Directing Project / The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time

Tuesday 3rd October

Today after our Dear Evan Hansen duologues, we got given the opportunity to choose from three stage shows and in that group we would spend the next couple of weeks directing or acting out the first few pages/scenes of the show. I chose to go with The Curious incident of The Dog in The Night-Time. We had a read through in our group and analysed the script a little bit like from what we had learnt the week before. I knew this was going to be a challenge going into this as it the main character has severe autism and it's something you don't want to get wrong incase you offend someone. 

Monday 9th October

Today was the first real look at it in our group as a whole, Jess wants to direct it and so came up with the idea to hold mini auditions for the roles. So we had a read through again with everyone this time and all gave 2 options for what we would like to audition for then we would do auditions and chemistry reads. 

My 2 options out of the characters that are there cause it's not alot due to it not being the whole script just the first few scenes were Ed (Christopher's dad) and Christopher. 

Ed was my first choice and since I've read the book before I love and hate this character, I love how he's written for you to feel sorry for but I also hate how bad of a person he is which makes it more fun as I feel I can connect with the character better that way. I've played a dad before in Little Women but I felt Ed would still push me as it is set in a different time period than Little Women and there is alot to the father as a character to unravel. Christopher is also a stretch for me as it's a character that would push me way out of my comfort zone and not something I've ever sort of looked at doing before but wouldn't hurt to give it a try. 

We started off auditions for the Christopher's by having them do the scene where the cop is asking them about the dog that's been killed. With Christopher it's alot of work to get it right as I'm scared I may offend someone if I do it wrong. For example he groans alot in the scene due to him being distressed and uncomfortable with the situation and questions he is being asked. Also when Christopher speaks he's very monotone but you still need to be able to show the emotions he is feeling. I also did a chemistry read with Zia who was reading as Ed as that's who he auditioned for, and I struggled with staying monotone but also showing Christopher's interests at the same time. My feedback was that the groaning was good I just need to act more like I'm in the scene when doing it instead of just doing it cause it tells me to in the stage directions, I'm good when it comes to answering questions back with the monotone voice, I just need to work on physicality reactions and using my body language to show when he is passionate about something. 

For Ed I was told to do the scene where Christopher is apologising to him and he gradually gets more and more annoyed at Christopher the more he goes on about the dog being dead after he just got in trouble with the police. I felt alright doing this I think I just need to tone down the anger for him a bit as I feel he wouldn't be angry all the time. For the chemistry read for Ed we did an important scene where he is showing affection to Christopher, so I was more gentle with how I was speaking to him and when doing the hand thing they do since Christopher doesn't like being touched. 

Tuesday 10th October

We did our final callbacks for the auditions today for our directing project where I was asked to do a scene as Ed and a scene as Christopher with someone else so that Jess (who is the director), can get a better understanding of the chemistry we have with each other as it plays a very important role in the story as well between Christopher and his dad. We also got the cast list later on in the night and here is the image. 

Today I felt like I improved on duo auditions from the last time where I did one in Little Women. As I had read the book previous to the audition so I understood both characters well and felt like when I was doing my audition I portrayed it across that I had understood who I was going for and why I was going for them. 

Monday 16th October - Tuesday 17th October

On these two days we started working on the very first scene of our directing project for this I wasn't in the first scene so instead I decided to help out with Jess and help her direct the first scene and see how we could play around with it. On the Tuesday we also started thinking of ideas to make a soundscape that would trigger over stimulation. We also spoke about lighting and sound and where we could position us on the stage and where the dog would be. We had talk about costume where an idea should come up that I should wear a brown coat since Christopher hates it.