SYLVIA: A REHEARSAL DIARY

I was recently asked to travel back to London for a role at The Old Vic Theatre, as assistant director on their new production SYLVIA, a brand new hip hop, soul and funk musical about the life of Sylvia Pankhurst. The connection here being that Tim Minchin, as an associate artist of The Old Vic and generous supporter of the Baylis Assistant Director program, wanted to champion an Australian artist in the role this time. Lucky me! And what a privilege it has been to work on such radical, daring and large scale work; incubated within a building steeped in theatrical history.

And this show in particular I feel makes a timely and important contribution to a broader cultural conversation.  As it celebrates a story from our past but also propels it into a modern context. Following the dynamic Pankhurst family, who each lived so passionately for the cause of women’s suffrage; it is also a story of how the severity of their passion ultimately tore their family apart. I think part of why director Kate Prince wanted to tell this story now, at the centenary of woman’s suffrage, was in response to some of the apathy surrounding voting from our younger generation.  As a timely reminder of our privilege to have a voice, and to remember the women who fought to make that possible. It seems rather appropriate that Kate’s work with ZooNation in the median of hip hop is also incredibly accessible to young people.

But the decision to focus on Sylvia Pankhurst in particular, really contextualises the piece, as it was her personal values that resonate with a contemporary world. The reality was that in 1918 it was only some women in the UK (property owners, over the age of 30) who gained the right vote, and Sylvia knew that the fight was not over yet. She believed that all woman (and men) must be the architects of their own emancipation, that no one has the right to speak on behalf of another.  Sylvia was also a pacifist and disagreed with the militancy and violence growing within the WSPU movement. Instead, she chose to dedicate her time towards working class women in the East End of London, carving out peaceful platforms for them to have their own voice- and possibly one reason why Sylvia’s own voice is lesser known to history. And it is this value placed on the diversity of voices that resonates so loudly now. As I don’t think it’s possible to have a conversation about feminism today without including class, race and gender. 

During my time with The Old Vic I was asked to speak about my role as assistant director on a number of occasions. And to be honest it can be an elusive role that is different with every project depending on your relationship with the director and the nature of the work. And this work was a particular enigma, doused heavily in choreography and as well as being brand-new writing. To provide an insight into the process I was also asked to keep a rehearsal diary for the education department, and have included this record below. It was certainly a unique and unforgettable experience with challenges and magic in equal measure.

Week 0

In the lead up to commencing rehearsals, Sylvia has undergone a series of development workshops.  Being a brand-new musical, these sessions have been used to test out new material and ideas with the cast, feeding inspiration back to the team of writers and composers who continue generating the story.  It also means that the majority of the cast have been involved in a previous workshop and are coming to the work with a degree of familiarity and shorthand with each other.  I’ve called this week 0 because it was added at the last minute and so technically was classified as a workshop.  Not all of the cast were available for this week, but Kate our director felt it was still useful to be able to start blocking and stitching together scenes, so she could begin to visually understand the architecture of the show herself.  Additionally, this was an opportunity for the actors to have a head start learning some of the more complex choreography. The cast come from a mixed background of mostly musical theatre and dance, and for many of them this level of dance will be a positive challenge.

This week Kate invited a number of young students from her dance company ZooNation to join rehearsals and stand in for actors who are absent.  I think this is illustrative of the fact Kate is quietly setting a tone of generosity that quickly becomes infectious throughout the company and will be vital for the journey to come.

Week 1

With the full company now present each day starts with a physical and vocal warm up, in preparation for long days of dancing and singing.  It is a ZooNation tradition that at 10am all cast are expected to start jogging in a circle together to begin the session.  The physical warm ups are led by either our associate director/ choreographer Carrie-Anne or dance captain Jaye, followed by our vocal arranger Mike leading the group in a vocal warm up. Both warm ups contain material from the show to start leading the cast into the world of the play.

Starting from the beginning of the play and working through chronologically, Kate has the cast immediately on their feet drilling the choreography and blocking.  She is keeping her eye on structure and by the end of the week after a run of the first ten scenes stitched together, has made some readjustments to the ordering and I’ve been helping her track these changes in the script.  Kate likes to rehearse with the full company present at all times, partly for camaraderie as an ensemble piece of storytelling and because conceptually during the show all actors will be seated in the side lines watching the action on stage at all times.

Watching Kate work is like watching a master painter, and the actors are her colours. Because she is writing the script as well as directing and choreographing the story, it means she is writing in a visual language as well as verbal almost simultaneously. And having bodies in space during the rehearsal process is a major part of her creation process.

On Saturdays Kate takes the day off to prepare for the following week while Carrie-Anne and I work with the cast, cleaning and revising the choreography created over the course of the week.

Week 2

This week we continue to forge full speed ahead blocking the first half of the show and have a full run of act one on its feet.  It is still rough around the edges but is a good skeleton for the actors to now add their own detail on top of.  At the end of the week we sit down for the first time to talk about the bigger ideas in the play, particularly what Sylvia Pankhurst stood for in her time and how her story relates to now.

The actors are doing a tremendous job of learning the material, keeping up with the numerous script changes happening throughout the week as well the complex choreography. 

This week we have also spent time working on our understudy system, as the full cast must have each other’s roles covered from within the company.  This means that actors with ensemble roles are learning multiple parts in case they ever need to replace each other in an unforeseen circumstance.  However, given that one circumstance is already foreseen and we know that the role of Emmeline will need to be covered on the first weekend of previews, we are paying particular attention to the three actors who will need to switch their tracks to make this possible.

Week 3

This week we have continued to run Act 1 every second day while the time in between is spent forging ahead with the first scenes of Act 2.  We have been fortunate to have the co-writer, Priya in the room with us, as well as composers Josh and DJ who are furiously working away and creating magic in breakaway rooms for this whole process.  Their presence has become particularly invaluable this week as Act 2 is still in formation and contains many moving parts; as it has partly been informed by the evolution that Act 1 has taken over previous weeks.

The opening scene of Act 2 is titled Suffrajitsu, as historically the Suffragettes learned self-defence after violence began to surround the movement’s public protests. Beverley who plays Emmeline invited her husband James to join us for an afternoon as he has trained in Jujitsu, and kindly agreed to share his some of his moves. Suffrajitsu is the opening number to the second half- and it is a firecracker of a number!

Week 4 

In a similar fashion to the previous week our schedule is oscillating between consolidating material from Act 1 and continuing to stage the new scenes from Act 2 on the floor. There are several big dance numbers in the second act which Kate has prioritised creating first over rehearsing in chronological order, as to maximise the lead in time for learning new choreography with the actors. So we seem to find ourselves jumping in and out of sections across the entire piece. 

It is at this point that I must say how much I admire this cast who are keeping up with so many changes happening on the fly, and whose positive and supportive attitudes are unflappable. I regularly catch myself with hairs stood during some of their harmonies, or cracking an impulsive smile when they are dancing their hearts out.  Artaud once said actors are athletes of the heart; and this company are that and more!  And they're all racing around the clock this week to carry this show to the finish line.