Episode 12

Finally last night, after a rather hectic and hot bump in,  we moved onto the site for rehearsal. Saving the day was Kelly Blumberg and her organisation, where despite the issues written about last episode,the cast arrived to a stage, fencing, lighting and sound and props. Do they know how lucky they are? Thanks to Kelly's fast turn around crew - Eugenio Hallen (Mr Sound), Matty (McBump In) McHugh, Dave Garnham, (of the famous variety), Leigh Brammal (Cool dude) and the gorgeous and talented C.J. Fraser Bell (who is also our Assistant Stage Manger. Tim Newth worked on his suntan with a full day on site. The several trips to Bunnings to exchange incorrect timber sizes was certainly not the highlight of the day.

Thai Lanterns for Loy Kratong

Yesterday we had the lovely Stephanie Cvirn, (Committee Member) come into the office and help out with some tasks. She has also taken away the spare [posters and cards to assist in the distribution of our promotions. Each day we get a report fro our box office and the tickets are selling rather quickly. I urge people to book. So often in a Tracks show people leave it late and then cannot get in. We have a only 200 set seats for each show and cannot fit any more in, so please book. (enough promoting.)

Anyway, we started spacing the show and for the first time the cast had to deal with a .5 meter rise in the centre. Until now this has just been taped out on the floor. The step is just a little high to be gainly and offered us a new set of issues to resolve. But it was so nice to be out next to the lake on the golf course, under the night sky. The cast were suitably disoriented by the new facings and visual cues but admirably rose to the occasion.  It gave us as directors and choreographers a lot of food for thought as we finally see what actually works and doesn't, what will with rehearsal, and what needs refining. This is the joy of site specific work, you cannot set up the site until you set it up, and the site will always assert itself, despite all the preplanning.

Kelly Blumberg (PM) Ann Gibb costumes, and Tim Newth 

go through everything that has to happen to the costumes

Today is a day for fixing up other things before we meet the cast again on Saturday. All costumes are cateloged for wear in care, adn preset, some props are made (like fake $1 & $2 notes), and the start of the preshow cleanup.

Episode 11

So much can happen in such a short time. Since the last entry we (Tim Newth, Susan Congreve, David McMicken) went to Brisbane for the Australian Dance Awards because a show we did last year was short listed under the excellence for youth or community section. (We did not win the award but had a great time). We got off the plane after a 4.20hour flight and went straight into a television shoot for the ABC show Stateline. They had previously filmed some work and tonight interviewed Ann Gibb (costumier and daughter of Crocodile Man and Pineapple woman) about her parents. This should really add to thier story as it cements it in the real history of this work.

Our previously mentioned sponsors (Perkins Shipping) have let us know that there is an unprecedented shortage of shipping containers in Darwin and they don't have any available at this point in time. We use these containers as dressing rooms and storage for our equipment while on remote location. And they have to be placed first so the other things like fencing and staging can all go around them. They are our lock-up on site so we cannot take things to site till they are in. Production Manager Kelly Blumberg is solving this as best she can.

Next thing - The NT correctional services who we utilise for our bump-in and bump out cannot give us the work-team on the planned day due to a few things going on there. This was to happen on Thursday before the first in site rehearsal, and now cannot happen until next week, (4 rehearsals later). Now we do love our correctional service men, and they love helping the set up. Much better than their usual picking up rubbish from the side of the road type work. Again the almighty Kelly Blumberg is working her butt off to solve this, as it also ties into the getting the set onto site in time to rehearse on it before then audience arrive for the real season.

Will this croc make an appearance on stage?

LAST NIGHT'S REHEARSAL
Ann Gibb stayed to watch some of her costumes in rehearsal, and also to see our interpretation of her family's background. At times I thought she was in tears with the biggest smile on her face. Constantly commenting on "mum was just like that", "There's dad, al;ways just sitting and watching" and even at one point as Julia Quinn (Pineapple woman) grabbed a passing cocktail from a tray, "Oh mum didn't drink". This was a treat for the performers to have Ann there and making comment on their interpretations.

Who will wear these head-dresses?

Do the same people who use these feather dusters also drink from these cocktail glasses?

We also received the first masters of the sound track from Matthew Cunliffe. He has been doing our sound for years, but has currently relocated to the US of A. SO with the wonders of technology (and Drop-Box), we can email him the music and he does some magic over them and sends them back and he could just be down the road. Thank you Matt.

Looking pretty in pink.

Why does the Tracks General Manager, Susan Congreve, look so chuffed

The rehearsals are now at the pointy end with only six more before we plot the lights. The dancers are busting to get onto the site and onto the real set, rather than the chalk marks on the concrete car-park. Let's hope all is well for the Thursday, our first on-site spacing rehearsal. Will we have a stage? Will we have lock up facilities? All will be revealed in the fullness of time - or on Thursday. Now I am going to help "mark up" the area so we can install everything.

Thanks to Joanna Noonan and Stan Whiting for their generous assistance in lending us their generator for our next rehearsal.

Episode 10

A long day but a good one. The morning was dedicated to the Pineapple woman and the crocodile man. We ran the show from start to finish several times with just the two leads and it was good to see that it hung together. A lot of laughing at their antics. Julia had me in stitches as she walked into the party scene with her fiance in tow, only to realise he had not entered.

Then the good news that Perkins Shipping had come on board as sponsors  - providing containers for our dressing rooms, adn their transport to and from the site. This is a great help to us, and really assists us in getting a quality show to the audience. It is always hard to have to set up entire venues in unusual places,:  toilets, water, electricity, security, staging, everything.

A catch up rehearsal with Bilha as the Head CWA moved into our first rehearsal where we put everything together (and only our second rehearsal where we had a full cast.) we started this run by showing the rest of the cast the work Julia and Yoris had been doing. Luckily they laughed in all the right places. We then moved to our under cover car park to fit the third act together. The first run was expectedly loose, but the second run lifted our hearts as we could see that the potential we had dreamed was possible. Now it really is up to the cast to remember their moves and grow their characters. Pack the two venues up and into our corridor ready for the next rehearsal. Happy days are ahead. 3 weeks to go

Episode 9

Today was an interesting day of rehearsals. Firstly we had the morning with Yoris to make sure his dramatic arc was working and that he knew all of his material (before a full run on Monday). Always good to work with Yoris as he seems to thrive on the physical. HE also worked on a midi file of Close to You to get it into his key. Should he try and sing in an Hungarian accent or not? We will see as time porgresses.

Then after an afternoon of planning we went into the evening rehearsal with the Friends of the Pineapple Woman. This began with a costume fitting with Ann Gibb (Offspring of the Pineaaple Woman and Crocodile man). She was full of stories tonight about how her mother spoke to her father and other fun things.

Co-Director Tim Newth oversees costume fittings with Ann Gibb

Detail of giant pineapple costume

We then worked on the opening of Act 3, where everyone arrives at a huge outdoor old Darwin style party. We worked this out through a mixture of improvisation and the performers creating material, and then directing it into some shape. I enjoyed a phrase we made where the guests are sitting at the table and thumping out a rhythmical phrase.

Melinda Christopher and Freddy Baker in their disco outfits

Ann Gibb in centre during costume fitting

We then finished a market scene that has a street style parade. I was strongly influenced by the strong yet simple moves of the Sinulog Festival in Cebu, the Philippines.

This was then followed by joining together a scene where the Pretend Pineapple woman (Ruttiya McElroy nee Suansri) is carried in in a giant pineapple by bare-chested men with crocodile bullet belts, while a group of women carry in another platform. They all move into a blessing phrase mixed between Thai, Chinese and Indian. This leads into a phrase for the crocodile hunters and then the girls join in as they all start a Hungarian trance phrase. Finally this develops into a duet of Attraction between  Ruttiya As the pineapple woman, and Darren Edwards as the pretend Crocodile Man. Monday we go through the duets of cultural difference, and that concludes that scene. It is quite involved as it transitions between cultures and styles, and yet this feels very Darwin.

Tomorrow is a day away from these rehearsals to let things settle in the mind and the body. Tickets are on sale through the Darwin Entertainment Centre 08 8980 3333

Episode 8

Today we did a television shoot for Stateline ABC. Julia and Yoris got to perform their scene in the boat. They both have a lovely sense of comic timing, and Julia is not afraid to give it everything and constantly finds new subtleties. Her face when Yoris gives her an engagement ring that is "too small" for her liking is  enough to wither grass. 

Julia Quinn, Pineapple Woman

Crocodile!!!!

Choreographer Joanna Noonan

Yoris Wilson captured in a pensive moment, lounging in his dinghy

I said - Have you got a bigger diamond?

A bad day for our Production Manager Kelly Blumburg when a sound system we were told would get here in 7 days "no worries" is now going to take 6 weeks - ie too late to be useful. Grrrrr. Tomorrow may be another day and we will wait and see if anything can be done.

Then an afternoon session to plan the evening and we went into our first rehearsal of the season where everybody was present. The ABC returned to film some warm up and rehearsal (we worked on the finale). Then splitting into two groups, the CWA and the Friends of the Pineapple Woman. The CWA's worked on a new section done to Close To You, needless to say the dancing is rather camp in this section. The others worked on duets displaying cultural difference and how it displays in diverse relationships. I only saw the very end of that, but it looked lovely. Then a costume fitting for the CWA's ended the evening. I think I will have a well deserved rest tonight

Episode 7

A lot has happened since my last entry. We went down to the gold club, the venue for the show, so we could see it at night time, and to check out what the conditions were. I will need to make sure people know that it will be dark at times and that there is a bit of walking between scenes.

It was quite beautiful at night as the festoon lighting reflected on the water of the lake. Kelly Blumberg (Production Manager) received some Thai floating lanterns that we tested and came up with a few new ideas for the swamp scene.

Rehearsals have been going great guns. Julia Quinn (Pineapple Woman) and Yoris Wilson (Crocodile man) have begun rehearsing a scene where they meet each other on a small dinghy in a swamp. They fall madly in love and row off into the sunset (The Look of Love). Julia continues with her exquisite Thai sequence. She has such a natural comic talent, and Yoris' physical improvisations are a joy to watch, they both just throw themselves fully into the work. Today (7/7/11) Yoris learned some Hungarian dancing. It may look easy but their is a specific sense of timing and the way they hit their heels, that takes quite some concentration

Our CWA hostesses women have done a great job learning their choreography. Tonight we had two women return from trips away, and they picked up three new dances in one rehearsal. A feather duster routine, a cha cha, and a rather odd  version of a Mambo, cocktail style serving drinks. Meanwhile the rest of the cast were learning three other dances. A 'get the party scene' a crocodile hunting dance for the men, and a girly disco to "that's the way (ah huh ah huh) I like it".

Tim in the studio looking at his site plan

Yoris Wilson Crocodile Man, Julia Quinn Pineapple Woman, and Joanna Noonan Choreographer in mirror,

Ann Gibb, costumier and daughter of the inspiration for the show, has been delivering her costumes as they are done. Today was two pineapple head-dresses that may not look out of place in he Moulin Rouge.

Tim wearing a giant pineapple costume

We got our advertisement from Todd Williams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzVhba21vbc). He has created all of the animation from photos by Mark Marcelis, as well as the music. I laughed and laughed, and when Ann saw also laughed, saying it reminded her of her mother. One thing I have to say is that I rarely have a day go by at work where we are not all laughing and finding the joy of the work.