DruidO’Casey: Rehearsal Diary 4

Associate Director Sarah Baxter’s diary from Weeks 7 and 8 of DruidO’Casey rehearsals

14 June 2023

The weeks of rehearsal in Dublin continued with us developing the work and detailing the plays through rehearsals. In our final Dublin week, we started to firmly put the pieces of the jigsaw together.

We ran a play a day, from Wednesday to Friday, in the order that we will be presenting them: The Plough and the Stars, The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock. We would start the day with a run of the play and then following that, notes would be given and worked on afterwards. It was great to be given a chance to see the overall shape of each play - and to see how the detailed work we had been doing from scene to scene carries through each play.

Another thought behind running them sequentially is that we want to keep in mind that we are presenting these plays as a trilogy. Doing these runs allows everyone to begin to build the stamina and clear mindedness that will be needed over a trilogy day. For the creative team, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the experience an audience will have watching each play individually but also as a trilogy.

Doing these runs also opens up the conversations for different departments so that the logistics of offstage can be figured out alongside the action onstage. For example, the tracking of costumes and props, making sure that they are where they are needed when they are needed. Or figuring out scene changes between acts and plays, so that they can work efficiently and in line with the design of the productions.

Similar conversations are ongoing with all departments, such as sound and lighting. The goal is to be as prepared as possible for the time we move into the theatre and everything starts coming together. We continue to have twice weekly production meetings so that all the team gets a chance to update one another and make sure we are all on the same page.

These last two weeks meant the end of our time in Dublin and our relocation to Galway. The move to Galway, to the heart of Druid, is always an exciting time. Working in The Mick Lally Theatre, in the centre of the city is a joy. We use the theatre space as the rehearsal space, which means all the props and costumes and set had to be moved from Dublin to Galway over the weekend.

When we arrived on Monday, the building had been set up so that we could seamlessly continue working. We continue to rehearse here for another two weeks before we move into the theatre for technical rehearsals, previews and opening night.

Sarah Baxter
Associate Director
DruidO’Casey

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Image by Andrew Downes Xposure