I haven't had that kind of dream in a while and it was terrible. While in school, I'd have a school dream quite often. You know the kind; lost in an unfamiliar building on an unfamiliar campus fifteen minutes after class started and things just get more and more intense as you wander lost.
No, this wasn't one of those dreams but it was close.
This was the actor's nightmare. Last rehearsal before opening and I'm looking at an unfamiliar script knowing that I should have the lines down but don't. Knowing that I had weeks but now I just have hours. Running lines for a scene that makes no sense and knowing that there are about a dozen more that make less. Finally, I focused on the first word in the first line of the first scene and it was "mother".
And that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that it was a regional theatre with actors I recognize and an entire office staff and an opening gala. And I'm trying to find a way to bring my script on stage with me, and hide the fact that I don't know my lines from my fellow actors, and trying to accept the fact that I didn't memorize my lines.
Oh God! It was horrible!
I also don't know why we got to opening without having enough rehearsals or why everyone else was in the same boat as I or where the director was. We all know that a well known regional theatre will have a good director who gives actors enough time to learn their lines. One who understands the process.
I have not yet worked on a production in which I am required to come to the first rehearsal with lines memorized but I know actors who have. I, for one, need to memorize lines with movements, to have a kinesthetic and contextual attachment to them. And a partner to hear and respond to them. And that happens in rehearsal, where things can be discussed, negotiated, wrought...
In order for it to all happen spontaneously.
Not at all like life, I'm afraid.
