The Beauty Queen Of Leenane: Rehearsals Continue

Rehearsals for the Watergate Production’s upcoming show ‘The Beauty Queen Of Leenane’ stepped up a notch last week, over the past month we’ve slowly but surely been blocking and rehearsing individual scenes,  but last week saw the first rehearsals with the full cast all together for the first time.

It’s already proving quite an experience for me;  most show’s that I’ve done in the past, I was surrounded by familiar faces, working with a lot of the same people over the years as we all moved away from Dreamstuff to Devious.

Now with the Watergate Production, I’ve gone from being one of the older actors in a group to being the youngest in the cast and I don’t have the familiarity of how people work, like I’ve always had before. Even the play itself is very different to anything I’ve done. But I’m not complaining, it’s all very exciting, fresh and challenging for me.

I’m slowly moving away from the script and finding my character – Ray Dooley; a young chap with a love for Kimberley biscuits and Australian day-time television shows. He is “continually bored” by his surroundings especially when used as a messenger between his older brother Pato (Brendan Corcoran) and love interest  Maureen Folan (Clare Henrique).

Everyone involved in the show has been very encouraging so far, I’m constantly learning little tips & tricks by working with them and hearing endless hilarious stories. It’s also great just to be rehearsing on the Watergate stage; normally I wouldn’t get on the stage until a few days before a show and then everything has to be tweaked accordingly but we’ve been using the stage for the past few weeks, with furniture and rough marks already in place for the set.

It’s already less than a month to the opening night; we’re all very excited by how the play is shaping up and people keep approaching me in the street to tell me how much they’re really looking forward to it. The next few weeks will be filled with rehearsals, we’ve got the photo-shoot coming up and the set will soon be under construction. It’s all falling into place and I’m very excited. I’ve started bringing my camera’s to rehearsals but it’ll be a while before I get a chance to work on the photos.

For now check out this brand new shot on the Oss237.com homepage taken during rehearsals this week; my script sitting on the front row of chairs in the Watergate with my Sb800 positioned on the ground using a wireless trigger at half power to light the chairs in the background. As always comments, feedback or criticism would be appreciated… oh and don’t forget to book your tickets for the show!

The Watergate Theatre Company presents Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Beauty Queen Of Leenane’ in the Watergate Theatre 23rd-28th November.

For ticket bookings call: 056-7761674