Read Through and Initial Discussion

Today we kicked off our rehearsals for Her Naked Skin. The atmosphere in the room was really positive, as everyone was fresh faced, excited to go forward with the production and intrigued as to the creative direction that Sarah has for the play. We began by sitting in a circle; Sarah welcomed us, introduced us to our technical team and discussed some initial thoughts about the show. After a short while she handed over to us - we discussed some of our thoughts after reading the play in summer, both on what we were excited to bring to life and what ideas we had about how to put on the show.

Here are some of the key points brought up:

• The show is excellently written. It is a brilliant foundation to create some outstanding acting, as the characters are designed to showcase as much emotion as possible. We all agreed that it is an exhilarating prospect to have such freedom to explore our characters in a manner that we may not have had the opportunity to before.
• The suffragette movement is such an interesting and relevant social flashpoint to be able to explore, and no matter what level our previous knowledge of it extends to, there is no doubt that we will all learn new things about women's equality and the way all aspects of society viewed women's suffrage.
• A point that came up a lot was that everyone was very ready to put on a "proper" play. I assume that this means a chance to get our hands on a naturalistic powerhouse of a show, as it has been a long while since we were given the chance to put on a show that is all about showing authenticity of emotion as opposed to exploring different styles and approaches to creating theatre.
• Working in a proper theatre is always a bonus; Common Ground is the most ambitious project many of us are involved in at Brit, and the opportunity to put on a season of professional standard is one that none of us are half hearted about.

It was interesting listening to everyone's thoughts, as it gave us a chance very early on to establish a group understanding of our direction and our expectations.

After our discussion, we read through the play with Sarah's initial casting decisions. She emphasised that these decisions may or may not be final, and the read through's main purpose was to experiment with different people reading different rolls to test chemistry, character identification and to generally get a sense of who fits where. I was given the roll of William Cain, husband of one of the lead suffragettes, Lady Celia Cain. Throughout the read through, we were asked to take notes of some facts and questions we derived from the text.

Here is a summary of my list of facts and questions:

• FACT: The play is not in fact set during the reign of King Edward VII, who died in 1910. It is set three years after, although the grouping of cultural and social change that the play falls under is still referred to as the "Edwardian" era.
• FACT: The play focusses specifically on London.
• QUESTION: Was the suffragette movement specifically centred around London, or does the play choose to show just this side of it?
• FACT: The treatment of women's suffrage campaigners in the play is entirely based on real events
• FACT: Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister in office during the play, was a Liberal MP, as are most of the politicians featured in the play. It is easy to assume that this means they would be in favour of change, however the play sheds light on their true disposition regarding women's suffrage.
• QUESTION: Why does William want to stop Celia from protesting? Is it due to concern for her health and safety? Or is it because of the ridicule he fears from his fellow politicians and the male establishment?