Director of Quality - The year ahead

After what I consider to be the Success of my previous directorial efforts, I was surprised and quite somewhat pleased to be asked to direct a full-length play of some significance for the same Theatre Group. Garrick Theatre is WA's longest running theatre and next year will mark its 75th year. The production that started it all (or so I am led to believe) will be the very play I shall be taking on. It also happens to be the very first Community Theatre Production I ever did, and it was also the very first time I worked with the current President of Garrick. A lot of firsts in that bunch.

The show is called "Quality Street" and is written by J.M.Barrie, the same guy who wrote "Peter Pan" and was played by Johnny Dep in "Finding Neverland", and before you ask, the play came BEFORE the chocolates did. In fact, the play inspired the name of the chocolates. The creator said they all had something in common, soft centres!

I was (as I said) already quite taken with the offer in the first place. You can then double that surprise when I attend a Directors Meeting to learn that "Quality Street' will be taking the Christmas season which is usually reserved for the Club Pantomimes and key productions. Great news as I now have a year to prepare. Bad news in that I now have a year to get all knotted and stressed about the whole deal.

I have already started thinking about things like the set design requirements, possible musical selections, key scenes in the play, what type of cast I would like to see in the parts, etc, etc. Heck, I have 11 months before the thing goes up and I'm acting like it is next week or something!!!

Unlike my directorial debut, I am happy to be working with a gender mixed production consisting of 4 men and 7 women. Hmmm, still a strong female presence. Well, that should make it easire to cast shouldn't it? Here's hoping. I also have to remember that there is a small cast of children!!! What is it they say? Never work with animals and small children? They only appear briefly at the begining of act two but there are two with speaking roles and a third chasing "Miss Susan" across Stage and a few others learning to dance.

I can hear it now. I'm biting off more than I can chew. Then again, so I did with "Quake", so what's new. I guess that's why I feel I should get started early. I have even created a mailling list for future cast and interested persons!

So now I have to create a "Blue and White Room" that transforms into a home-school then into a Marque and then back into a Blue and White Room again. Then I have to select songs for the scene changes and intermission breaks, as well as a select of classical music for the Ball Scene, build a collection of blue/white items, consider what I am doing with the backdrop which according to script changes subtly each scene, think about possible lighting alternatives, and so on and so forth...

And so the great journey begins.