The Othello Diaries: Time

Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

-William Shakespeare.

One of Shakespeare's most prevalent themes throughout his work is that of Time. The word appears capitalized more than any other. Time is the enemy of any rehearsal process because there never seems to be enough, no matter how luxurious the rehearsal period, and we certainly don't have a luxurious one here. We've bascially got 102 hours for this entire process and the strains of that are being to show, which is completely expected at this point.

As actors struggle with lines and words, the frustration can become intense, and my job is to keep everyone relaxed as we continue to make amazing progress. Every day we make leaps, and every day, the work ahead seems to grow. But I feel like we are on target for our move into the theatre next week, which I'm getting very itchy for.

We have a full cast rehearsal for larger scenes today that we blocked last Sunday. We'll see how well things stuck, but so far, so good. We get smaller principal work again tonight and in most cases, I'm ready to let the principals run with what they have for a few days as I turn my focus to the connective tissue and transitions. This Sunday we put it all together for the first time. That will be an interesting Time, no doubt.