Under Way and Over the Problems

Oh, the joys of insomnia induced by a combo of nervous active cats, being unable to achieve a acceptable temperature, and half a mind that decides to start racing while the other half is trying desperately to enter torpor.

But I am up, and it is time for updates and thoughts.

All three shows are under way, rehearsal-wise. All primarily blocking right now -- nuts 'n' bolts work, starting, as I do, from the point of the physical structure of the piece, the big strokes, and moving inward with more detail. As long as I get where people move right, most of the rest falls into place just fine.

Two rehearsals (post first-readings) thus far for A Little Piece of the Sun, and one each for George Bataille's Bathrobe and Blood on the Cat's Neck (I also just got 100% confirmation yesterday on the rights to the latter two, in emails from Mr. Foreman and the people who handle Fassbinder in the U.S. of A -- that's a relief, though now I need to be sure I have the money ready to pay for the Fassbinder rights by the due date in a month; time to send out the donation request email to my list . . .). Going well, with some frustrations, as to be expected.

Oddly, Little Piece, with the cast of 14, is the one where I can generally get most of the cast at every rehearsal. With the others . . . well, it's a struggle.

Little Piece has been a surprisingly fun rehearsal process despite being one of the most magnificently depressing shows in theatrical history (personally, by the end, I find it a HOPEFUL work, as I believe Daniel, the writer, does, but we seem to be in the VAST minority on that one). Maybe it's the unremittingly unpleasant subject matter of genocides, nuclear accidents, and serial killing that causes me to be a little lighter, breezier, and more on my toes and trying to make sure everyone is having a good time working on the play than usual. There are lots o' jokes 'n' laffs on this one from me and the cast, many of them at the expense of the horrible subject matter. Perhaps it's to avoid crying or screaming.

There was still a slight chill last night as we ended rehearsal with the staging of Andrei Chikatilo's first, horrifying, murder and violation, that of nine-year-old Lena Zakotnova. A mix of clinical and messy. A recent re-reading of From Hell was more inspirational than I had figured. Ick.

Foreman's George Bataille's Bathrobe has a great cast I wish I could get all together at one time (actually, I'm still waiting for one person I'd like to do it to confirm he can), but that'll have to wait for a while. One blocking rehearsal that was a good start, and, as always when I'm doing Foreman plays, immediately started clarifying everything, and all kinds of new, interesting ideas came up that will make Berit's and my lives harder as we now have to make or acquire more and more oddball props.

Unfortunately, I had fewer people than I had expected for the first rehearsal of Fassbinder's Blood on the Cat's Neck, and it was almost silly to work on the blocking (though it was nice working outdoors in Gyda Arber's back garden on a pleasant Spring night), but it wound up being a good start that will come in handy, and then the half of the cast I had and I retired to Ms. Arber's living room to watch Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel, which has been inspirational for me in thinking about the play. If we have another night like that, or a rain date, we'll go on to the Bunuel-influenced Merchant-Ivory film Savages, written by Michael O'Donoghue and George W.S. Trow. The Fassbinder will be a more problematic play in a few ways -- it's made up of lost of interesting bits that don't have a major dramatic pull forward until very late in the play, which is somewhat broken up into three main sections: a series of monologues, a series of two-person scenes, and finally a full-cast scene. The middle section is rather long compared to the other two, and weighs down the two ends quite a lot. I'll have to use a fine hand and some directorial magic to make the whole thing feel like one solid work moving forward, and not overburdened in the center. Some serious sprightliness needs to go on there.

And here's this week's Random Ten from the rapidly being-cleaned iPod that now has 25,598 tracks in it . . .

1. "Ban Deodorant (Skydiving)" - unknown - Psychedelic Promos & Radio Spots, vol. 7
2. "Suzie Q" - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Suzie Q
3. "Winners and Losers" - Iggy Pop - Blah Blah Blah
4. "Professor Nutbutter's House Of Treats" - Primus - Tales From The Punchbowl
5. "Blue Train" - Cibo Matto - Stereo Type A
6. "Ginny In The Mirror" - Del Shannon - Hats Off To Larry
7. "When I Was Cruel No.2" - Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
8. "Do The Residue" - Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest - CherryStones: Word
9. "Doctor Wu" - The Minutemen - mix disk - Daniel
10. "Woman's Gone" - Brainbox - Nederbeat The B-Sides 4

I have no new cat photos, so here's two old favorites from a night when a combo of flash and ambient lighting caused some strange distortions I havebn't been able to replicate . . .

I miss the days of truly awkward and odd promo films for songs (pre-"music videos"). Here's one (I suspect it's an actual Scopitone by the style) for The Tornados (of "Telstar" fame) doing "Robot," a Joe Meek production:

And here's a 1967 Italian cover of "Hold On, I'm Coming." Any ideas WHY this setting? Scarecrows?

I love how bored and unenthused Italian pop stars always seem to be in the clips I see . . . what, are they going through with this so they can wear nice shoes or something, and they're far too cool to bother actually performing?

Hey, it's a day off. Now what?