The pace is picking up in all areas now! Rehearsals are running smoothly, in the main they are very productive, sometimes a little tense (there is a lot to cover in the time we have) but overall I think that there is a lovely balance of commitment, hard work and fun! It helps to have a flow of delicious home made cakes etc for our tea breaks that the cast regularly contribute.

We have had now had 2 ‘set’ meetings to finalise details of the set that is being made and the components that we are hiring. As musicals go, Chess has a very minimal set, but quite a few props. We have been gathering props over the last few weeks with only a couple more to source. Some of our cast members have been enormously helpful in sourcing a few on Ebay! Our prize new props are 2 Buddhas that will feature prominently from the start of Act 2.

Our backstage team are starting to attend rehearsals in preparation for show week. It is very important that everyone is familiar with the scene changing etc. I can not emphasise enough how vital and important these people are to us. These wonderful people are volunteers, they give us hours of their time and patience…We cannot THANK them enough!

Costumes are now more or less organised. We usually need to aim to have them ready for our publicity photo shoot. It is very important to have a variety of different costumes available so that we can have several different scenes from the show featured.

The programme is being compiled, this is an enormous task. We are extremely fortunate to have Camille and Christian working hard at this, at the same time as being in the production! We also truly THANK them. As it is  Irving Stage Company’s 60th anniversary and the beautiful Theatre Royal’s 200th anniversary, we are having a special celebratory programme made.

Sian Couture

Director of Chess, Irving Stage Company.