Decisions to be made

Well, today was the bulk of the auditions; I had to see a couple of people during the week and there are a few more to see; however I'm pretty comfortable here now that that I can fill most of the roles with some of the best talent EA has to offer.

I have to say I have some mixed feelings about today. I can't help but feel upset at the mass exodus that occurred after IOBE; I felt that my show regarded by the candidates poor relation of the Oscar Wilde's peice- I guess Normal is a less well known piece and I suppose lacks the Kudos accordingly. After all how many famous quotes can be lifted from Normal!!

Despite that, I feel I was blessed with quality rather than quantity, and I do have some tough choices to make. Some parts are easy to fill; there was some candidates that were just "got" what I was looking for. Others did wonderful auditions but didn't quite match my personal view on the character. Nevertheless I do have a lot of thinking to do: who was better Person A or Person B? Person C read wonderfully for Character 2, but didn't quite look right for the role. Person D was a revelation; a complete curved ball and has given me an interesting new take on Character 7.
Person F wasn't right for character 3 but might well do a good character 4- the challenge will be pitching it to that person.

You may have noticed that I've not named actors or characters at this point; don't try and figure out what roles or actors I'm talking about becuase then letters and numbers are completely random. I may at some point go back and edit this post- after the casting is announced!

I reckon I have about ten days to confirm my cast; which means I have to say no to some people. Thats going to be horrid. There are people who did really good auditions, and would have been wonderful- but just didn't fit my idea of the characters. That said, if Normal does well and I get another directing gig at least I'll be have this experience to draw on... and there maybe roles for other people in the these prospective productions!

and so to Phase 2

Its quarter to twelve on Thursday April 16 2009 and production is due to commence in just under ten months. It doesn't seem that long...

Anyway I've finally finished pre-production. I have a set design, I have preliminary lighting design and I have just programmed the final sound cue. Now of course I have no idea whether any of this is going to work, or indeed how much of this stuff will end up being used, but at least now I have concrete ideas fully laid out as too how the show will look and sound, whereas before it was more a case of a series of doodles.

I've approached the sound is my normal manner; I've done more than I will actually need or end up using simply because its a lot easier to remove a piece that has been created than find at the double run that there is a dirty great empty void which needs some music; then have two hours to source, edit and test an entirely new piece! Yes I have been there...

There are some pieces though that I know will work wonderfully; there's a single piece of music that will crop up through out the play in different forms; sometimes its solo piano, others its strings, then strings and piano, then vocal. But the simple piece of piano that ends Patti Ann's second soliloquy just works- I can hear it now, I visualise how that will all come together. Now all I have to do is do that for the other 31 scenes!

Actually the reality is most of the scenes have already been plotted; I know how each segment will be played out. That's not to say that everything is cast in stone; even tonight I had a Eureka moment which will hopefully will make people laugh and cry at the same time....