On the Homefront- Week Six

It's week 6 of 'On the Homefront!' It's hard to believe that we've passed the halfway point now. Over the past five weeks we have done countless exercises and improvisations which had lead us here. Now, with the final show just four weeks away, we have a script, we have our characters and we have our story to tell. It's been a wonderful ride so far, but the journey isn't finished yet!

This week's rehearsal opened with a production meeting. The cast sat down and discussed what needed to be done in the time they had left. The aim of the AYC is for its members to be treated as young professionals. Perhaps more so on this project, as the material for the final performance was intended to be devised completely by the cast, we have treated them like a professional cast, all of whom are part of a professional company. The meeting outlined what remained to be done for the final performance so that everyone knew and had a chance to contribute to the production side of the performance.  

Once the meeting was finished it was time to move on to our, at this point, customary round of shape making. Ben worked hard to come up with some incredibly obscure ones this week, one of the favourites being a giant crocodile. Mean as he is, Ben also demanded the group create a pentagon, fully aware that the cast has more than five people. As a new spin on the game, the later rounds required the group to make still images (or tableaus) of a variety of weird and wonderful scenes, ranging from 'a swimming pool,' a 'fire engine' and a 'traditional comic book scene.'

Once the cast were warmed up it was time to launch back into the story of Blitz-time Exeter. This week we looked at the first few scenes in detail, as well as introducing all of the characters in the story. Each character is unique and was created by each member of the cast. They are:

Barbara- 

An evacuee from London who has decided to do what she must to survive.

Paul-      

A young man who works to provide for his younger brother, whom he has sworn to protect  after their father leaves for war.

Millie-

The headstrong leader of her, Patrick and Seymour's gang. She's not afraid of a fight and (though difficult to read) secretly wants to learn to become a doctor, despite her mother's wishes.

Patrick-

Paul's younger brother. Patrick hasn't quite grasped the horror of the war and instead sees fun in it. He is always looking to cause mischief and have a laugh.

Seymour-

Millie and Patrick's friend from school. Seymour is obsessed with the idea of German spies.

Craig-

An evacuee, also from London, who has decided to shut himself off from the world; feeling angry and abandoned after he was sent away from home.

The narrative sees these six characters coming together in what used to be St Mary's church, though that's all we will say! The first few scenes not only set up the characters at the start of their journeys but several plot threads which later affect everyone, so it was important that the cast work on establishing these so that they are clear when the show is performed for their audience.

There are a lot of fun moments in these scenes, such as the introduction of Craig, whom the gang stumble upon one day, and the confrontation between Millie and Barbara over a stolen bag of sweets. The cast worked hard on bringing out both the emotion and humour of all these moments, while using their knowledge of the characters to provide new depth and meaning to the words we had given them as an outline for the scene.

And so rehearsals continue. As mentioned earlier; only four weeks now until the show and things are coming together wonderfully. This could well be one of our best yet! It's so inspiring to see the cast working so hard to make the show the best it can be, while also remembering to have a heap of fun along the way! Until next week!