BARE: I Know This World Can Have A Place For Us...

Into the second week of rehearsals for Bare at Greenwich Theatre and we've nearly learnt the show.

It's quite a weird situation learning a through-sung piece. As there's only two short spoken scenes within the show, we have to fit all our conversational dialogue (although still sung) into strict rhythms, and limited amounts of underscore until the next big song starts. Also as many of the melodies make numerous appearances throughout (almost as character theme songs) it's quite confusing which lyrics fit with which part of the show.

We've concentrated mainly on Act 1 this week, really setting up the characters and their relationships with each other. My Act 1 is quite a roller coaster of emotions, hiding Peter and Jason's relationship from the other students of St Cecilia's, and going through the extreme feelings that most teenagers have when they experience being in love for the first time and everything that comes with that.

Sometimes I feel as I'm writing this that a basic synopsis of the show is needed to understand what the heck I'm talking about. So, without giving too much away, here is a brief summary...Peter and Jason are room mates at St Cecilia's, a Catholic co-ed boarding school. Jason is your all-round good at everything, cool guy, although he's having a bit of a sexual identity crisis. Peter is a well-behaved, good student, altar boy, though not quite as popular as Jason. Ivy is the pretty, popular girl. She knows what (and who) she wants and usually gets them. Then you have Nadia, Jason's sister - equally as able but probably overshadowed by her brother, and dealing with some insecurity issues. Matt is the guy who's always second to Jason, he tries a bit too hard sometimes.

Matt wants Ivy. Ivy wants Jason. Nadia can't stand Ivy and wants to protect Jason from her. And Peter just wants to tell everyone about his relationship with Jason. Add into this Sister Chantelle putting on the school production of Romeo & Juliet, set it in Massachusetts in the 90s, and there you have Bare... Ta da!!

Back in the rehearsal room and we're cleaning up the choreography and fine-tuning the vocals etc. Next week we move into the theatre and start running the show as a whole. With so many sub-plots going on in this show the cast really needs to run it as much as possible so it cements the journey of each character into our heads. It's all happening very quickly, with everything taught and blocked in two weeks. But next week is runs, costume fittings, and technical rehearsals. Then we open!

Check out our website for more info on the show, and links to buy tickets. We run from 9th - 27th October. Come see us, you don't want to miss out!