Traditionally with small cast productions, the director has a lot of time to focus in on very particular elements with each actor. As God of Carnage only has four actors, I witnessed some of this work when I attended rehearsal on February 16th.
I walk into the space to find two of the four actors warming up 10 minutes prior to the beginning of rehearsal. Director Heather Davies has not yet arrived, and Molly Phillips, the stage manager, is facilitating. One actor shows up just before call time at 10:00 am and one shows up 10 minutes late. What I gather from this is that they must be in good standing for the opening, as they aren’t stressing.
When Davies arrives (right on time), she decides to begin the rehearsal with the notes from last day’s run. She is not upset by the one actor’s tardiness, nor is anyone else. She runs her rehearsal a little more relaxed than other directors I’ve seen, and she creates a conversation between herself and the actors. She talks through the entire marked-up script from the night before and dictates feedback that applies to specific actors or to all of them. The notes have a focus on character body, energy, gestures, volume, diction, consonants, and especially audience sightlines. These are mostly specific notes, which indicate that they’ve reached a mature point in the process and have started to refine the hard edges of the show.
At one point, Davies asks the actors for advice when approaching a note about a staging challenge. She understands that something is wrong with that particular moment but goes to the actors for help when addressing it. This creates a sense of a collaborative process where the director hasn’t set up a traditional hierarchy but is allowing the actors to interpret the script with her. This approach often produces positive results because it gives the actors more freedom to work through a problem as opposed to simply working through the director’s vision: they become invested in the process and develop a greater understanding of the play together. The actors are also encouraged to share personal stories to help them relate to these characters. There are unplanned breaks between the notes to share last night’s shenanigans and jokes, creating a fun and relaxed process. The room is always light-hearted, and everyone is in a good mood.
After notes, Davies then gives them 15 minutes of rehearsal time to warm up, and we begin working through a run of the show. Davies states that she has a constant movie of the show in her mind, and it is the actor’s job to paint her vision. She takes time to think on her own and process questions as she stares at the set. I like to think that this internal movie comes to life as she processes any difficulties.
Davies watches the actors run the show until she encounters something that she has a note about; she then proceeds to work through that specific moment until they’ve got it right. Once it’s polished, they take it back to the beginning and work it in with the rest. She also directs standing up, as she gets on stage with the actors and works through the problem with them. This is refreshing because it breaks down the fourth wall that some directors create in the rehearsal process, and really shows her commitment to working through each road block instead of relying entirely on the actor’s interpretation of her verbal notes. This stop-and-start process is used to work through the problems they encounter for their run of the show, and, again, it feels like a collaborative process in which the actors can input just as much as the director in terms of acting choices.
As opening night approaches, several questions come to mind. Will Davies' directing process change? How will the actors' work ethic change? Will the creative team be able to maintain the relaxed atmosphere observed here?