Tonight's version of The Scene That Never Ends might be best characterized as "enthusiastic but sloppy." The dance is getting better, although hopefully 1) one of these nights ALL of our dancers will be there and 2) by opening night we won't need someone to call the steps. Still, the run of the second half went noticeably better than it had done on Sunday. The lines were better, and everyone is getting better on knowing where they need to go and what they need to do.
The physical comedy is also starting to come together. For one reason or another, we've decided that Autolycus' line "Your purse is too hot to purchase your spice" (delivered to the departing Clown after Autolycus has picked his pocket) is a good place for the Requisite Shakespeare Comedy Crotch Grab -- this being because that's exactly where Autolycus has stashed the purse.
One thing everyone with funny bits (particularly in IV,4) has to work on: don't laugh at your own jokes! We had an awful lot of corpsing tonight, which slowed things down something considerable.
On the production side of things, we are starting to get a little nervous. Our head carp has (by the time of this writing, I hope) drawn up a contingency set design. We begin building on Sunday. Saturday we hand the pipes and instruments for the lights. And this weekend we also HAVE to begin cutting and sewing costumes. Hopefully this will not turn into a reprise of last year's "sweat shop." The backstage is experiencing the more or less expected strain that kicks in about now, accompanied by shortfalls in communication, lost tempers, and a lot of scampering. On a lighter note, I've decided to put together a black-on-black crew t-shirt. Gwen and Paul and I came up with a design during rehearsals last night.