Next week, Strange Fish Theatre Company open their revival of Owen McCafferty’s award-winning play Quietly. In The Common Room at Omnibus Theatre, transformed into a Belfast pub, catch a compelling tale of the search for resolution, poignantly staged 20 years on from the Good Friday Agreement.
In this diary, director James O’Donnell opens the doors of the rehearsal room, giving us a special insight into what it took to bring this production to life.
Week 1
I have been asked to provide a rehearsal blog of our production of Quietly by Owen McCafferty. The play regards ‘the troubles’ and takes place in Belfast in 2009 relating to a historic shared event that involved the characters Ian Gibson and Jimmy Loughrin. This shared event took place in 1974 when Belfast was at its most volatile, caught between rising Catholic and Protestant tensions.
Our focus within the first week of rehearsals has been to work through the script and forensically interrogate it for facts and questions. There were more facts than questions with this script – read into that what you will. I like to do this with any script I work on to clearly understand what the playwright is saying about the world of the play. The reason for this meticulous approach is that most people over a certain age, living in this country, have some knowledge or have feelings surrounding that time and I wanted to take care to ensure that we concentrate on the story as written not as we imagine it might be. This as you imagine has sparked many discussions about the themes the play raises and in turn has lead to us looking at the people, geography and events involved in the story.
This is early days for us spent almost entirely around a desk, making sure we lay the foundations on which to build on over the coming weeks.
Week 2
Week two of rehearsals are completed and we have started to look at research on specific themes underpinning the play. Topics for research have included the geography of Belfast in 1974, prison life, poker, Polish migration to Belfast in the 90’s, the 1974 World Cup and the beginnings of the Irish troubles. All these topics are relevant to the play and increase our joint understanding of issues raised within the text that we need an understanding of when beginning to work on the play. We have started to look at some improvisations that complement the script concentrating on events that are mentioned in the backstory but not seen in the action. These events are useful for the actors to have some knowledge of.
This week also saw the first production meeting where our lighting and sound designers, (Amy Daniels and Rachael Murray) came to the rehearsal room to meet the cast and chat through the script for technical requirements. We also discussed the complexities of installing lights and sound into a space that currently hasn’t any. I see the lighting and sound as an extra character in the play that sets mood and context for the action, so getting this right in what is a non-theatre setting is crucial.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Claire
Week 3
We’re through week three of rehearsals for the sublime Quietly by Owen McCafferty. It’s been a mixed bag this week.
We have started to get to grips with the intentions of the characters in each scene and what drives them. Typically as humans we do this too – minute to minute and day to day in our lives. Even the most innocuous of conversations can be underpinned by desires and no action is without an intention. Finding these can be tricky, time consuming and at times frustrating, but necessary to get to grips with the plays inner workings.
Now that we have a solid foundation of understanding the script we have started to add physicality and visualisation. We have been exploring what within the characters lives have shaped their practicalities. This could be social, mental or spiritual and might also be influenced by class and opportunity. This leads us back to the research we have been doing alongside rehearsals. Its clear from the script that our characters are from a working class background and a hard environment at that. The story within the play has caused many issues for the characters and this will in turn indicate to us what may have impacted them physically. Of course this is guesswork but we have to take our best guess at what this might be. I like to use visualisation with the actors to help assist their storytelling. In life we see many inner pictures when we speak. We are constantly searching our mind for images and language is often the trigger such memories. I like to get the actors to draw out sections of the dialogue in cartoon for them to really connect with the language. I think that if the actor sees this in their minds eye then the audience will see this too and be taken on a fuller journey as a consequence.
Week 4
Week four of the process for finding a way to tell out tense little story Quietly to the audience. This is the week we begin to look up from our scripts, bank what we have learned from our research and figure out how to present the play. We have the play up on its feet and we are checking to see if we can deliver on our promise. My job this week has been to bring the disparate strands together into a production whilst maintaining the story foremost in our minds. The lighting, sound, acting, mise en scene, costume, story, needs to bloom at the same time and the company likewise needs to deliver the final stages of the marketing campaign, the programme, the get in etc. This includes a fantastic Belfast-esque mural on the bar wall that we commissioned artist Jennifer Kelley to paint especially for the Irish season. Believe me it’s quite something.
So far we have gone through five run throughs. At the end of each one we have had notes and I have re-worked bits of the play to wring the utmost out of the drama or to make it work better. We are trying to tell the best version of the play as written and as best a version as we can produce.
I am pleased to say that all the hard work has been paid off. The play is in magnificent shape. The actors are really going to those places we want our actors to go to. It’s a play you will listen to hard and a production that you will be taken on an emotional journey with too. I want you the audience to come on a proper journey with us. Come see the play and let us know if we have succeeded.
We present Quietly to you the audience from 9th – 27th October.
Jennifer Kelley’s mural
QUIETLY will be at Omnibus Theatre from 9-27 Oct – get your tickets HERE→
