All the Rage by Brad Fraser

Author:Brad Fraser [Fraser, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2021-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

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After Pete left for rehearsal the next morning I got a phone call from Ellen-Ray, who wasn’t called for that day. She apologized for not being able to say anything during rehearsal and admitted she was at her wits’ end. She had no idea what the play was about or what she was doing with her character.

I made a crucial decision in that moment. This was my play. I knew what it was about and I knew how it would work. Although it defied everything I’d learned about professionalism and never contradicting the director, I felt I had no other choice. So I told Ellen-Ray that everything she was doing was wrong. Candy wasn’t a weepy, sensitive woman hopelessly in love with David, as it was being played. She was hard, cynical and outspoken. She wasn’t a victim; she was a predator who was out to get what she wanted. She was caustic and witty. “Put the joy and fun back into it,” I told her before hanging up.

I began to get calls from other cast members, more than half, who’d obviously spoken to Ellen-Ray. I said basically the same thing to each of them and reminded them my influences were rock videos, comic books and sitcoms. I told each of them to quit worrying about what Susan was asking for and to do what their instincts told them to do.

The next morning, a couple hours after rehearsal started, the phone rang. “You’d better get down here,” Pete said. I asked him what was happening, and he said Susan had been upset by Elly’s reinterpretation of Candy and, when she’d questioned her about it, Elly had said she was doing what I’d told her to do. Susan had walked out of rehearsal.

I raced to the theatre expecting to find the cast and crew fretting over things, but, thankfully, the stage manager was putting them through a run of the show. I watched a bit of it, pleased to see some of the actors shrugging off the funereal energy they’d been dealing with and starting to play. Then I headed to Dobbin’s office, Michael and Bob were waiting for me. Susan wasn’t there.

I’d expected fireworks and accusations of unprofessional sabotage, but got neither. They informed me that Susan had decided to leave the show and take her name off it because she didn’t feel she had the support of the playwright. I said that was probably for the best and asked what they planned to do now. Bob acknowledged that the basic blocking and analysis were pretty much done and, since his show was opening shortly, he’d take over for the technical rehearsals that were to come.

We then went down and informed the cast, who were, of course, unnerved by the director’s departure. Bob reminded them that we were all professionals, we still had a show to open, and these things sometimes happened.

I sat with Bob as he worked to shift the energy of the show in a new direction.

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