I have spent the last few days in rehearsal for Thalias Tjenere’s ‘Race Dog’. Now we are on the second round of research and development, aiming towards some work in progress previews on the 21st and 22nd of January. We are just at that difficult stage in mask/visual theatre where the blocking is basically there, but there seems to be an awful amount of stuff to be struggled with. It is not made any easier by the fact there seems to be about 20 different characters in a show 45 minutes long. Everything fights back, puppets don’t want to cooperate with the set, shoes don’t want to go on, frocks insist on tucking in to pants.
But it’s all there, the show is stuffed full of humour, visual surprises and thrills. Stephan’s masks for the all dog characters in the piece are wonderful. He has managed to balance capturing a whole range of breeds (pugs, greyhounds, an alsation and a poodle amongst others) with making them emotionally expressive in a way that humans can relate to. Linda playing the pug heroine manages to conjour expressions that are adorable, worried, thrilled and terrified out of the same mask. A true joy to behold.
The music is also in essence ready, but much work is going to be needed next week on fine tuning of timings. I am leaving them high and dry in silence a little too often now, and we need to sharpen up cueing and articulation. Often it is a case of seconds. Something that is interesting for 15 seconds is deadly dull after 20. A missed cue or emphasis is the difference between a slickly oiled theatre machine and Acorn Antiques.
lozkaye