I have arranged to meet with Vice this afternoon to see if we can bash an outline for the play out today. Taking from our notes, but also our impressions from the last five days of rehearsal, it is my sincere hope that he and I are thinking along the same lines. I don't really thinking it is as bad as I am making it out to be since he & I have established a good working relationship since the first day and have been talking through our ideas throghout the rehearsal period. So , I am not anticipating any bombshells or a completely different take on the play.
I spend the morning working on my own version of an outline and present it to him over lunch at Steers, where every inch of their menu is devoted to all things meat related, where there are pictures of giant 'steak burgers' that were voted 'Johannesburg's favourite burger 2oo8 and 2oo9. The décor is Texas / New Mexico flavoured with pictures of animals of the cow variety decorating the walls & windows. Quite how two vegetarians arrived at this restaurant and thought it was a good idea is beyond me, but Vice suggested it so I figured he knew what he was doing
We sit down & do not immediately order, we break out our notebooks and both of our computers. We look so urbane in Steers, with our laptops clicking away whilst everyone around is licking their lips and digging into another pound of flesh.
We both break out our outlines and, lo & behold, we are on the same track. But it is interesting how we have presented our work. My outline has very little text, but completely tracks the entire play. His has snipbits of texts and how he would edit the transcripts. Like director & playwright......... but they fit together quite nicely. We finish our meeting in under three hours with a rough, but solid play outline.
By this time, the kind waitress would really like us to order, so skimming the menu quickly as 98% of it is obviously beef-friendly, we both settle on the salad bar. Again, how urbane. I am surprised that we weren't run out on a rail.......
Back at home, I relax with my Chris Hani book and spend some time working on the outline. I also begin to prepare for tomorrow's rehearsal. After a couple of days off, I am looking forward to getting back into the rehearsal room. I am excited to see how the actors react to our work and to see how they can improve it. They are a giving bunch, without an ego amongst them. They are really giving of themselves to this project. I could not have been luckier with choosing my colleagues.
