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Director's
Commentary Late
Of this Address was a play I had read a while previously, and stored away as a
"possible, if we need something at short
notice". Well, guess what?
After the rigours of "The Scottish Play", we needed something undemanding with
a small cast, so I dredged this one out. Even then I had to borrow a cast
member from Hull Playgoers as many other Chameleons were in
back-of-wrist-to-forehead mode! Anyway, although the script was a tad
predictable, it seemed to be this or nothing. The cast ranged from
Chameleon stalwarts Helen and Val, through experienced semi-professional Gez (on
loan from the Playgoers), and not-quite newcomers Steve and Sonia. I have
to say they did their utmost to breathe life into it, but rehearsals were
horrendous! I don't think there was a single member of that cast who
didn't have something dramatic going on in their lives that prevented them a)
from learning their lines and b) getting to rehearsals. We got there
eventually, but I do remember that more prompts were taken during performances than we had ever had before, and that is just not the usual Chameleon standard.
I'm glad I had the experience, because there is something to learn from even the bad
ones, but I wouldn't want to repeat it!! Ailsa |
