Week 1 of rehearsals.

I arrive at the first day of rehearsals with that typical feeling, a mix of excitement, nerves and that all too familiar sinking feeling created by a vivid imagination and professional paranoia; I walk in the room the director takes one look at me before his face drops and he makes a quick aside "We sent the letter to the wrong actress, I meant to cast the other girl!" Luckily for me this was not the case.

I was the only one out of the four of us w o had been in a different callback group so I really was the newbie. This meant that the first read through that we did together was really interesting for me as I had no idea of their takes on their characters and vice versa. Initial amusement at ourselves was ever present as we embraced the fact that for the next eight weeks we would live most of our time being 14, 12, 10 and 8 years old collectively.
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(1) What were the specific challenges in designing the set for SEA? Was a real boat considered?

I think Ivan did consider a real boat at first. This would not have been something I would have thought of because then I would have had nothing to design! Real boats are quite cramped anyway so not very conducive to theatre. I suppose a cross section had occurred to us but we quickly realised that this staging would not be very dynamic and always limit us to facing the same directio . In the end we went for a circular shape to emphasise the fact that the characters are lost, and at times spinning around in the fog. The idea in part came from the beautiful bronze compass onboard the Nancy Blackett. I think the problems really came in later when the actors had to get to grips with finding a logic of a boat that faces different directions. Very tough on them I'm afraid!
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Week 1

Choosing digs is a daunting task. You're presented with a list of 30 or so names and addresses and minimal descriptions - double room, ensuite, own TV does not really give you much indication of what you're in for. There is no way of telling if your landlady is going to be a psycho or a nudist or a lesbian. So when I turned up at my Ipswich dwelling I was prepared for anything.

Turns out, my abode for the next 2 months, is an actor's dream! A beautiful and large n-suite room in a beautiful and large house, and a landlady who's hardly there. Perfect.
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WEEK ONE - LEARNING THE ROPES

As soon as I read the script I knew that we were going to have to get to grips with a lot of nautical terminology. In my group recall we had come unstuck on the pronunciation of the word ‘halyard' - without even contemplating what it might mean. I'd read a bit of nautical fiction when I was younger - Joseph Conrad, C.S. Forrester, Patrick O'Brien - and had done some basic sailing at school, so in a way I think I had something of a head start. But was still pretty apprehensive at the prospect of delivering lines such as ‘It's only the anchor chain rubbing against the bobstay as she swings round with the ebb'.
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Week 1

And so, on Monday 2nd June 2008, it began. A journey that would change the lives of all involved. A rollercoaster ride of emotion, line-learning, actioning and jib sheet hauling... The 'We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea' rehearsals.

We started the week with company introductions, which is always slightly overwhelming (so many names to remember!), followed by a read-through of the play. After auditioning months before and having the script resting in my flat for weeks, t was great to finally hear the play aloud. The writer, Nick, was also there on the first day and we spent the afternoon asking him questions about the script, mainly questions about the technical, sailing references in the piece. He patiently gave us a crash course on wind, tide and various sailing terms which, to someone who has never even been on a boat before, was quite headache inducing!
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