goodbye caligari, hello moby-dick

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On Saturday night we bade a sad farewell to the The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It was a cracking five weeks, and we’re delighted with how it went. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has worked on it, and to all of you who came to see it. Up until now we’ve been rehearsing Moby-Dick in the day and performing Caligari by night. This is simultaneously the most draining, exacting and exciting process I’ve been involved in. There was initially some trepidation about the challenges of keeping two shows in your head at the same time but thankfully Caligari was firmly embedded and nothing seems to have been lost.

Aside from the inevitable fatigue of intense work, the overriding sense I’ve got from working with the same cast day and night is regret that we haven’t done this already and that rep theatre is becoming more and more scarce. The feelings of camaraderie and unity have proved invaluable, especially going into something like Moby-Dick where we are hoping to convey the sense of a crew united by their shared experience of a mountainous endeavor.

Last week we looked at some of the physical sequences and probed the quirks of Studio 1 which I think is a fantastic playing space with myriad exciting possibilities. As much as we have come to love Studio 2, the addition of height and the opportunity to use multiple levels is extremely tantalising. This week we’re going to do our first full run – which should see Seb rubbing his forehead with an intensity Ahab would be proud of.

So, onwards to the white whale – only 10 days away now. For those who saw Caligari and enjoyed it, we hope you’ll come along to Moby-Dick as well and follow us into the roil. We think Moby-Dick is going to be fun, exciting and moving – we hope you do too.