The Play Produced

ONCE IN A LIFET1ME

Francis Hamol! discli s ses his produ O ion for Good Theatre Cumpany. Jersey " We ll , you' re certainly ambi­tious. " T hese were the words of John Nettles C Bergerac" ) when we asked him to write an intro­duction to our programme. His opening sentence said everything: "Once in a Lifetime is a glorious play - a gift for actors and a delight for the audience". M r.

ettles had appeared in the play for the RSC at the Aldwych in 1979. As he said "We had a ball. [ ho pe you as one audience wi.II have the same to-night. " We put this play on as our fifth anniver­sary production (we had "opened" the Jersey Arts Centre Theatre with "Forty Years On " and amongst other productions per­formed there the world amateur premiere of "Sarcophagus" by Gubarayev.) This was our first appearance at the 760 seater Opera House which had been opened by LilLie Langtry in 1900. We needed a challenge. We undoubtedly found one!

., MOSS HART

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GOOD THEATRE

COMPANY0-....., 6,

FRANCIS HAMON

PLOT AND CASTING The play is set in New York and Hollywood at the end of the 1920's . A bust cabaret act, inspired by Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" set out for Hollywood hoping to capitalise on the newly arrived talkies (and the panic­stricken silent movie stars) by opening a speech training school. And their journey is really a mod­em - day 'Alice in Wonderland' as the stupid but loveable George, the quick-witted May and the ambitious Jerry meet (in John

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Nettles' words) "the megalomani­ac and wond'rously stupid film producers , the oppressed and depressed writers. the sexy secre­taries , the would be stars , the actual stars and the never-will-be stars all strutting their stuff in the great show-biz extravaganza". There are ten principal parts (George, Jerry, May, Helen Hobart, Mrs. Walker and her equally delightfully dozy daugh­ter Susan, Glogauer, Kammerling, Miss Leighton and Laurence Vail.) The rest are "extras". But extras with a difference because each part (however small) is a delightful cameo . We finally ended up with a cast of 50 playing over 100 different characters. Once we had cast the main char­acters (we traditionally do not hold auditions but a reading 'by invitation ') we set out to mix the experienced with the inexperi­enced. Our Porter, for example had never been in a theatre in his life before. He finished the run as a very competent actor who can­not wait to get back on the stage. This blending together was to be one of the most satisfying aspects of what was a truly exciting pro­duction. But be warned . A strong nerve and an iron constitution is the order of the day! REHEARSALS I decided (and it was a fortuitous decision) to start rehearsing the principals as early as possible so that we could concentrate on the crowd scenes. We had read the play in September and the open­ing night was March 6th. Our first

rehearsal took place on November 9th. We were all used to an aver­age six week run up to production but this time we were about to go where we had never been before! It was quickly decided that lines would be learnt as soon as possi­bl e as we knew that we would have a long break over Christmas. What we had not forseen was snow and a temperature which fell to - 12, illnesses , the stage Manager breaking his ankle after falling on the ice, a member of cast tripping over and cracking a rib, and all those little pleasures in which the Fates delight. What we did forsee (and which kept us sane) was the fact that the play is a rewarding mixture of quiet scenes and sheer bustle. We began with a Clip from the film "The Jazz Singer" (where AI Jol­son sings "Mammy") projected

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from the back of the stalls on lo a sc reen flown in front of a e w York skyscraper dOlh . The play then erupts into life as the " first nighters" pour across the stage (wonderful opportunities for improvisation and a pufect 'wann-up' for the difficult crowd scenes in the Gold Room and in the Making of the Film.) [t was particularly exciting to watch this improvisation grow. In the packed Gold Room we had an eleven piece jazz band playing Fletcher Henderson's Jackass Blues with a couple dancing a carefully chor­eographed dance and the world erupting about them. The band was of course miming (not easiLy achieved) and the sound source was hidden behind the drums. The drummer was a former pro­fes sional who played his druIll s 'for real'. On ,this we appear to

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Amateur Stage Augusr 199 .'

The Play Produced

have fooled all of the people all of the time' We also started early with a voice coach (an American friend who had been a devotee of am-drams in the tates for years.) H ' proved invaluable. As if we had not made enough problems the two silent movie stars entered the Gold Room accompanied by two rnagnificent Afghan Hounds who to the relief of everyone (including their owner) took to the applause and the lights as thou gh they had been born to them. SCENERY The proscenium opening at the Opera House is 28'9" and the stage i: 30' deep. We were going to need a team of 12 experienced stage hands and a 5 man fly crew. We started with the Film Studio which is the fixed set for the whole of Act 2. By Ilying cloths (New York at Night backing the 1.2' New York Flat Scene insert, Black Drapes behind the train, a silver shimmer cloth with our window dropped in front of it as a backing to the Gold Room and a neutral cloth with a 'stained glass window 'and the 'pigeon loft 'behind the Film-Making scene) we were able to leave the Film Studio as a permanent fixture . 15' " Marble" Pillnrs Ilanked a solid bras s 2';' kwt. elephant kindly lent to us from Shrewsbury. The 16' Flats (the only scenery that we did not make ourselves) were made and painted to our design by Mr. Brian Buttle of Stagesets. The doors were saloon doors opening up-stage so that the cast could Ily in and out (and fly they did!). One problem in the staging is that in Act 3 Scelle 3 the action reverts to the Film Studio. We surmounted the problem by hing­ing the Flats and reversing them for the making of the Fi 1m expos­ing the backs supported by weights and braces which greatly added to the authentic clutter of the Film Set. While the flats were reversed and during Act 3 Scene 2 we hung the 4' framed pho­tographs of George over each door. We also hung a genuine working crystal chandelier in the Gold Room which looked mag­nificent but caused the fly crew some nervous tension as they pulled it up each night through the lighting bars. The Gold Room staircase was preset in the wings and rolled on. The one minute

~I/Ialeur Stage Au[;uSI 1991

transi tion between the Flat (Act I Scene I) and the Train (Act I Scene 2) was achieved by build­ing it in units 8' x \0' fitted with large castors. The back of the flat (see Sketch) hinged at its centre (A) and was wheeled away as one unit. Lanyards (B and C) held the two corners with a wooden vene­tian bl ind made ill one piece and hooked on to the tlat to hold the break firmly. The sink and Tadia­tor, made of wood and papier­mache, were fixed to the tlat. The train seats werc bolted to-the rear of the flat and on the change they roiled as one unit. With the Tor­mentors removed the two sides of Scene I revolved to form the train. LIGHTING Our lighting designer Mike Wynes started with me in Novem­ber as he had two Pantomimes and six other productions to light before our particular epic . The general ri g is a mixture of 500 and I K w. Frensal spots and I Kw . PAR cans with FOH I Kw. profiles. There were several spe­cial lighting effects. We used two floor lights PAR 64 uplighters to accentuate the logo und the brass elephant in the Film Studio. In the making of the Film we had acquired three 2Kw Mole­Richardson Studio Lights fitted with local switches for the camer­amen to use when Knmmeriing cailed "Hit your Lights! "As we changed from Act I Scene I to Scene 2 George, Jerry and May did a stylised dance across stage in front of a Grand Central Sta­

tion cloth to Strobe lights for a lovely silent-movie effect. When the train was seen in daylight two spotLights behind the two opaque windows with split-colour filters (top 2/3 blue , bottom 1/3 pale amber) with a cloud projector simulated the passing desert. In the New York Flat behind the venetian blind, a chased sequence light box prov ided the effect of flashing street lights . The four photographs of George in Act 3 Scene 2 were to be illuminated with micro-switches fitted above each door wired in turn to a strip light below each picture. Con­straints of time led us to use four 500 w. spot lights. For the Finale we used heavy colour on the cyclorama for the dance routine to bring us ail back to the colourful reality of the 1920's. COSTUMES With the exception of five uni­forms which had to be hired the

costumes were made by the Good Theatre Costume ladies. The 1920's is a lovely style to recreate and eve.n the difficulties of hats and shoes were overcome. The cotton reel heel and bar-strap style shoe was in some cases pur­chased locally and dyed to match the costumes. In those instances where the shape of the heel was incorrect we masked with black t ape to create the shape. T he ' cloche' hat shape was in ins tances achieved by large brimmed hats worn back to front and tapered and trimmed accord­ingly. SOUND Our Sound Engineer worked from one of the boxes at the back of the stalls so that he could have a clear view of the stage. Music came from two B.B.C. Enterprises tapes (we put everything on reel-to­reel) "The Roaring Twenties" and "Fletcher Henderson 1925-1928". The radio in Act I Scene I had a sound source so that it could be switched on and off 'on cue'. Other sound effects were the train (continuous in Act I, whistling and stopping in Act 3), and those wonderful aeroplanes in the final scene which droned over until a "near mi ss" which sent everyone (except George) cowering at the end until they rose to a roar of laughter and the final curtain. We ended with four 1920's dance routines boys , girls, Phyllis Fontaine miming "That's my weakness now" to an Afghan Hound and then the full company. PROPERTIES We strove for absolute authentici­ty in the production. Local adver­tising produced loans of a 1920's wireless and a hand-set telephone. Great kindness was shown by the Jersey Evening Post who trans­formed our yellowed copies of 'Variety' into sparkl ing white copies. SUMMARY This was a play that stretched everybody both on and backstage. We loved the play and our packed audiences shared our enthusiasm. It was a truly happy production but a magic moment occurred when the Front of House Manager met a frail old lady coming back in after Act I . "Oh, my dear" she said " I feel like a young girl again. You see I was at the open­ing night of the Jazz Singer in New York all those years ago".

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