The issue of directors; it's not just student theatre

The play begins next week.

We have moved from our warehouse to a different warehouse, 'on set', on the other side of the city. This means our coffee intake has grown. It also means we spend a large part of the day maneuvering our way through and over and into the twenty coffins and silver birches that make up the set. Or standing outside of other people's movie set workhouses. Our warmups have become severely hampered by our coffins. And our days are long and involve the inevitable waiting of tech rehearsals.

There is a glimmer of panic that grips us; we received our scripts two days ago (6 days before the first performance). Two people have two further character monologues to come, they are still being written. The director's absence is marked. Yesterday one of the actor's complained that we needed a further month of rehearsing and that she's never known anything like this before. This in Japan is quite a statement. Most complaints seem to be kept imbedded in passive aggression, that no doubt are crystal clear for other Japanese people, but that I am unable to read.

I am exhausted from the twelve hour days. They say when you're learning another language you require an extra hour of sleep a night to cope with the learning. This week has halved my sleep intake. A friend arrived from the UK last Friday - just as the rehearsals in our new location started. I have absorbed some of that British time zone, seeing 4 am every day this week, in an intense, emotional set of discussions and moments, that typify that friendship. Breaks at rehearsals have often involved power naps. As has my train ride.

Yesterday he left and I am waking up from my first eight hour sleep of the week, and about to rush through the showering and waking to rehearse.