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| Bloody brilliant Actors - Toby Masson and Sanjeev Dixit |
About
a year ago I was up to my eyeballs in rehearsals with Toby Masson for “The Evils
of Tobacco” for the Dubai Drama Groups short Play evening “ Chekhov’s Cigarette”.
Last month we heard that “Chekhov’s Cigarette” had been shortlisted for the
Dubai Timeout Nightlife awards in the Best Theatrical Performance category. I
have already harped on about this but hey that will not stop me from doing so
again in an effort to entice you into coming and seeing our next endeavor together.
In
my blog post last year about “The Evils of Tobacco” I mentioned that the show I
had desperately wanted to direct was Edward Albee’s “The Zoo Story”. Last year I was
lucky enough to find that Toby Masson had a burning desire to act in the show,
having directed it a squillion years ago himself. All we had to do was find a
second cast member. Not a big ask you would think, after all the show only
requires two men. But that was not the case. I am a very fussy director. Well I
am a director who HAS TO HAVE THE BEST ACTORS because I need them to make me
look like a better director than I am. I
don’t think this is an unreasonable expectation. Strategic alliances are everything.
But
back to the story: I had brilliant actor Toby and after various mini dramas
surrounding casting I only had Toby. You cannot put on a two hander with one
person. Consequently Toby and I tackled “The
Evils of Tobacco”. We loved the process of preparing for the show. It was wonderful to be back in the saddle and
working with such a dedicated partner. Toby was magnificent, magnificent enough
for us to contribute to the success of DDG’s shortlisting in the Dubai Timeout
nightlife awards. See how I slipped that in again?
Fast
forward to the almost here and now. It was time for DDG to look to this year’s
evening of short plays and both Toby and I were very keen to get our Zoo Story project
back on track. Once again I faced problems with casting. Seriously it is getting hard not to take this
personally. But I am egotistical enough to think “Naaaa it can’t be ME” and
plough on. I was nervous about holding auditions as I had an idea in my head of
how I wanted the casting to work. I do
not understand why I do this to myself over and over again. I have a vision. The vision is bad. I cling to
the vision like it is a bloody life raft in sea infested with hungry sharks. I
had a whole bunch of pairings in my mind. I called all the likely candidates
and what with one thing and another landed up in the same position as I was in
last year. I had magnificent Toby. But no
one else could work with me “at the moment”. I started to wonder if maybe I was
the shark.
DDG
co-chairperson Jonathan Siklos suggested that I piggy back auditions on the DDG’s
production of “Boeing Boeing” audition. I put on my brave face. Yes I would
hold auditions even though I know I am useless at them and I was starting to
take it personally that no one “could’ work with me - small stomp and sulk. I
landed up in a space between two corridors, near an echoing stairwell auditioning
men for “The Zoo Story”. I felt truly bad for the actors auditioning in these
less than ideal conditions, but, I needed a second cast member and the space
between the corridors was about the most private space I could find that did
not intrude on the hijacked audition. Needs
must my darlings.
I
struck gold. I never even considered approaching Sanjeev Dixit to play in “The
Zoo Story”. Remember my vision? Mind you in this case I will lay the blame at
his door because I assumed that he was a dyed in the wool “ Third Half TheaterGroup” man. I am so very lucky that he auditioned. When I told Toby that I had
AT LONG BLOODY LAST found our second cast member he was cautiously optimistic.
He knows how important the dynamic is between the two characters, and believe
you me if I had not found the “right man” I would have walked away, again, from
putting on the play. When I told Toby it was Sanjeev he was thrilled. He was
beyond thrilled. He was childishly excited, and rabbited on about how he really
wanted to work with Sanjeev, and this was just brilliant, and when were we
getting started, and who was playing who.
Yes
you read correctly. I had kept Toby on a string over which role he would play
for a year. He is a good sport, that man. I had my Jerry (Toby) and my Peter (
Sanjeev). I breathed a sigh of happy, content relief.
We
have been rehearsing like demons. My dramatic duo have been a pleasure to work
with. They had their scripts down in record time. They put up with my tweaking and fussing and
being demanding. We have agreed, and disagreed, and agreed to disagree. I have taken on board their many, much better
than my, ideas ( it hurts a little to admit that) and I have clung to a couple
of my own ideas tenaciously. By the way if you are looking to pacify and bribe
your cast members, as I have (in the absence of hard tack, this is Dubai after
all) I suggest plying them tea and the best yummy biscuits money can buy, that
would be Marks and Spencer’s in the case of what my money buys. Free advice, the
jam biscuits and chocolate covered ones work a treat.
For
much of the rehearsal period I have had my head half buried in the script.
Switching from watching to note taking to reading. It is not an ideal way to
direct. I wanted, at least, a Prompt so that I could focus on watching and note
taking - you can’t give dictation notes
in the space we rehearsing in. It would be distracting to the actors. I sent out
a call for interested peeps and was really lucky to have the lovely young
Chineme Prince arrive on the Dubai scene. A drama trained young man new to
Dubai fresh from Nigeria who wants to Do Stuff. He has kindly taken up the thankless
task of prompting and is every bit as pernickety about prompts as I am about
notes. Our poor actors are pounded by me with notes and then bombarded by
Chimeme with “You said is instead of it.” They are pretty good, our actors, so really
what we do is knit pick!
A
few weeks ago I took the cast out for a “performing rehearsal” so that they
could experience an audience. With the support of the Lovely Phil Ridley from the
American School in Dubai we presented our show to a handful of students and
some adults. My "up for anything" actors took time off work, took a deep breath
and dived into a performance two weeks off the show start date. That is how
good they are! It was delightful to get the feedback from the teens and it was
great for the actors to feel an audience.
There
have been moments of utter magic in the rehearsals that are leading up to dynamic performances by these two experienced
talented actors. They work well against each other. I am excited about opening night. I
can’t wait for you to see them.
Now
remember, Zoo Story is part of a double header being produced by Dubai Drama
Group “Friends and Other Strangers”. Our companion piece is Vaclav Havel’s “Unveiling”
More on that on my next post.
In
the meantime keep free an evening between the 8th and 11th
of April. Come down to the Jam Jar for a 7.30 start for some mighty fine
theatre! Go on book the dates in your diary. Tell your peeps. Spread the word.
Photo credits for the lovely picture of Toby and Sanjeev and the inspired design of our poster goes to Tamas Antal and Juliska Szik the dynamic couple from Home Time Productions
1 comment:
You are really funny..... Y'all just can't afford to miss this.....
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