feel that the audience will grow tired of watching just one person for the best
part of 45 minutes so you’ve got to try and give them the confidence to keep going!
I’ve only ever directed a one man show once before, Steven Berkoff’s ‘Harry’s Christmas’ (starring Whole Hog’s recent best actor winner, Steve Sprosson). An emotional roller-coaster for him, as he was playing someone with a split personality, the performance was a great success but, in some ways, just as hard work as staging a large cast Shakespeare production.
Sarah Kane’s work will always divide audiences. 4:48 Psychosis has been done a 101 ways but I don’t want to ‘scream and shout’ in the face of an audience rather offer a ‘documentary’ view of one person’s anguish. The audience are a ‘fly on the wall’ looking into a journey into despair. Using multi-media and photography will hopefully add to this ‘isolated’ and ‘cold’ feeling to the production. That’s the plan anyway…my actor may disagree and it’s her doing the work onstage! Bit of collaborative- negotiating will no doubt be in order. And I haven't even thought about the other play 'Funny Ha Ha!' and the amount of physical comedy needed to be devised and performed! My six week break from theatre can't come quick enough...
The first official rehearsal blog will begin end of next week