The Play Produced

JUST BETWEEN

OURSELVES

by A Ian A yckbourn

Joyce Nighlingale disusses her produClion for New Foresl Players

The New Forest Players are now in their 63rd year and have built up an enviable reputation for amateur theatre in the area. Based in New Milton, midway between Southampton and Bournemouth, our productions are always well supported and indeed in latter years we have increased the number of performances to accommodate large audiences. We are fortunate to have hiring facilities at the Forest Arts Centre where, in their main Studio with a raked seating capacity of 125, we stage three productions each year and a One Act Festival. We hold a fourth production ar much larger premises, the New Milton Memorial Centre for our annual pantomime or Chrisonas play.

by

NEW FOREST PLAYERS JUST BETWEEN

OURSELVES ALAN AYCKBOURN

diretld by Jom NItiKTlIGAlE

.1 Ihe FallIS]

ARTS CENTRE

NEW MILTON

Our programme each season is selected in the previous year by our Production sub-committee who, after reading countless scripts, endeavour to plan four well balanced productions taking into account our Members' talents, limitations, challenges , and audience preferences. When the 1990/ 91 programme was revealed, I was immediately interested in this play. Alan Ayckbourn's scripts are favourites of mine and we had not staged one for some time. Familiar with most of his plays, I did not know this one but once read I was hooked and desperately keen to direct it. The storyline is of Dennis who spends almost the whole of his spare

PAGE 14

time messing about in his untidy garage, totally indifferent to the fact that his wife, Vera, is being driven to distraction by his absence in the home she lovingly creates for him and by his mother, Marjorie, who lives with them and who, with her possessive and jealous nature is slowly undermining Vera both physically and mentally . Neil arrives, seeking a car for his wife Pam's birtllday and Dennis tries to sell him the neglected one in his

obvious they had the same affmity with the play that I had, right from the first read through, when their characters were established . Dennis, the central character, was played by an actor who remained totally cheerful and insensitive throughout. An added bonus was his first-hand knowledge ofcars and dexterity with the props he had to use effectively: re-wiring a kettle, using an electric sander, fixing light bulbs etc. The actress playing Vera

garage which obstinately refuses to perform when he tries to

demonstrate it. The two men form a vague companionship causing resentment and frustration with their wives and each of the four scenes occurs on the birthday ofone of the characters. The play carries Ayckbourn 's unique blend of comedy and pathos in a suburban dilemma and I wanted a cast who would not turn the comedy into farce, who would be sensitive of the pathos, and who, above all, would be totally credible characters.

coped admirably with the transition from a gentle home-loving person into a nervous wreck. Gaining sympathy from the audience in the fmal scene, especially after great hilarity in the preceding one, was no mean feat , but her stillness evoked sadness. A perfect foil for Dennis was Neil, eager to please, worried about minor ailments, trying to assert his authority over his wife, but always ending up as a 'marshmallow'. His admiration of Dennis's strength was obvious. He hung on to every word spoken by

body language

Pam too was a total contrast to , ­Sophisticated, career-mind furiou s with her husband inadequacies and capable portraying a lovely cameo of slighl: inebriation when pouring out her feelings to Dennis. FinaU~

Marjorie, one of our senior actresses, who cleverly established her domineering nature on her first entrance, insiduously stirred up trouble for Vera throughout the play until the final scene when she became the charming mistress of the house, showing great care and concern for her daughter-in-law. You could sense the audience thinking 'Bitch, Bitch, Bitch' . During re~earsals we frequently discussed the facets of these characters and talked about their lives outside the parameters of the set. eg: what Dennis & Neil did for a living. SET DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION: Not least the excitement engendered by this play was the unusual setting. Planning started in October, before audition, with a meeting between Stage manager, Ken Livesey, Set designer, Joe Maguire and Lighting designer, Peter Clatworthy and myseU·. This meeting was invaluable and the cast had a clear idea of the set from the first rehearsal. We are extremely lucky in the NFP to have talented, experienced and dedicated technical members whose keyword is authenticity, and since the main item needed was a real car on stage, they wanted as near as possible to have a 'on the road' model Witll live sound effects, and various ways were considered on how best to achieve this. After trials and much discussion it was decided to buy a Member's car, a surplus 15 year old Citroen Dyane 2 CV, which wa5 driveable and possessed an MOT certificate. The cost was covered by sponsorship from two local firms . It fitted in with the script, was visually attractive in design and colour (red and had a roll back roof which wa, used effectively in the play's action. enabling cast to be clearly seen an heard inside the car. To get the into the Studio it was dismantle..: sections carried in and re ­assembled in situ, minus peOt' tank, carburettor and back _

Amateur Stage April I

Dennis (who has a lot to say) and made great use of facial expressions and in reactions.

THE CAST: I was not disappointed with those we selected at audition. It was

-==-

Fabric and foam were removed from the front bench seat and replaced with flame retardant materials. The construction crew found the reassembly a fascinating experience and we wondered whether we would ever get the rest of the set built! The Studio has a floor area of 29' wide, 30' deep and maximum height to the lighting grid of 12' 6". Layout of the set was similar to that suggested in the script but due to

power restrictions in the Arts Centre it was felt that not enough lanterns could be used to combat shadows that a garage framework would cause . We therefore substituted this with an architectural cutaway across the front and round to the door with chipboard skins set 4" apart. The door frame was heavily weighted so that the actors could struggle to get it open, as required in the script. We also dispensed with the right angle shown in the front garage wall. The problem of an up and over garage door was solved by a timely accident to mine, which had to be replaced, but the outside damage was not visible to the audience. Most of the other materials used to build the set are owned by the NFP and taken out of store. The house wall exterior was constructed from 11' flats, covered with 2mm thick polystyrene ' bricks', flame retardant, powder painted and sized. We added a small kitchen window and drain-pipe. The backdoor step was a concrete slab 3' x 2' to produce a solid sound. The garden was fenced with 6' weathered panels, with conifers and seasonal plants supplied by our local Garden Centre. The garden gate was manufacrured by our set builders. The floor was a sheet of PVC 2mm thick. This was laid on Friday night before setting started on Sarurday and grey flagstones painted on it last thing to allow it to

dry overnight. About 200 hours of Members' time was used to build and paint the set over the weekend. Dressing it was no problem ­everybody could find suitable junk to put in ,the garage. The L-shaped workbench belonged to the actor playing Dennis and was used during rehearsal.

LIGHTING AND SOUND: The Arts Centre permanent stage lighting equipment is a Pulsar 12­way with manual desk which for llis production we expanded to 18­

Amalellr Slag!! Apnl 1991

way capacity. Maximum loading is 60 amps. The overall objective was to isolate the garage and patio areas so that the cast could move near imaginary walls without casting shadows on to the opposing area. In the initial planning the garage was to be lit with a straw type colour to give it an indoor feeling and the exterior in open white giving a clear outside field. To highlight the changes between times of day and seasons, separate amber and steel blue lights were used. As the garage was to the back of the set, we lit it with four fresnels from the front and rear and as the car had a removable roof we had one fresnel

The Play Produced

books down was a priority, especially with intricate movement and so many props to be handled. A prompt was engaged only to help the cast when they were struggling at first with words. Once fairly secure they were left to improvise which enhanced confidence with their characterisation. Special treatment was given during rehearsal to the rea party in Act I scene 2 and to the hilarious sequences in Act II scene 1 with stepladder, Dennis' & Pam's struggle in the car and Vera's threatening behaviour with the electric sander; also to the opening and closing of the 'sruck' garage door. We had as many props as we could manage which meant transporting them to and from the different venues but this was well worth the effort.

MUSIC: I could think of nothing more suitable than the Genevieve Waltz played by Larry Adler but after extensive enquiries no-one could fmd any recording. Having fmally selected a second best at Dress Rehearsal, a young member of the Props crew suddenly discovered her aunt had an old 78 record. Her parents kindly made a lightning dash, 20 miles to Romsey that evening to pick it up. Marian tracked down a 78 player, recorded on cassette and it was ready for opening night. Perfect. For the opening and closing of the final scene I chose Windmills of the Mind.

COSTUME: The cast, identifying their characters and the different seasons, used their own wardrobe, borrowed others and raided an Oxfam shop, achieving an almost timeless present-day era. This production was an extremely happy one, rehearsals entertaining, cast and back stage working very hard together as a team to get the right effect. I read somewhere that audiences should leave Alan Ayckboum's plays after a great deal of laughter and a lot more insight into human foibles and weaknesses. I got the impression - just between ourselves - that our mostly full house audiences were responsive to this, judging by comments afterwards and their personal identification with both set and characters, humorously and ruefully.

PAGE 15

shining straight down on it to avoid shadows when someone was on the patio near the garage wall. All the lights had to come in at a steep angle and as the patio was in front of the garage, we cross-lit to avoid shadows . The area in front of the kitchen door was lit from back and front. These lights were hung next to stage left cross-lights with dark steel blue and light amber gels. We used gel no. 103 in the garage and in the house, seen through the glass panelled back door and window. The festoon lights in Act II scene I were controlled by the lighting desk as a visual cue, enabling them to go

connected to the starter motor as normal and the engine was 'run' by switching to a 12v fan motor clattering against a cardboard flap with a variable resistance to control the speed. As a precaution the battery was re-charged for about three quarters of an hour before each performance. The hom was connected, a radio installed to give the required static noise and all car functions were operated by the cast.

REHEARSALS: We hold these at different venues in New Milton with suitable floor space but some are allowed in the Arts Centre Studio, and we were

very fonunate to have the first few there. Ken and Joe marked out the se,t for me so that the cast were aware at the onset of their space limitations both in the garage, between garage and back door and on the patio. I was able to judge sight lines through the garage. A 'car' was built out of quadro (our prize possession and ever in use) which aided the movement considerably. At other venues we simply used whatever tables, chairs etc were available. We had 43 hours of rehearsal prior to the technical and dress. In addition, because of a long break to take in Christmas and

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out in blackout at the right time. To achieve the live sound effects from the car the battery was

our 'Wizard of Oz' production we had six hours of 'gabble'. This was

to be a promptfree production and