On the second to last day of my Shaw experience I once again entered the Festival Theatre, this time to see the culmination of the work that director Eda Holmes and her cast have put into this season’s production of A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde. I had yet to see the show in its entirety, and so was very interested in finally seeing all of the pieces I had witnessed in rehearsal come together in this dress rehearsal performance. With me in the audience would be members of the Shaw Festival Guild, providing the actors with their first sizeable audience for the piece.
Arriving early to the dress rehearsal meant that I got to catch the tail end of the set changeover from the day’s matinee performance of Alice in Wonderland. Furniture and set pieces from both sets were being slotted into place backstage — a good reminder to me that in a repertory theatre company such as the Shaw where up to three productions use the same stage space in rotation, a highly skilled crew is key to ensuring that the whole operation runs smoothly. This was still a rehearsal for the crew as well: small debates over which pieces of spike tape marked the positions for which pieces of furniture indicated that, like the actors, the crew was also taking this opportunity to perfect their roles.
Following the changeover, several of the actors appeared on stage to take part in a fight call. Prior to every performance, any actors engaged in stage combat must run through their sequences to ensure everyone’s safety during the show. Clearly in a state of preparation — the men were only half-costumed and the women were wearing wig caps and dressing gowns — I watched the actors run through the fights that I had seen being choreographed weeks earlier and marvelled at the fluidity they now possessed. Reminders from the fight captain about sight lines and awareness of the other actors on stage ensured that every small detail of the fight was show-ready.
Soon, the lights were being dimmed and I, sitting next to the tables where lighting and sound operators practiced their cues, sat back to enjoy the show. Seeing all that I had observed in rehearsals in completion — with the added bonus of costume eye candy from designer Michael Gianfrancesco who also designed the set — was wonderful. A few blunders with timing and line memorization reminded me that this was still a show in its rehearsal stage, but I left the theatre confident that Woman would soon be wowing preview audiences. While the content of Wilde’s play may be a bit morally dated in today’s society, hearing the laughter and gasps of the guild members around me assured me that the humour and emotional moments of the play would still resonate with the Shaw’s audiences.
Good luck to the cast of A Woman of No Importance as you near the opening of a beautiful show! I feel very lucky to have been able to share in part of the process with you.
Shaw and Tell 