Mike Maran's Captain Corelli Rehearsal Blog #2

Day 6 and I’m getting into a groove.
Up at 8am, shower, breakfast, and a letter home. 10am, to the coffee shop which has wi-fi to e-mail my letter and a capuccino. 11am rehearsal until 2.30. Lunch and a stroll then rehearsal until 9pm. A beer on the way home, a few words for this blog and then sleep.


The view from the back of our flat




The view from the front



It’s a strict routine – so strict that I go to the same restaurant every day, sit at the same seat at the same table and I always have khingalis. Yes, a creature of habit but an adventurous soul who today, in addition to my regular khingalis, ate a puree of aubergines and walnuts, cheese dumplings, cottage cheese with mint wrapped in a parcel of cheese, (the cheese rolled into a thin layer is used to wrap up whatever is inside and served cold – they look like large ravioli), a pastry stuffed with cheese and a dish of hot smoked spare ribs, all washed down with a bottle of tarragon lemonade. No, I didn’t eat it all on my own. Roger (producer) and Roger (actor) had lunch with me. It’s the only meal of the day and there is time to eat well in between rehearsals. And I do. Those who know Georgia know that it is a gourmet’s paradise – not for its haute cuisine but for the ingredients. It is all home grown in the market gardens that surround Tbilisi. It seems that everyone has a shed somewhere out there in the south Caucuses where they grow tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and chillies and so on and so forth and they carry the veg into Tbilisi in the morning and set out their produce in cardboard boxes outside little basement shops - apples, oranges, peaches, and I mustn’t forget the corner shops selling cut flowers.


The Georgian creation myth says that when God was making the world and Georgians were queuing up with everyone else to get their land, they became hungry and impatient and went off somewhere to eat and drink. After the meal they fell asleep by which time all the land had been distributed. There was nothing left. At first God was unsympathetic and told the Georgians they shouldn’t have left the queue to eat and drink. The Georgians explained that they were toasting God’s health when one thing led to another and they fell asleep. And God took pity on them, relented, and let them have the land he was keeping for himself. And here we are. There is a MacDonalds here where you can buy the same french fries that you can get in New York and in Tokyo which may or may not contain potatoes. Or you can join me in the Georgian restaurant round the corner for a plate of french fries made from potatoes grown in Georgian soil which cost half the price, and I doubt God eats better chips in heaven.
No wonder people round here live for a long time!


The chap in the theatre who is responsible for explosions is 90. He is a wiry little man with smooth tanned skin and large thick spectacles. He brought the jeep to the stage today – the Italian jeep that gets blown up - and showed us the explosion. Flames leapt out from under the bonnet. He clapped his hands with pleasure and so did we. He had a throat cancer some years ago and the surgeon removed his voice box. He cannot make any vocal sounds but communicates through a series of clicks and tuts which everyone in the theatre understands. He was proposing to detonate simulataneously three more explosions on the driver’s side and the passenger’s side to blow open the doors and one underneath the jeep to blow it up in the air. Health and safety people in the venues which are taking our production may read this with fear and trembling. Be afraid! Be very afraid! There’s the episode when the mine is washed up on the beach… which we haven’t got to yet. That’s an explosion that involves an awful lot of sand! I shall go to bed now and dream about explosions.

More tomorrow.

Gus reflects on a week away from home

I thought I should pen something to mark our first week out here. Having been lucky enough to have had this evening off, it turns out I am not needed until 3pm tomorrow either! And so it is that I find myself at my computer at the highly unprofessional school night hour of six whole minutes past midnight. My two flatmates - Tony and Jill - are hopefully sound asleep and not being disturbed by my tap tap.

Anyway, this is about the time that we arrived here in Tbilisi a full seven nights ago. I can't tell plainly whether it feels longer or shorter than that. I have become increasingly homesick over the past few days, and that can't help but drag. On the other hand, I can't quite grasp that we've already had seven of our precious rehearsal days - and we won't ever get them back again!

The show's coming together well. It's very strange seeing the whole picture mounted around you - lights, sound, costume, props - but I like it. Among other things, it forces the actor to make bold choices. After all, a whole sequence might be suddenly thrown together before your very eyes based in some small part on your particular reading of the given situation - so you'd better have something good to put up there!

We seem to be settling into our Tbilisi life comfortably enough too. Our Georgian hosts have been so kind and remain on hand to help with anything we might need, but we have enjoyed exploring our new temporary home for ourselves in the past week. Perhaps predictably, we seem to have honed in on a couple of places in particular - The Arts Cafe (get us!) for an after-work cheeky, and Prospero's Books (spot the actors) for a pot of Earl Grey and a naughty bit of carrot cake - and a decent internet connection.

So so far so jolly good. But I know we all miss our lovely loved ones back home. My beautiful bride to be and I haven't managed to find our Skype rhythm quite yet, but we did manage an all too brief face-to-face on Sunday. It was wonderful to see her - even if it wasn't quite the same. But I think of her lots and like to think that we're creating something she'll enjoy sometime in November, in a garrison town far far away.

Until then, thank God for Wi-Fi!



Relaxing after rehearsals in the Art Cafe
From Left: Roger (producer) Gus, Jill (Stage Manager), Roger (actor) and Tony
Mike is taking the picture



Mike Maran's rehearsal blog

Sunday



Nino and Maia with the
puppet of Dr Iannis



Here I am in Tbilisi and we’ve just finished day 5 of our rehearsals in the Marjanishvili Theatre with our director, Levan Tsuladze, and I find it enthralling. 

I spent this morning in a café with a communist, a royalist, a fascist and a priest.  They were having a right go at each other and I just sat there and listened to this furious argument going on.  They seemed very affectionate towards me and demanded my attention.  The priest finally got the radio to work and through the crackles and hiss we learned of another atrocity in the war.  We all followed the priest to the church to pray.  All these characters are puppets made by the maestro puppeteer at the theatre, Nino Namicheishvili.  They might seem an unseemly bunch but they are my new friends.  I find myself talking to these puppets in breaks in rehearsals and we engage in delightful conversations that have nothing to do with the war or with the play.  The fascist sits on my arm and taps my spectacles when he wants my attention.  The communist stabs his finger in my ear to emphasize his point. The priest, despite his Orthodox Christianity which reeks of Byzantium has a blunt four square Yorkshire accent.  My new friends are all disparate characters voiced by Tony and Roger, two of the actors from The Mercury Theatre in Colchester who are working with me on this production, and they are all loveable. The royalist doesn’t deign to look at me – I only see him in profile as he sits across the table from me.  Oh, I like him!



Gus put through his paces by Gia Marghania



That was this morning’s rehearsal.  This evening’s rehearsal was thrilling.  Gus Gallagher, the third Mercury Theatre actor who’s with us here, has been put through his paces by the theatre’s choreographer, and he dances like a Greek God!  No wonder Pelagia falls for him. He is electrifying and erotic.  Mandras doesn’t have a lot to say.  When I wrote the adaptation I was afraid I hadn’t fleshed out the character but Levan assured me it was good.  It’s enough!  Levan had a vision that went way beyond the words on the page.  I hadn’t realised I was going to be part of such a physical production.  At the end of tonight’s rehearsal Gus was drenched in sweat but he looked like he’d enjoyed it as much as I had.  I’m going to have to get rid of this admiration because I’m Dr Iannis and I’m supposed to be dismayed at losing my beautiful daughter to this illiterate fisherman. 

Between the morning and eveing rehearsals I went for a stroll around Tbilisi  with our producer, Roger McCann and we took our life in our hands every time we crossed a road.  Roger and I share a passion for khingalis – a delightful Georgian pasta parcel with minced meat and gravy inside.  You sprinkle it with black pepper and then bite into it.  For a novice it’s quite tricky.  You have to bite into it and suck in the gravy taking care not to spill the juice down your shirt but at the same time you must not inhale the pepper and cough and splutter.  When you eat khingali don’t sit opposite a novice like me – you might get my khingale all over your shirt!

Here's a video of Mike's first encounter with Khingale, two years ago.

The roads are awful – the traffic’s a nightmare – the food is heavenly – and the theatre is fabulous.

Tomorrow we’re going to rehearse the Italian invasion of Cephalonia.  For those who have read the book you’ll know this doen’t happen unitl page a hundred and ninety something.  Tony, who has been voicing puppets for the last five days, plays Corelli and at last he’ll get to march into the story and strut his stuff.

For anyone reading this in the UK you may like to know that we are bathed in warm summer sunshine – T-shirts and shorts.  We left Gatwick wearing scarves and gloves!  

For anyone thinking of coming to Georgia the local religion is Hospitality and regular services are held with copious amounts of food and drink.  The only comparable ritual I can think of is a Burns supper which is celebrated in Scotland once a year.  The celebrations here are held several times a week.  But now I must sleep because tomorrow I have to work.  Ciao!  Mike

Roger Delves Broughton goes bird watching in Tbilisi

Roger DB, who is playing the British Spy in Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a great bird watcher and is to be found in spare moments wandering around looking skywards. Here is his report!

Roger's blog #1 Thurs 8th Sept

After all the anticipation, we’re here! The Georgian welcome is as comprehensive and overwhelming as you can imagine.

After a short introduction at the theatre, we saw the character puppets in Nino’s workshop, and believe me they are delightful and fascinating and full of character.

We were then convoyed out of Tbilisi up the mountains to about 1300 metres above sea level. Half an hour or more rising hairpin bends took us up to Levan’s summer retreat; a beautiful wooden chalet in a kind of alpine meadow among the high forests. In Wales it would be high above the tree-line, but here there are thick woods of Hornbeam, Ash, Oak, Birch, wild Pear and Beech. Mushrooms sprout underfoot but nobody really dares to choose one to cook, for fear of a gastronomic game of Russian Roulette! The sky was blue and cloudless, and although the temperature dropped with the altitude it was still a comfortably warm 62°F, whereas in the city it had been nearer 80! My joy was to scan the twittering flocks of Swallow, House Martin, and Sand Martin over the meadow. But the real heart-leaping sight was the succession of European Bee Eaters migrating overhead: unbelievably colourful and exotic and a new bird to me.


European Bee Eater



Needless to say, we feasted lengthily on vegetables, salads, fish and barbequed pork, drank many toasts in Georgian wine, and were entranced by Levan’s daughter Tina as she showed us the most graceful Georgian traditional dances barefoot on the twilit grass. Sensational. A truly bonding experience for us all, and a day to relish and remember for a long time.





Roger’s blog #2 Saturday 10th Sept


We’re rehearsing on the Theatre’s main stage, which is useful in the initial stage, since all the puppets and stage action can be created under the very tight lighting requirements particular to this style. It’s constantly amazing to watch the puppeteers crowded round a single puppet and creating movements of astounding delicacy and precision. They are instantly humorous and soulful.


Hooded Crow
Photo by panafokas


So far we have worked mornings and evenings, so have had a couple of hours free in the afternoon. The apartments are about a 20 minutes walk away, so today I took a walk along the River Kura embankment. It’s been so hot and dry that today’s stiff wind created a veritable windstorm, but through the flying grit I did manage to watch some Yellow Legged Gulls, Hooded Crows and a White Wagtail to add to my Georgian list.




White Wagtail
Photo by Andreas Trepte
http://www.photo-natur.de/



Rehearsals start in Tbilisi

The British contingent has arrived in Tbilisi to start rehearsals for Captain Corelli's Mandolin, a co-production between the Mercury Theatre Company Colchester and the Marjanishvili Theatre Tbilisi in assocociation with NFA International Arts and Culture. The show will open in Tbilisi on 5 October as part of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre before moving on to Colchester, opening on 27 October at the Mercury Theatre.



Mike and Gus feel the coolness in the air

 Things started easily with a short meeting to introduce everybody and talk about the process Then it was off to Levan Tsuladze's summer house, high above the heat and dust of Tbilisi for a welcoming party. At 1200 metres above sea level the air was clear, the wine was cool and the food delicious!

 The first day proper of rehearsal began with  a reading of the script. As well as playing their own characters, the actors have to provide voices for the puppets so they need a variety of voices - and then have to remember which is which! Towards the end of Act 1 there was a long pause. We had reached the moment when Corelli arrives in the village and addresses the villagers.There are three characters in the jeep plus a number of villagers standing and watching. Levan turned to me with a grave expression: 'Roger, we will need more puppeteers'. So, can we a) find the budget for three more puppeteers and b) arrange UK visas for them in time? It'll be alright on the night.


The first read through


The rehearsal process is quite different to the way in which the Mercury company is used to working. They are used to working in a rehearsal room without a set and with rehearsal props and furniture but with this show all elements are brought together at the same time. As the production is so visual, it is important for the Director to be able to see the finished effect as it takes shape.

Most of the first day on stage was taken up with the first scene - only a few lines of text but a mountain of technical effects. Dr Iannis (Mike Maran) is sitting at his wife's grave chatting to her. In the background villagers are climbing the hill to the church carrying candles and singing to pray for the sick. Iannis decides to join them. At this point the scene transforms and the live actor is replaced by his puppet. It is a beautiful moment but also crucial for the audience as it is the first moment when they realise that the characters on stage are both actors and puppets. They will hopefully marvel at the beauty - and does it matter if they don't know that those few seconds took nearly four hours to create? 

 

 

Hands and Feet for Captain Corelli

Booking is now open for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester from 27^th October to 12^th November.

You can book online by clicking here Mercury Theatre box office or telephone +44 (0)1206 573948. Performances are at 7.30pm Monday to Friday with matinee performances Thurs 2^nd and 10^th November at 2.00pm and Saturday 5^th and 12^th at 2.30pm.

The show is a co-production between the Mercury Theatre Company and the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi, in association with NFA International Arts and Culture. Four actors from the Mercury will be joined by one actor and six puppeteers from the Marjanshvili in a production directed by Levan Tsuladze.

This is the fourth post on the blog charting the progress of the production. To see them in chronological order, click on the links on the right, starting from July!

You Need Hands

In the last blog we showed how the heads were being made for the production of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Several of the puppets will be representations of real actors in the show, and are therefore carefully modelled from reality whilst others appear only as puppets, giving greater design freedom. But all of them need hands and feet, meaning 32 pairs of hands and 32 pairs of feet.

The hands are made from a special substance that can be worked and modelled like clay but dries in the air into a hardened substance that can be carved and used like wood. Each hand takes about half a day to make although with drying time at each stage it mounts up to several days. The feet are less complex and are carved from wood.

The picture on the left shows the basic structure of the hands. They may look like egg whisks but these show the palms of the hands with the wires ready to become fingers. You’ll notice how the thumbs are placed on the top and the fingers come from the centre of the 'palm'. Each hand is operated by a rod, which will be added at a later stage. They are not actually directly attached to the body, although it will look as though they are.

The next stage, shown in the picture on the right, is to build up the fingers using the special ‘plastic wood’. This is a long process as it has to be done with a small piece at a time because the material dries in the air; simply rolling up a piece of the material and sticking it to the wire won’t work because it would just crumble. Once the basic finger is made it is further modelled with extra pieces of plastic wood being added in a painstaking process. In this picture you can see one pair of hands with just the palms and wire, one pair with the fingers partly made and two pairs of children’s hands – too small for individual fingers!

Sanding down the rough work makes a smooth, realistic hand, another time consuming process. Each hand is then individually painted in a neutral colour and hung up to dry.

This video shows you the process. Nino is making adjustments to the fingers; Ani is rubbing them down and painting; and finally, Maia is putting finishing touches to the feet.

Next step will be making the bodies and putting the puppets together. And of course there are the various animals to be made. Watch this space!

Are you in Edinburgh for the festival?

You can catch Mike Maran Mike Maran, who has written the stage adaptation and is playing Dr Iannis, in Edinburgh where is performing 3 of his shows at Valvona and Crolla (venue 67): A Funny Valentine, about the life of jazz musician Chet Baker; Did You Used To Be RD Laing, about the controversial Scottish psychaiatrist; and Italia ‘n’ Caledonia, the story of the early immigrants from Italy who settled in Scotland, not least Mike’s own family and that of Philip Contini who now owns Valvona and Crolla. Full details are here on Mike Maran's website

You can also see another production from the Mercury Theatre, Wretch by Gari Jones at the Gryphon Point Hotel (venue 109a)  Full details can be found here

32 heads for Captain Corelli's Mandolin

It’s astonishing to see how much work goes into making a puppet. Nino Namicheishvili is responsible for designing and making the puppets for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, a process that will take over six months. Working from her tiny workshop in the Marjanishvili Theatre she is helped by a small group of trusted friends but she’s the only one who’s there in the morning and still there at midnight.  

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin opens at the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi as part of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre on 5 October. It opens at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester on 27 October and runs there until 12 November. Booking for the Colchester performances is open now – www.mercurytheatre.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1206 573948

At the end of this post you’ll find a link to a video where Nino introduces the main characters but before you go there, spare some time to look at the process.


All the puppets for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin will be rod puppets. They are made up of six main sections – the head, the body, two hands and two feet – each controlled by a rod. Since puppeteers only have two hands, each puppet is operated by three, and sometimes four, manipulators.

An added attraction with the puppets for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is that many of them are based on the real actors who will be playing the characters. Sometimes the audience will be watching the actors, sometimes the puppets take over. The first challenge for Nino was therefore to make puppets that would represent the real actors and that’s more difficult than it appears. It’s not simply a matter of making an accurate copy.

This is not Madam Tussaud’s; the puppets have to display a character of their own and that must be achieved without any change in facial expression.

This series of photographs of Tony Casement, who plays Captain Corelli, gives an idea of the attention to detail. There will be two Corelli puppets – one for during the main setting of the play and one showing him many years later (forget the film – read the book!) but both need to be identifiably him. The same is true of Natuka Kakhidze who plays Pelagia.

For this production the puppets heads are moulded using a special substance that’s a bit like glue when it’s soft and stone when it hardens. Once out of the mould the head is finished by hand and given its distinctive character.

It feels almost painful to see it but each head is then drilled with two holes to enable the controlling mechanism to be inserted and the operation is done with all the care of a brain surgeon.

The heads are painted in a neutral colour to finish them off rather than having a face painted on; it’s lighting that brings them to life. Hair is added at the end.

At the last count there were 32 puppets in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin but there’s always the chance that director, Levan Tsuladze, will demand more so Nino has made a couple of spares. And that’s before you count a goat, a pine marten and 2 dolphins. Making heads for characters that are not also represented by live actors gives more scope for creativity but, of course, they still have to fit within the overall style of the show.

32 puppets means 64 hands and 64 feet! Each single hand takes about half a day to make and is in itself quite a complex process. More of that in the next blog.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin opens at the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi as part of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre on 5 October. It opens at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester on 27 October and runs there until 12 November. Booking for the Colchester performances is open now – www.mercurytheatre.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1206 573948

Here's the link to YouTube with Nino introducing the cast