On Toward Blocking

So now that we've finished the vocal rehearsal section of the show, we move onto the most technical (and usually least interesting) part of the process: blocking.

As an actor, blocking is a tedious process, regardless of the skill of the director. I've had directors who've given me no blocking, and in those cases, I find myself writing more blocking down than I would have if they HAD given me something. For directors who are METICULOUS about giving blocking, it's the same thing in reverse, in that I find myself writing more details down than what I needed to set the scene. And that blocking usually changes frequently with those sorts of directors.

My goal is somewhere right in the middle, sort of a layered approach: I first give the performers the ROUGH enter, exit, and cross information; then, as needed, I layer on additional blocking to supplement anything the performers don't bring to the table. Sometimes it's a LOT of additional blocking. And sometimes I have to simplify the blocking a performer is using.

So, my initial blocking will be a lot of "John IN DR, X DC. John X DR, OUT DR". Then I'll suggest some BROAD business and see if it sticks. After that, I will dictate SPECIFIC business if it doesn't seem to stick. And I will, at times, rub some off.

Choreography is a bit different, and I don't usually enjoy it much. For Nuncrackers, it's a requirement though, especially with the seven minutes of Nutcracker that are performed at the end of the first act. It's often difficult to get performers to hear measures of music (or count them for that matter) and then get them to move to them. Thank heavens there are not a great deal of "dance steps" required for this show, and if there are, if they are botched a bit, it adds to the realism of the characters.

On a different note, I got some feedback from a friend suggesting that my comments here might embarrass, annoy, or alienate performers or volunteers on the show. I take it as feedback, but have to state plainly that I don't care. While I do temper my comments here and seek to make them as constructive as possible, I don't (and won't) censor myself. Given that, understand that this blog is MY tool for communicating and archiving the process of bringing Nuncrackers to stage, stated from MY point of view. If you're offended or not interested, simply tune me out.

Other than that, enjoy.


- Sean