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Ian W. Hill's Hamlet Opens Tonight
Jun. 12th, 2007 11:37 amI am tired. I am weary. I could sleep for a thousand years.
But tonight I'm playing Hamlet.
Tech last night - I got home at 5.30 am, and don't really feel like dealing with computer, internet, etc. right now, but I should say something as I get ready today.
I've been thinking about this show for 18 years, working on it for 15, one way or another. Now it all comes down to bare practicalities. Will this work? Will this work? Will we have the paper for the set that UPS hasn't delivered yet or have to run frantically and find a substitute of some kind? Will we have time to make the stage blood? Will the transitions actually work as smoothly as they did last night (which wasn't always the smoothest but was amazing considering how little work we've been able to do with them)? I have to finish the program. I have to go over my part again. And again. I have to remember to thank people who should be thanked. I have to keep trying to remember things I've forgot and do it without torturing myself into anxiety. I have to edit down some sound cues and lengthen others. I have to make up press packs, just in case. I have to do the laundry for the cast to get the stage blood out (tasty stuff Berit's made - it's the peanut-butter/vodka based mix - I think there's chocolate in there, too). Berit has to pluck my eyebrows and maybe - will we have time? - do my roots.
It's a tech-light show for me - only 69 light cues in 91 pages; usually I average 2.5 light cues per page - my sound cues (lettered, as Berit does) only go from A to SS (I have, in a 50-minute play, gone from A to QQQQ), but some of the tech that there is is a bitch. I was surprised at how easy tech went, actually, though surprised at how long - though, no, I didn't keep the actors there until 5.00 am, Berit and I (and Aaron Baker, who stayed to help, thanks Aaron) had to spend a few hours painting the set and cleaning the theatre after we finished. The blood did not completely come off the wall - I hope it isn't a problem for the one day at The Brick it's there; we need an abrasive brush and more powerful cleanser. Comes out of clothes just fine, but sticking to brick? Not so good.
Aaron reminded me late last night, "Eighteen years, right?" So, I should feel like I finally achieved some long-standing dream. But all I can deal with is what has to be done for tonight.
Though I looked at the stage over and over last night and kept thinking, "This looks GOOD." So maybe it is. Different for me, I guess - Berit says it's "cleaner" than usual. Peter (Bean) Brown said the same at the act break, that he's used to my "junky" sets (noting that he likes them, as do I) and that this looks like "money." Whatever. It is what it is.
I think it's good. I think it works. There are bits, tiny, brief bits, that don't, where it's my fault and something isn't working (one bit - mesmerizing in rehearsal, was lying there like a lox with the tech elements added; maybe it'll be different tonight). But altogether, it works. It does what I want it to do - sometimes not at all in the way I've been figuring on for years, but it a better way.
It works. That's what should concern me.
I hope some of you see it, I hope you enjoy it. If you read this, you know where to find it.
I have a massive headache. I'm going to go soak for a while and get ready. I need to leave the production world for a while and get my actor bag on. I'm playing Hamlet in eight-and-a-half hours, dammit.
But tonight I'm playing Hamlet.
Tech last night - I got home at 5.30 am, and don't really feel like dealing with computer, internet, etc. right now, but I should say something as I get ready today.
I've been thinking about this show for 18 years, working on it for 15, one way or another. Now it all comes down to bare practicalities. Will this work? Will this work? Will we have the paper for the set that UPS hasn't delivered yet or have to run frantically and find a substitute of some kind? Will we have time to make the stage blood? Will the transitions actually work as smoothly as they did last night (which wasn't always the smoothest but was amazing considering how little work we've been able to do with them)? I have to finish the program. I have to go over my part again. And again. I have to remember to thank people who should be thanked. I have to keep trying to remember things I've forgot and do it without torturing myself into anxiety. I have to edit down some sound cues and lengthen others. I have to make up press packs, just in case. I have to do the laundry for the cast to get the stage blood out (tasty stuff Berit's made - it's the peanut-butter/vodka based mix - I think there's chocolate in there, too). Berit has to pluck my eyebrows and maybe - will we have time? - do my roots.
It's a tech-light show for me - only 69 light cues in 91 pages; usually I average 2.5 light cues per page - my sound cues (lettered, as Berit does) only go from A to SS (I have, in a 50-minute play, gone from A to QQQQ), but some of the tech that there is is a bitch. I was surprised at how easy tech went, actually, though surprised at how long - though, no, I didn't keep the actors there until 5.00 am, Berit and I (and Aaron Baker, who stayed to help, thanks Aaron) had to spend a few hours painting the set and cleaning the theatre after we finished. The blood did not completely come off the wall - I hope it isn't a problem for the one day at The Brick it's there; we need an abrasive brush and more powerful cleanser. Comes out of clothes just fine, but sticking to brick? Not so good.
Aaron reminded me late last night, "Eighteen years, right?" So, I should feel like I finally achieved some long-standing dream. But all I can deal with is what has to be done for tonight.
Though I looked at the stage over and over last night and kept thinking, "This looks GOOD." So maybe it is. Different for me, I guess - Berit says it's "cleaner" than usual. Peter (Bean) Brown said the same at the act break, that he's used to my "junky" sets (noting that he likes them, as do I) and that this looks like "money." Whatever. It is what it is.
I think it's good. I think it works. There are bits, tiny, brief bits, that don't, where it's my fault and something isn't working (one bit - mesmerizing in rehearsal, was lying there like a lox with the tech elements added; maybe it'll be different tonight). But altogether, it works. It does what I want it to do - sometimes not at all in the way I've been figuring on for years, but it a better way.
It works. That's what should concern me.
I hope some of you see it, I hope you enjoy it. If you read this, you know where to find it.
I have a massive headache. I'm going to go soak for a while and get ready. I need to leave the production world for a while and get my actor bag on. I'm playing Hamlet in eight-and-a-half hours, dammit.
