Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
September 16, 2010
First Preview Tonight
Erik Hellman as Antipholus and Alex Goodrich as Dromio in Court Theatre’s The Comedy of Errors
The first preview performance for The Comedy of Errors is tonight. Just this morning, I had the opportunity to join a conversation between Director Sean Graney and Artistic Director Charlie Newell, who sat down to review how the dress rehearsal went the night before and to discuss the kind of changes Sean was interested in making over the next few days. Sean and Charlie have a productive creative relationship with each other, and they’ve used Comedy of Errors as an opportunity to learn from one another. Sean has sought Charlie’s advice about the fine details of working with Shakespearean text, while Charlie has studied and learned from Sean’s canny sense of comic timing. The two directors make an interesting picture, sitting together—Sean in his John Deere cap, tattoos and piercings; Charlie in his crisp button-down shirt (“my costume” says Charlie)—but they both have much in common in their approach to directing classic plays. From the very beginning, Charlie has encouraged Sean to follow his directorial instincts, to not back down from radical choices with the text; that searching spirit to “push” the text is shared by the cast, who seem hungry to make this show the best version of Comedy of Errors possible.
They’ll have lots of chances in the coming week, as they learn from audiences about what’s working and what’s not. That’s preview week at Court Theatre: a time of great pressure, but also a time of great creative excitement!
The Comedy of Errors opens tonight, and runs Wednesday through Sunday until October 17.
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