We began rehearsing Winter in a dance rehearsal space. Which consisted of a large room above a dance studio, containing pastel coloured bean bags and not much else.
My intention was to address the text without taking a text based approach. Rather the objective was to look for patterns constructed by the repetitions and themes within the language of the text.
The play itself deals with an unlikely couple who meet in a park. The woman, who has problems staying on her feet, attaches herself to a depressed businessman. Over the course of four acts, two of which take place in the park, two in a hotel room, the drama traces the development of their relationship. This is not radical material, in many ways it is the stuff of the Euro art-movie. What is radical, or difficult, is the apparently dense, highly poeticised language the play adopts. These have a logic which is, perhaps, more instinctive than rational. The standard (British) text based approach only works up to a certain point. At which point one becomes lost in a thicket of signifiers.
So an alternative approach was required. At first, working in the dark, this involved running the scenes before we really knew what they meant. Text in hand, searching for what essentially, are patterns of behaviour.
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After a fortnight it became increasingly clear that it was going to be impossible to continue in the dance studio. Initially we had been advised that once a week there was a likelihood that our rehearsals would coincide with a dance rehearsal below. This figure soon proved wildly optimistic. The work we were doing was precise and refined. It was hard for the Man and Woman, as the characters are named, to compete with Katy Perry and Michael Jackson operating at full blast and it was clear we needed to find another space.
...
My intention was to address the text without taking a text based approach. Rather the objective was to look for patterns constructed by the repetitions and themes within the language of the text.
The play itself deals with an unlikely couple who meet in a park. The woman, who has problems staying on her feet, attaches herself to a depressed businessman. Over the course of four acts, two of which take place in the park, two in a hotel room, the drama traces the development of their relationship. This is not radical material, in many ways it is the stuff of the Euro art-movie. What is radical, or difficult, is the apparently dense, highly poeticised language the play adopts. These have a logic which is, perhaps, more instinctive than rational. The standard (British) text based approach only works up to a certain point. At which point one becomes lost in a thicket of signifiers.
So an alternative approach was required. At first, working in the dark, this involved running the scenes before we really knew what they meant. Text in hand, searching for what essentially, are patterns of behaviour.
+++
After a fortnight it became increasingly clear that it was going to be impossible to continue in the dance studio. Initially we had been advised that once a week there was a likelihood that our rehearsals would coincide with a dance rehearsal below. This figure soon proved wildly optimistic. The work we were doing was precise and refined. It was hard for the Man and Woman, as the characters are named, to compete with Katy Perry and Michael Jackson operating at full blast and it was clear we needed to find another space.
...
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