A director’s view pre rehearsal…
It’s a funny time this bit leading up to rehearsals starting…
You feel simultaneously excited to that soon you will be going into a rehearsal room to actually make the thing you have been imagining for so long and also like there is nowhere near enough time to do everything that needs doing!
Where did the idea for this show come from, and how did you get to this point?
In the case of WHITE HORSE – it has been a very long journey to get to this point. I first read the book (The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories by Michael Morpurgo) on which it is based six years ago. From there, it was a process of discovery on obtaining the rights, then carving out time and raising finance to enable me the space to adapt the novel into a script, then raising the funding to turn the script into a show.
The writing process started in earnest during the COVID pandemic and continued off and on for several years whilst I worked on other various other projects. I always knew that I wanted the show to be ambitious in terms of its scope – the Morpurgo novel is made up of five stories and my adaptation weaves together elements of all of them to create something which stays true to the original but has become its own entity.
There were times when I considered making the show smaller scale in terms of staging and cast size but always decided against, as I wanted this to be a show more akin to the scale of my show FUP (made in co-production originally with Kneehigh and in 2023 with The Minack).
Why now? What has fed into this project?
Eventually, an opportunity arose to produce the show in the way that I envisioned, with support through the Good Growth Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England. As part of the process of development o-region also undertook a Cornwall wide community outreach project entitled FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH, which enabled teams of writers to work in chosen communities to explore key themes from WHITE HORSE whilst creating original writing which was then performed in a series of shows throughout last Autumn. FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH grew in depth and ambition as it developed and will result in a series of films and a new podcast of audio recordings of a selection of the stories which will be released shortly. The experience and process of working with the communities, writers and performers on the FTHM project has profoundly informed the redrafting of the WHITE HORSE script, which has been developed concurrently over the past six months.
Alongside FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH and the script redraft the production of the WHITE HORSE show has been moving apace. Unlike previous o-region forays into shows of this scale (FUP and Hireth), WHITE HORSE is entirely an o-region production (as opposed to a co-production). o-region is a small team, consisting of myself (Artistic Director) and General Manager, Lowenna Hosken with support from a Board of trustees and freelancers in specific areas – ie: graphic design and marketing. The past year has been a balancing act of developing and delivering the FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH programme, managing reporting to various funders and pulling together the cast and crew for the show and working out the logistics of a technically ambitious show.
In many ways it has felt trying to push a boulder up a hill in that is has taken some time to get the momentum started.
What’s happening now?
The last couple of months we have been pulling together the cast, crew and creative team to help bring WHITE HORSE to life. As we move towards production more of our team are beginning work and the momentum on that boulder is getting faster.
The set is being built, equipment is being hired, props and costumes are being made or bought, puppets are being constructed, film is being shot, music is being composed, marketing campaigns are being finalised and risks are being assessed.
The show is starting to take on a life of its own – which is both a huge relief and a nerve wracking proposition.
I am currently working on the final rehearsal draft of the script, taking into account various feedback which I have received from trusted friends and colleagues. I want to get the script into the best possible shape before rehearsals start in a couple of weeks time and then shift from being a Writer and Producer to a Director.
The temptation at this stage of the process, particularly on a show utilising film and puppetry elements which require advance creative decision making, is to try and solve everything before rehearsals start, which is neither possible or desirable.
Instead I need to get to a stage where I can be planned enough to be ready to lead the process but open to the possibilities which the actors, puppeteers and musical team (of which WHITE HORSE has an amazing team) will bring to the table.
The rehearsal process is the part of making theatre that I love the most. It’s where these ideas in my head, which I have had during the development of the script can be tested and refined or thrown out and replaced with something unexpected (and better!).
It’s where the show will fully become its own entity, ready to (finally) share with an audience, who I dearly hope will find a connection with the story / material.
What’s the final step?
With a little over two weeks, after such a prolonged period of working to get WHITE HORSE made, it’s just a little more time to wait and get to the point of ‘just prepared enough’ to be ready but ‘underprepared enough’ to be open to possibilities…..