Our open rehearsal is only a day away and we’re very excited to be welcoming people into the rehearsal room for Role Shift. To give you a little taste of what things have been like so far, here’s Garry Robson, who’s directing Role Shift and one of the artistic directors of Birds of Paradise. Over to you, Garry…
1) So, here we are – day three! How are rehearsals going?
Really well. It’s a big ask in a couple of weeks but we’ve got a great team in place and the rehearsal room is buzzing.
2) Are you going to do anything differently for the open rehearsal on Friday or make sure there are no ‘spoilers’?
I think we’ll just wait and see where we are and pretty much treat the first hour as a normal rehearsal. Then in the second hour we can unpick the process a bit and give people a chance to ask questions. Having said that there are a couple of reveals I’d like to save for the full show so we’ll probably avoid those moments.
3) Why is it important for Role Shift and Birds of Paradise to have an open rehearsal now?
There’s been a lot of interest in Scotland and indeed worldwide in the way we apply creative access. In fact I’ve just returned from Russia where BoP were asked to create a new show that embedded sign language and in the Autumn we’re creating a fully accessible show in Hong Kong as part of the Shakespeare Lives Festival. As a point of principle we believe in sharing our practice and an open rehearsal seemed a good way to demystify the process of creating a fully accessible show. It’s not magic, you just need the intent, you must work on it right from the very beginning of the process and be prepared to use your imagination.
4) Can you tell us who your favourite character is in the play?
At the moment it’s definitely Carrie. The sign language interpreter who gets fed up being treated like a warm prop, rebels, takes over the reins and turns the show into something magical.
The open rehearsal will take place tomorrow (Friday 6th May) between 3-5pm at Scottish Youth Theatre in the Edwin Morgan suite.
Please inform us of any access requirements. For further details, please contact Michelle at michelle@boptheatre.co.uk
