Today we had an extra hour afterschool so that we could
runthrough somethings with Taylor and Alice, so we got a lot done!
Firstly, after setting up the stage, we experimented with
our idea of being able to go underneath the stage and go up onto the stage
through the trapdoor as opposed to the walking back out through the entrance.
We placed a ladder underneath the stage below the open trapdoor, placed warning
signs around the trapdoor, and tested it. This worked incredibly well and this
allowed us to be a lot more experimental with the way we have characters enter
and exit. For example, if someone exits from the stage curtain, they can appear
again from underneath the stage by climbing down the ladder which wouldn’t be
visible by the audience at all!
We also worked out how Todd would cut throats in his chair
and have the bodies exit slyly without the audience noticing. We’d have the
victim die, the seat would be swivelled round so that the back is facing the
audience, Todd would lift the sheet across his clients front and hold it up as
if he were examining it. While the victim isn’t visible, he exits behind the
curtain and when Todd lowers the sheet, he swivels the chair back round to show
and empty seat ready for the next shave. The sheet works extremely well as
before, when the victim left the chair they were seen from nearly all angles
and although the audience would obviously know this is what was happening, it
still looks unprofessional and we want to create a proficient performance.
We also completely blocked out “God That’s Good,” the
opening to Act Two and introduces the recent illegitimate upgrade Mrs Lovett
has made to her business. We had plenty of issues after our first idea but
below is the finished plan.:
- Dan and Ollie K start sitting at the table and chairs in the centre, Rob by Sweeney’s chair, Lorna by Lovett’s counter, Ollie M (a spare cast member who has volunteered to step in for this scene) is sitting on the stage block staircase and James on the table Ollie and Dan are sitting at. We’d all be in a freeze frame besides James who starts addressing the audience with his opening “Ladies and gentlemen speech.” Once he finishes (“just inside of this door!”) we all unfreeze back into the now busy shop environment. James interacts with Dan and Ollie, taking their pies away from them, taking a bite from one and telling them all about Mrs Lovett’s business.
- On “Toby//Coming!//Ale there!” Alice and I enter from the main stage door into Mrs Lovett’s shop and Toby comes to us giving us pies and ale. On “nice to see you, dearie, how have you been keeping…” Alice and I are sitting on the stage block staircase and converse with Ollie and Lovett. During this Taylor, the beggar woman, will enter from the curtain and come towards us. On, “Toby! Throw the old woman out,” beggar woman gets a bit too close for comfort to me and Alice and James throws the old woman out.
- During, “Eat them slow…” Toby and Lovett serenade Dan and Ollie K, while I suggest to Ollie M that he goes to Todd’s parlour for a good shave. On, “Hold it- Bless my eyes,” everyone freezes excluding Lovett, Todd and Ollie M. Ollie M is midway through climbing the steps to Todd’s parlour and Lovett gets happy as this means more meat, which means more pies, which means more customers. Once Ollie M is greeted by Todd and Lovett starts singing again, everyone unfreezes and continues. Taylor makes her way back into the store and hinders Alice and I again and on “Toby” Throw the old woman out!” Toby removes Taylor once more and thus the end of the scene.
Below are the issues we encountered before:
- We originally had Ollie K, meet Todd for a shave and I and Dan in each other’s places: Dan with Alice, me with Ollie. However, we felt, although we’ll be out of costume, Ollie and I would look far too much like Turpin and Beadle and Ollie’s throat being slit with this misinterpretation in the audience’s mind would cause far too much confusion later when Beadle appears whom the audience would then already believe to be dead.
- Before, James entered from behind the audience but we felt that this didn’t work well for movement and having him up high on the table resembles quite well to his original “Ladies and gentlemen,” from Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir.
- We did have Taylor enter from the main stage door too but she wouldn’t be very noticeable by the audience as the stage block staircase is only 5 feet away from the door so her hindering Alice and I would be completely missed. Up on the stage however, she can be seen by all and James throwing her out is loud and easily seen also.
We also completed The Epiphany too! Before we weren’t sure
of what we’d be able to do but as we had Taylor and Alice, we had a much better
idea of what we could do. Below is what we have blocked:
- Rob jumps down from the stage on “Finished!” and the entire chorus enters the stage and walk from end to end in varying speeds as if we were on the streets of London; Taylor and Tom from underneath the stage, Alice and I from stage right, and Ollie and James from stage left.
- While walking, we all completely blank Todd out as we’re only visions in his head. Todd sings at us violently, threating us with his razors. On, “I will have vengeance,” we all stop and Todd looks up to the skies and sings in woe.
- On, “Who sir? You sir?” Todd comes up to our frozen bodies and threatens us; we ignore him completely. On, “Not one man…” we all exit in our pairs, James and Ollie stage right, Alice and I stage left, and Taylor and Tom under the stage. Whilst we do this sings to the skies again. On “And I will get him back…” Todd sings threateningly, swiping his knife outwards. On, “And my Lucy lies in ashes,” he falls to the floor and keens one last time.
- To end and transfer into A Little Priest, Lovett is stands at the top of the steps with Dan’s body and says her line.
We only had one real issue with this scene and that was
whether we can have Dan in this scene. We originally wanted to have Dan as a
chorus member but we realised this wouldn’t work for two reasons. Firstly,
there isn’t any way he can be in this song and then be back up on the stage to
be a dead body for A Little Priest. Secondly, he would need to be in costume
for A Little Priest but in blacks for The Epiphany. So even if he could make it
up to stage in time, he would need to quickly throw on his cape which isn’t
enough time at all.
Finally, we went through the prologue with Alice and Taylor
here to show them what they do and then ran it with them which went very well.
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