So today we had Alys at rehearsals to work with some of the young people on movement; mainly our "feast" scene but she also managed to train them into excellent convincing dogs! Maddy came along as well and removed some of the costumes which are...

Had a great meeting with Duncan Brown, the musical director, today. He has come up with some fantastic ideas for our production which will not only help move the audience from place to place but allow them to interact into the performance. It's all looking...

 We've had a great day rehearsing at Harehope Quarry. Tom Hogan, my mentor from the RSC Open Stages, was there to give advice , support and tea! We managed to walk through the locations and make adjustments as needed. The last scene was pretty much...

An image for The Tempest, by Dave Gibbins, was finally chosen, from the entries to our art competition. Louise Taylor, who will be creating our publicity, chose this image which depicts a tempestuous sea! Congratulations to Dave! All the entries will be on show, some of...

Today the technical team had a get together at Harehope Quarry. Some alterations were made in light of feasibility. The route for our promenade has changed slightly so that the audience do not have to negotiate the stream!!! Hence no need to build that bridge...

Today was the first full day of rehearsals. Worked with the Ariels this morning on their opening scene, a brilliantly focused little group of young people. Managed to unscramble some of the more complex text so that they brought it to life. Ferdinand is getting...

Had next mentor session today, at Contact Theatre, with fellow directors. Started with trying to understand the "process". All looked slightly baffled. We were given a task to complete by 3pm - a performance of a sonnet. This caused quite a lot of discussion including...

Despite the rain and cold we have had a very successful audition day at Harehope Quarry. People came from far and wide - including cycling from Penrith...

Today a group of us from Drama in the Dale "performed" at the Dales Centre in Stanhope for their Mad Hatter Easter event. Plenty of fun was had by all and enthusiastic visitors who joined in with the fun. A chance for a bit of...