Rehearsals for Jack and the Beanstalk are now in full swing and I was lucky enough this morning to be able to watch a full run through of Act 1 of what promises to be a very entertaining family show.
I'm not going to give too much away but I can promise you that the show is very entertaining with some great musical numbers from the cast. A few topical, and local, jokes have been seemlessly worked in to firmly place the show in Cornwall but this is fairytale land at its best.
It is very encouraging to see the entire act running through non-stop, complete with music. It's possible to get a good sense of how the show is going to look on opening night now though rehearsals don't start here at Hall for Cornwall until early next week.
It's fair to say that 98% percent of this morning's run-through went smoothly. This type of rehearsal quickly highlights issues for the director and stage crew to iron out and there were a couple of these that will be worked on. A quick costume-change, for instance, that saw an entire scene acted by a headless-cow!
Beyond such practical matters, though, the rehearsals are now at a stage where the director can get a sense for the overall shape of the performance and begin to fine-tune all aspects of the audience experience. It's impressive to see how much is already in place, in terms of dance routines, songs, lines and delivery but the process is far from over and a lot of work will go in to the final run-up to opening night.
Speaking to Richard, who plays Dame Trott, it seems that the cast are very much enjoying the experience so far. There is certainly a lot of energy, and laughter, going into the business of getting Jack and the Beanstalk to the stage.
I asked Richard about the stage here at Hall for Cornwall - specifically how it compared with other performance spaces he'd performed in.
"It's huge," he replied. "You do cover the stage as you would in a smaller venue but you have to speed up a bit!" Richard also explained that Hall for Cornwall is, despite its stage size, a fairly intimate venue for performances. "You feel quite intimate with the audience. You can see all the way to the back." This type of connection is particularly helpful for panto where audience interaction is very much part of the performance.
We'll be visiting the cast in rehearsal again next week as they have their first session here on site, complete with the set.
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