Switching things round
"We need to show Alf's home life, that he has family and is happy" so we teetered on making a sweet scene between husband and wife, he brings her flowers, they hold hands and so on. We then looked back at our research and realised it just didn't fit. The idea of returning from a 14 hour day at 10pm to have a sweet romantic evening with the wife just doesn't hold up to the reality of the situation. To be honest, I found it so reassuring when we worked this out, the research we have done and are continuing to do is such an important part of the show we are making, when we remember to work with this information and not against it then we really start to get things rolling.
The scenes we presented at IYAF in July are being cut and spliced, it is almost as though the show has a life of its own as it develops and scenarios fit together despite our expectations to the contrary. These last three days of rehearsals have reminded me to enjoy developing ideas and not to be too careful about making big changes to the storyline. Having new perspectives and voices in the room has definitely influenced the fresh kick that In Our Hands seems to be enjoying, at first I thought, 'hang on, no that isn't it' and then like a switch I realised that anything could change.
I have never collaborated with a dramaturg (Gemma Williams - Red Threaders) and a designer (Samuel Wyer) like the very lovely people we are working with now, I was not involved in the rehearsal process for CELL and as a company we have never had an external designer work through the research and development process with us. I don't want to sound like I am overplaying it but it has been brilliant! Having other artists in the room who look at what we are doing from a completely different point of view and are constantly suggesting things pushes us in a really positive way. Just one small thing that we hadn't seen like reordering the scenes has made the opening seem to flow very well. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings!
Hattie Thomas
Russet Apple