It's all coming together!

We now have our cast for our production of Simon Stephen's Pornography and I couldn't be more excited!

There were problems with auditioning this year. The situation is that usually all Masters student directors hold group workshop auditions and from these we call back the people we are interested in. Of course this means that people may be called back for more than one production and inevitably some of these auditionees will be sought after in casting. We call this discussion 'The Big Fight' which took place last night for nearly two and a half hours, including a cooling off period to alleviate the tension in the room.

The problem this year was the lack of auditionees. I remember auditioning myself in first, second and third year for the fourth year directors auditions because back then they were considered a big deal and I wasn't the only one to think so; there were always plenty of people to pick and choose from. So I am wondering, what happened this year? Why are the students, particularly in a university with a strong drama department seemingly uninterested in performing? I have considered the possibility of this being a generation thing, perhaps the younger years are becoming more complacent in getting involved with extra-curricular activities. Or, perhaps the drama society are becoming increasingly popular and casting potential fourth year cast members. Whatever the reason is, it means that no one sat in that room last night was able to cast everyone they wanted to.

Luckily we came out of the whole process well off. We have a talented and dedicated ensemble of performers who are perfect for their roles and extremely good physically. By melding character with physical theatre we set ourselves a task and a half. Not only did we have to find talented actors, but ones which were also interested or had experience in physical theatre as well as looking right for the part. But as I have said previously, I am sure that we have a winning team in our hands, along with brilliant designers and an on-the-ball dramaturg to ensure that we do not let Stephens' writing down. Rehearsals begin tomorrow when finally we will be able to hear the script come to life - it is moments like this that remind me why I love what I do and why it is worth all the hard work and stress.