First technical rehearsal

First technical rehearsal. All about figuring out how the doors open and close, how the rake* complicates the blocking, how those damn chairs get on and off the stage, how all of Mrs. Lovett’s props stay on the pie shop table, how much noise the barber shop door makes, and how the trick razors and chair are behaving.

*I try to avoid using shop talk (just a very little pun there…) with explaining the terms: A stage rake means that there is a gradual rise/incline on the stage floor so that the area the farthest away from the audience (literally, upstage) is higher than the area closest to the audience. In a theatre like ours where the audience floor is flat instead of inclined, it’s pretty much essential in order to see the actors all of the time. (Not to mention the actors being able to see the conductor.)