We’re thrilled to be able to bring you a series of glimpses into the journey of Zoe Cooper’s Northanger Abbey. Assistant Director Namoo Chae Lee (also OT Resident Assistant Director) has been documenting the various stages it takes to get a production like this onto the OT stage in a trilogy of blogs that we’re delighted to share with you.
Instalment No. 2 is here and we hope you enjoy the read. Here is the beginning of the rehearsal process of Northanger Abbey…
The Journey to Bath
The four-week rehearsal process was divided into two parts with the Christmas break in the middle. Tessa, the director aimed to reach the scene where Cath arrives in Bath before we all left for Christmas. And here is our journey to Bath!
Week1
11th Dec. It’s finally the first day of rehearsals! The whole company and OT staff gathered for the first read-through of the script. Then there was a model box showing where we all got to see Hannah (Sibai)’s wonderful design for the show. In the afternoon, we started our table work with the playwright, Zoe Cooper, and the director, Tessa, which led to….
12th Dec. New pages! We kept doing table work with Zoe and the actors which led to….
13th Dec. More new pages! And more new pages would keep haunting Jeanette and Jamie, our fantastic stage management team, during the whole rehearsal process! As Northanger Abbey is a new play, and with Zoe in the rehearsal room for a lot of the process, tweaking and refining her work, we were all kept on our toes – very different to a play where the script stays the same from day one.
14th Dec. Whilst we were deep in the world of Zausten (Zoe+Austen!), Deborah, our voice and dialect coach arrived. We started our voice session with a map. Cath is from Northern England and Hen lives near Bath. What do they sound like? We watched videos, received some links regarding dialects and had personal coaching on how to unlock the perfect accents. The most delightful part was just to see Deb producing different sounds and dialects within a second!
15th Dec. The end of the first week started with the arrival of our movement director, Jonnie. We started the session with a simple warm-up, and by the end of the day, the whole carriage scene was made! Hurray!
Week2
18th Dec. The second week was a movement-intensive week. We reviewed the carriage scene that we made the previous week. The carriage is made with trunks!
19th Dec. We went on to the next carriage scene and started experimenting with using straps. That was when I stepped into the middle of the rehearsal room, holding straps! A very important role! Then we started wondering… how to make this work without an assistant director sitting in the middle of the stage…? First, we need a stage weight, and we need a retractable strap…. like…. a dog leash…?
20th Dec. Weary of our two days of stage travel, we arrived at the Bath scene! Balls at last! And we started learning new dances!
21st Dec. More dances and more scenes in Bath till!
22nd Dec. The last rehearsal day of the year 2023 ended with Secret Santa and Tessa’s offering of bubbles! See you all in the new year!
