impressed by the craft of remembering lines – especially for a play such as this, which is so wordy and has interesting moments of dialogue, long monologues, and abrupt turns in conversations. I watch in awe as they bring the words to life…

By the end of the week we have got through the end of the play again – with most staging starting to feel set.

We spend an afternoon with a fight director as some moments in the play get quite physical. The movement in these parts of the play has to both be convincing but safe for the cast to play night after night. It all looks very real by the end of the day.

To end the week, the sound designer Elena comes in to record some of the background sounds with the cast and Patrice Naiambana, who is has an impressive array of African drums (and plays them beautifully), records some of the music that will make up some of the music in the show.

As all the various creatives become more involved in what is having in the rehearsal room, it becomes so apparent how collaborative, theatre making is and has to be. It’s a great thing to be a part of!

I have so much more to tell you but in the meantime look out for our Twitter takeover with exclusive images from the rehearsal room!

The Caretaker opens at Bristol Old Vic 9-30 September. For more information and to book tickets, click here.