On the Homefront Week Three

It gives us no pleasure to announce that this was an unfortunate week. To begin with, the Anthos team would like to acknowledge the horrific events which took place just down the road from the community centre. For those unaware, a fire broke out very early on Friday morning. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services it claimed several buildings, including the Clarence Hotel (the oldest hotel in Britain). The whole team would like to send thanks and support to the individuals who fought the fire and those who now continue to work towards making everything safe again. As a result of these events, most members of our brilliant cast were unable to attend this week's rehearsal.

HOWEVER! There were some cast members who just wouldn't be stopped and so the show carried on. Though we may have been down on numbers this week, it didn't stop us from getting the most out of our rehearsal! This week we also had Mads with us, who co-directed our fabulous production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' last term.

The original plan for the week quickly discarded, we launched into some new improvisation work. Again, at the forefront of the exercises was the idea of creating different characters who would have lived during the time of the Blitz. With guidance from us, the cast began to explore different avenues and create their own individual characters with their own personality traits and backstories. It was wonderful to watch them work and develop these characters from merely a few words and also to discuss them afterwards. Over the course of the session these characters engaged with each other and a variety of different situations to allow the cast different opportunities to fully explore what they had created and think about what worked well and what didn't.

While it may have been a tough rehearsal, we are very impressed at the professional manner of the cast and, to those who were able to be there, for carrying on as best as we could despite the circumstances. Next week we will be starting to look at the final narrative for the performance and draw together from what the cast has created to begin forming what will be their final product.