No Man’s Land on YouTube

As part of our ongoing efforts to give you a behind the scenes look at our productions, we have produced a brief documentary about creating No Man’s Land featuring interviews with David and Lewis Wheeler and production dramaturg, Miriam Weisfeld.

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Catch-Up Ball

Bullet points today, ‘cause that’s how my brain is frying…

• Previews! Oh, what a pleasure to have an audience! Truly the missing link. The energy of the house, my nerves, the drive and purpose – all marvelous. And the energy tightened the performance so much! A challenge, always, to make that leap from the crew in the room to EVERYONE in the room, but the best challenge, and, after all, the purpose of the exercise. If no one ever saw the play, what would be the point? I wouldn’t do it. The PURPOSE of a piece of theater is the AUDIENCE. So, thank you for the challenge and the reward – come early and often! I think you’ll enjoy it, and get a lot out of it; your money’s worth, I hope.

Moving to the Loeb

On Sunday we bid farewell to our rehearsal hall, and yesterday began our technical rehearsals in the Loeb. The set is wonderful: the room looks cavernous and invokes that particularly English antique grandeur of high-vaulted wood paneling and leather, but by using levels and angles and furniture our designer, Michael Griggs, has created a variety of playing spaces within the grand room that allow for intimate and specific contact between actors. It’s very well done, and a pleasure to play on.

Somerville Journal – Paul Benedict enters darkness of Pinter’s ‘No Man’s Land’

Somerville Journal – Paul Benedict enters darkness of Pinter’s ‘No Man’s Land’

After 43 years in the theater, appearing in nine Harold Pinter plays, Paul Benedict has a good idea about what he’ll do when he finally gets some time to himself.
“Suicide,” says Benedict with perfect comic timing.

It’s natural for an actor to be in a dark place after rehearsing a Pinter play for a couple of weeks. The playwright’s material is hardly uplifting, with dark themes and uncomfortable pauses. Thankfully, Benedict’s sense of humor keeps him grounded.

The truth is Benedict was all set to retire from the stage and was looking forward to working at his vineyard. Then he got a call from director David Wheeler.

Read the entire article.

Boston Globe – The family that plays together

Boston Globe – The family that plays together

Lewis Wheeler has a distinct advantage over the other actors in “No Man’s Land.” He’s known the director all his life.

“I’ve been watching my dad in rehearsals since I was a little kid,” says Wheeler, whose father, the award-winning David Wheeler, is directing Harold Pinter’s bleak comedy for the American Repertory Theatre starting Saturday.

“I know what he wants from me, and we’ve got a definite shorthand,” he says.

His father looks over at him fondly. “I think we know how to collaborate,” he says. The two men are sitting in the ART offices, and it’s touching to see the obvious pride they take in each other.

Read the entire article.

Boston Phoenix – Land ahoy

Boston Phoenix – Land ahoy

Unlike The Birthday Party and The Homecoming, now staples of the repertory, this play by the 2005 Nobel laureate is seldom mounted. (In conjunction with this production, the Harvard Film Archive is screening nine Pinter-scripted films plus a bio-documentary in the series “Harold Pinter: Stage to Screen,” May 13-30; Michael Atkinson’s review will appear in next week’s Phoenix.) Paul Benedict (Waiting for Guffman, TV’s The Jeffersons), who plays Hirst, says of stepping into the shoes of Gielgud and Richardson, “People are afraid, perhaps in the way that batters were afraid for a long time to follow Babe Ruth.”

The action is simple, though the undercurrents are not. The curtain rises on the two elderly men sharing whiskey and conversation in Hirst’s comfortable living room. Hirst has invited Spooner home for a nightcap. Although Spooner claims to be a poet and Hirst is an established writer, nothing is certain about the pair’s past lives. The first act ends when two young men — servants, perhaps, or relatives — burst in and take control.

Read the entire article.

a metaphor is like a simile…

I’m just back in from my morning run, and dreaming of Marathons. I haven’t run one yet, but I’m hatching plans to race next fall.

Toronto Waterfront, September 30th. The timing is perfect for me.

Those who know me well know that I thrive on metaphor. Most of my theory of acting is that being on stage is just like snowboarding. But, as I prepare to go back out and develop my career in the theatre, running reminds me that endurance is not struggle, but commitment.

-henry david clarke

transporting and roundabouts…

We’re running the show just about every day in the rehearsal hall now, and I’m learning a lot. There are some sections that are still rough, but other places where we’re fine tuning, and that’s very exciting – you can really feel a PLAY happening. And yesterday we had a costume parade – everyone trying on costumes and milling around to see how we all look together. David Reynoso has done a terrific job of designing costumes that look fabulous, place us immediately in England, and are good to act in. I’ve got these bell bottoms and a pair of snakeskin shoes that instantly transport me back in time. I was born in 1976 – the year after this play premiered – so it’s especially fun for me to imagine.

Exactly Wrong – what fun!

Well, this is the right time in the rehearsal process to realize that everything I’m doing is wrong! In fact, it’s so EXACTLY wrong that all I really have to do is the opposite of what I’m doing, and I’m suddenly in business!

These last few days have been big rehearsals for me. After a whirlwind trip to New York City for our final Showcase performances, I was back in deep on Wednesday, and failing. Failing in interesting and informative ways, but bombing none the less. I was not aiding the play or telling the story. So, I set about trying to fix that.

A view from the edge

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

First day of rehearsal today – always a weird combination of excitement and anxiety for me – you’re finally getting started on a play you’ve been thinking about, reading and re-reading, working on in your own time, talking about with friends – and now you’re finally there. It’s great, a huge relief, like a deep breath. At the same time, it’s always an ‘event’ that is a little stressful and a bit like your first day of school. With the designers (set, wardrobe, lighting, sound, etc.) making presentations about their designs, the artistic director and theatre administration present, various marketing and other folks, it’s far from the usual private, intimate rehearsal space.