The cast list is set (after some last minute changes to accomodate an individual or two who, by reason of another show or something else, has defected), and so we're ready to go. Last minute change of locale -- Autry House being unavailable, we rehearse in the reliable old Baker Library.
Almost everyone is on time...except the director. Apparently he hasn't made his appropriate sacrifices to the copier god, since it's the script copying process that has held him up, and on top of all that we are missing Act I, Scene 1. Until his arrival, we do the introductions arond the room; after he arrives with the scripts, hand them out, introduce the Mamillii (Kevin and Alan Krause), and get on with the reading.
As can only be expected at a cold read-through, it isn't easy. The verse in this play is terribly tangled, and moreso than anywhere else Shakespeare seems to delight in creating little rhetorical towers on which the actor must concentrate absolutely in order to make sure that they are properly constructed for the audience's benefit.
Several pauses to work on correct pronunciation and meaning. Much merriment occasioned by the need to change "dildos" to "dillidoes" in IV, 4 (the word should refer to a nonsense-song-catch like "hey nonny nonny," not toys of dubious purpose). Also some typos in the text.
Nice first rehearsal. Hopefully bodes well for the rest of the production.