The joy of a Dress Rehearsal

Even Gestas, the bad thief, is enjoying the rehearsal

We had the Dress Rehearsal last Saturday and it went very well. It is such an important part of the preparation for the Passion Play and we had over 50 people join in.
The Pauline Fathers held Mass at 8am so anyone that arrived early could start the day off right. Then we gathered at the house to allocate and fit costumes.
There are so many costumes and almost all of them have been repaired, upgraded or re-created this year through the hard work of our team of seamstresses. You can see one of the new thieves gowns on our bad thief, Gestas. Jesus is showing off his new "seamless" gown which he will wear and be gambled off by the soldiers while he is being crucified.

Jesus Wants You

The Women of Jerusalem have a multitude of reasonably coloured outfits, Claudia Procula, the wife of Pontius Pilate, looked stunning in her regal outfit and the support teams looked good in their costumes too.
Once we had all the costumes we travelled to the start of the play at the entrance and began at Scene 1 - Judas makes a deal with Caiaphas and the priests.
As we went through each scene, we reviewed where everyone would stand, how they would interact with each other and spectators, where the sound truck would be, who would have the microphones, discussed the manner of speaking and reacting. All up, it is very important to try out each scene with the other actors so that on the day it all flows much easier.
As scenes grew in intensity such as the arrest off Jesus and corresponding scuffle between the apostles and Jewish Guards, the trial at the House of Caiaphas and the beating up of Jesus by the guards and so on, it became very important to run through the choreography so that everyone knows how to act and react.

Rain can't stop us

In one scene a Jewish Guard lightly pushed someone and that person fell to the ground as if pushed much harder. The two of them had been practicing this but no-one else realised so when the person fell to the ground we all cried out and accused the Jewish Guard of being excessively rough. He looked at us bewildered and said, "What?" and the person who has pushed got up laughing saying, "We wanted it to be more dramatic." I answered, "Well it was. Thanks for the warning."

This illustrated the interactive nature of the dress rehearsal. Throughout the scenes each of the actors often had excellent ideas as to how they wanted to play their parts.
In the majority of cases these ideas are incorporated onto the play.

Claudia Procula walking in the gardens

 That is why the play is different - but the same - every year.
For the first time we were able to practice with the microphones and the sound truck. This meant actors and crew were able to see what the sound would be like and how loud they had to speak and how to hold the microphones. It is such an important thing to make sure the sound works as well as it can. With typically over 5,000 people in attendance, not everyone can be at the front at every scene so the sound quality is an important part of the play experience.

The son of Simon of Cyrene enjoying himself

Some clouds did come across and in a couple of parts we had to bear some rain but it was only in short bursts. As you can see from these sample photos the rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the actors and crew.
Our audio visual team were also on the job preparing for the day, working to get the best positions between them so they could capture the best images on the day.

Overall we are very happy with how the rehearsal went. We are much more ready for the big day on Good Friday.

If you want to take part, we still have some room for a few apostles, Marshalls, microphone runners and Alms collectors. All of these positions are important as everyone completes their part, whether it is perceived as big or small, and the play goes so much smoother and is an overall better experience.

A gentlemanly Jewish Guard providing rain cover

Women of Jerusalem watching on

Jesus preparing for His Passion

What's in a Walk-Through?

Walking the play

Yesterday we held the important Walk-Through of the Passion Play.
What is the Walk-Through all about?
It is a very useful day whereby we achieve three goals:
1. Make sure we have the appropriate costumes for the actors,
2. Read through the script and have a chance to understand the flow of the scenes and characters and interaction with each set and review actions and motivations of each of the characters in the play,
3. A physical walk through of the play from start to finish so everyone understands where each actor stands, how the crowd interacts and where the sound truck should be. Timing is also reviewed to make sure that each actor knows the cues and where they need to move or speak.

Thank you to all who made the trip. We had a very tasty lunch provided the the Un-Named Cafe at Wingello, fortifying us for the walk on a beautiful summer's day.
The read through was very worthwhile as we were able to gain an understanding of how the play flowed through each of the scenes. A few timing and sequencing issues were uncovered and corrected and we were very happy with the final result.

Testing the thieve's cross

It is really worthwhile reading the WHOLE script and not just your part. The story of the Passion of Jesus is a tale of building up tension, action and stress ending at the conclusion of the crucifixion. Everyone has a role that contributes an important part of the whole story.
Have you considered the role of the Centurion? He ends up announcing, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." How did he get there? You will see the change in the play.
What about Pontius Pilate? Did you realise he tries 3 times to avoid condemning Jesus to death? Passing to Herod, offering Barrabas and Scourging rather than crucifixion. But even with the warning from his wife, Claudia, he still succumbed to the pressure from Caiaphas and the chief priests.
What about Caiaphas? What was in it for him? It's in the script.
Reading through it as a group and discussing the implications was very rewarding for all of us.

Then we went for our walk along each scene. Ariel co-ordinated with the Sound Truck driver to confirm places the truck should be to provide the best sound while avoiding feed-back.
Then it was working with cast and crew where we should place ropes and barriers to ensure maximum audience view and room for the actors to do their thing. At the same time we went through the motions of each scene, from the arrest/fight movements in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was downstairs or upstairs with Pontius Pilate, where Jesus would fall or just stagger, when the Romans and Jews would scuffle allowing for Mary, Veronica and Simon of Cyrene to meet Jesus. Basically lots of moving parts.
Is that all?

No, there is more, but probably one of the most important parts is the coming together of all the cast and crew, building a rapport and knowing we are all working towards a common goal.

Now more work to do. There's only 3 weeks to go!

Testing the cross