THE PLAY PRODUCED

A FEW GOOD MEN by Aaron Sorkin

Bill Edwards discusses his production for The Power of One Theatre Workshop at the Kenneth More Theatre Ilfo r ~

Bill Edwards Scott Harris and advert in The Stage and _ Simon Curtis formed The Power of interviewing some eighteen a- One Theatre Workshop in 1996 who responded we completed with the intention of performing cast

-strong quality plays that are for various reasons very rarely REHEARSALS performed by standard ama teur These were spread out 0companies twenty-one weeks with tW )

hour rehearsals a week Wednesday and Thu r evenings and one 4-hour rehearshyevery five weeks on Sun Aaron Sorkins stage play - upon afternoons which amounted ttl shywhich the motion picture s tarring rehearsals in total includingJack Nicholson Tom Cruise and dress and technical rehearsals T Demi Moore was based - tells of the first eight rehearsals were utili trial of two young United States

Marines for their complicity in the for getting the basic blocking I

Act [ completed and we cover death of a fellow marine while they on average twelve pages of sc were serving at the US military

base at Guantanamo Bay Cuba per rehearsal This may seem likl long period for one act but as e _The Navy select as their lawyer a act runs at about 1 hour 20 minut callow young man who seems there was a lot of ground to cm more interested in softball games Also taking this length of tinthan in playing hardball with this

allowed for a cert case expecti ng that amountthere will be a pleashyimprovisation albargain and cover-up contributions from tof what really cast which pro happened to the dead very fruitful Atmarine Driven on by end of this period a female member of 0

had a stagger-throuhis defence team the of Act We then d lawyer against his the same for Actnatural instincts over the next ei lmakes a valiant effort rehearsals The nto defend his two seven weeks wclients and in so taken up with ta f _doing puts the whole each scene apart aTUS military mentality working on it in detaon trial because the with work on each a_defendants were again culmina ting i following orders and run-through The fi nare willing to go to jail five weeks run-in theshyif need be to maintain allowed time for ei)the Marine Corp code run-throughs and fo of honour rehearsa ls for W T

One of the reasons that where requiredthis play is seldom performed by amateur societies is due to the number of men required For this

The decision was made ea rlv production we needed twenty-one during the pre-rehearsal stage male actors and only one female the production that in orderDue to the fact that The Power of keep the pace of the producruOne Theatre Workshop has no tight we would have to uti Lisepaying members casting for our multi-level composite set and u- productions is by invitation This furniture and lighting to setmeant that we could spread our net different scenes This was prima far and wide I was determined due to the fact that the play is ma tha t the cast would be of the up of many short scenes The s highest possible standards even in changes were handled by mem the sma ller supporting roles of of the cast and where necess guards marines and lawyers members of the stage crew dreso From drawing up the initial cast list in US Marine fatigues The miLto final cas ting took in all three structure of the set was made up months and involved countless a 3ft high rostrum that letters and phone calls With three horizontally across the back of weeks to the start of rehearsals we stage from the upstage left _had cast all but the central role of and was 8ft deep by 16ft W IDaniel Kaffee by means of actors There was then a 2ft rostrum Who were personally known to us ran at a 45-degree angle from and through interviews with ac tors stage right end of the 3ft rostruIrwho were referred to us by uther

contacts Finally we placed an the downstage right corner of

16

THE PLAY PRODUCED tag e This measured 8ft

p with the front edge of rostrum measuring 10ft

g and the back edge 19ft g with a set of treads

-ld ing down to the stage e The stage floor the

bull IpS of the rostra and the p of each tread were

inted battleship grey and 111 rostra and treads were rronted with oak panelling

We then built two guard towers one downstage right that was practical and Illaded with a search light the other a dummy d uplicate built upstage left We then ran a wire fence a l(ll1g the back of each rostrum (this was to represent the fence line in C uba) with a large gap for en trance and exi ts in the upstage right corner

The remaindlcr of the set consisted of tables chilirs of arying types desks and a sofa and matching armchair VVe ended up having to make the witness stand and the lawyers tables for the courtroom scenes ilS we were not able either to hire or borrow them These remain stored in good condition and are avaiJable to hire Alternatively if anyone requires advice on how to make them then feel free to contact me through the Amateur Singe offices

LlGHT1~i91111 Due to the nature of the set we had th ree distinct areas to light the upstage rostrum (Santiagos letters n Act I and the Judges bench in

Act II) the stage right rostrum fWashington Navy yard Briegt Act I rnd VVitness Stand Act II) and the main stage area (vilrious Cuban and Washington locations Act I md Courtroom and Kaffees

partment Act II) For the Act I nterims we used different pools of ght on various areas of the stage

differen tia te the vallOUS Cations We also had two gobos

_w Jected onto the back cyc to arify when action was taking

_ ltl ce in Cuba and when in a~hington The first was the US

31 of the Eagle holding an olive aneh and a bundle of arrows for

scenes that took place in hington the other was a

l~m-made gobo depicting the hne of Cuba with Guantanamo

m arked

COSTUMES

played a vitally-umes

eo

Ttant role in the production as g gone for a fairly stark set Were going to set the times

and most important of all with the actors body

language create the atmosphere inherent to military life We were determined that every costume was to be as authentic as possible To this end we weJe extremely fortunate to enlist the services of Lee Marsh at Quartermaster Uniform Hire His advice was invaluable and the ends to which he went to achieve the detail we required was above and beyond the call of duty Each actor required at least two uniforms For those playing marines there was a set of camouflage fatigues and a Class A and the three main characters (Kaffee Weinberg and Galloway) had a set of whites a set of khakis and a Navy Class A In all we needed 46 uniforms most of which were genuine US military Imported from the United States along with the precise insignia and medal ribbons for each rank I must say that without his contribution and efforts on our behalf we would not have been able to pull it off and I would recommend his company to anyone who requires military uniforms for this or any other production

SOUND ~amp FX shy

The special effects requirements were minimal but crucial in creating the atmosphere of military hfe We had already paid a performance fee to use the Marine Corp cadences however I did not

want to have the actors perform the cadences live on a microphone placed in the wings as this would have made for some hasty entrances and also not created the right sound We therefore employed the services of an expert sound engineer named Pete Abery who recorded the cast performing the cadences onto mini-disc In addition to this we used certain incidental music to cover the scene changes from the courtroom to Kaffees apartment during Act II

We also recorded the gunshot primarily to give the control of its timing to the sound engineer as this had to happen at a certain point during the crescendo in the music that accompanied the dialogue preceding it but also to simplify our compliance with existing laws to do with firearms in the thea tre

In addition to the aforementioned furni ture the predominance of the properties consisted of files and documents Now whilst it may not have been obvious to the audience we were determined that these lik~ the uniforms would be as authentic as possible if for no other reason than that it would give the actors something worthwhile to use So after scrutinising several movies to get an idea for the designs of file covers reports

letters etc we were able to obtain the respective mili tary seals from the following Internet site shyhttpwwwusmcmil Click on Imagery amp Graphics then Line ArtGraphic Imagery Once here look for anything that says USMC Seal or 000 Seal or Eagle Globe amp Anchor In addition to this Lee Marsh at Quartermaster was of great assistance by providing us with examples of US Ministry of Defence letterheads and finally some of the fOnTIS we just made up using green pink and yellow paper We were also able to obtain from the Internet documents abou t lactic acidosis the Military Code of Justice Guantanamo Bay and many other relevant topics Should anyone require further advice on this matter then please contact me through Amnllllr Stage

As well as the documents we also needed two Barretta 9mm hand guns - one nickel plated one gun blue - which we obtained from Guns in Theatre These were not required to fire on stage however they still had to look authentic

A Few Good Men started life for us some five years ago and it wasnt actually until we were under way that we realised just what a challenge it was Attention to detail is vital especially in the uniforms and body language there needs to be a definite distinction between the marines and the navy lawyers However these challenges only made the production more enjoyable It is extremely hard work but immensely rewarding if you are prepared to go the extra mile as it were and we received many shyunsolicited - favourable comments

ALL SCRIPTS SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

THE PLAY PRODUCED AND THE MUSICAL PRODUCED

CA DSTAl OM

TEL 020-7837-5655 FAX 020middot7833middot0609

17

THE PLAY PRODUCED tag e This measured 8ft

p with the front edge of rostrum measuring 10ft

g and the back edge 19ft g with a set of treads

-ld ing down to the stage e The stage floor the

bull IpS of the rostra and the p of each tread were

inted battleship grey and 111 rostra and treads were rronted with oak panelling

We then built two guard towers one downstage right that was practical and Illaded with a search light the other a dummy d uplicate built upstage left We then ran a wire fence a l(ll1g the back of each rostrum (this was to represent the fence line in C uba) with a large gap for en trance and exi ts in the upstage right corner

The remaindlcr of the set consisted of tables chilirs of arying types desks and a sofa and matching armchair VVe ended up having to make the witness stand and the lawyers tables for the courtroom scenes ilS we were not able either to hire or borrow them These remain stored in good condition and are avaiJable to hire Alternatively if anyone requires advice on how to make them then feel free to contact me through the Amateur Singe offices

LlGHT1~i91111 Due to the nature of the set we had th ree distinct areas to light the upstage rostrum (Santiagos letters n Act I and the Judges bench in

Act II) the stage right rostrum fWashington Navy yard Briegt Act I rnd VVitness Stand Act II) and the main stage area (vilrious Cuban and Washington locations Act I md Courtroom and Kaffees

partment Act II) For the Act I nterims we used different pools of ght on various areas of the stage

differen tia te the vallOUS Cations We also had two gobos

_w Jected onto the back cyc to arify when action was taking

_ ltl ce in Cuba and when in a~hington The first was the US

31 of the Eagle holding an olive aneh and a bundle of arrows for

scenes that took place in hington the other was a

l~m-made gobo depicting the hne of Cuba with Guantanamo

m arked

COSTUMES

played a vitally-umes

eo

Ttant role in the production as g gone for a fairly stark set Were going to set the times

and most important of all with the actors body

language create the atmosphere inherent to military life We were determined that every costume was to be as authentic as possible To this end we weJe extremely fortunate to enlist the services of Lee Marsh at Quartermaster Uniform Hire His advice was invaluable and the ends to which he went to achieve the detail we required was above and beyond the call of duty Each actor required at least two uniforms For those playing marines there was a set of camouflage fatigues and a Class A and the three main characters (Kaffee Weinberg and Galloway) had a set of whites a set of khakis and a Navy Class A In all we needed 46 uniforms most of which were genuine US military Imported from the United States along with the precise insignia and medal ribbons for each rank I must say that without his contribution and efforts on our behalf we would not have been able to pull it off and I would recommend his company to anyone who requires military uniforms for this or any other production

SOUND ~amp FX shy

The special effects requirements were minimal but crucial in creating the atmosphere of military hfe We had already paid a performance fee to use the Marine Corp cadences however I did not

want to have the actors perform the cadences live on a microphone placed in the wings as this would have made for some hasty entrances and also not created the right sound We therefore employed the services of an expert sound engineer named Pete Abery who recorded the cast performing the cadences onto mini-disc In addition to this we used certain incidental music to cover the scene changes from the courtroom to Kaffees apartment during Act II

We also recorded the gunshot primarily to give the control of its timing to the sound engineer as this had to happen at a certain point during the crescendo in the music that accompanied the dialogue preceding it but also to simplify our compliance with existing laws to do with firearms in the thea tre

In addition to the aforementioned furni ture the predominance of the properties consisted of files and documents Now whilst it may not have been obvious to the audience we were determined that these lik~ the uniforms would be as authentic as possible if for no other reason than that it would give the actors something worthwhile to use So after scrutinising several movies to get an idea for the designs of file covers reports

letters etc we were able to obtain the respective mili tary seals from the following Internet site shyhttpwwwusmcmil Click on Imagery amp Graphics then Line ArtGraphic Imagery Once here look for anything that says USMC Seal or 000 Seal or Eagle Globe amp Anchor In addition to this Lee Marsh at Quartermaster was of great assistance by providing us with examples of US Ministry of Defence letterheads and finally some of the fOnTIS we just made up using green pink and yellow paper We were also able to obtain from the Internet documents abou t lactic acidosis the Military Code of Justice Guantanamo Bay and many other relevant topics Should anyone require further advice on this matter then please contact me through Amnllllr Stage

As well as the documents we also needed two Barretta 9mm hand guns - one nickel plated one gun blue - which we obtained from Guns in Theatre These were not required to fire on stage however they still had to look authentic

A Few Good Men started life for us some five years ago and it wasnt actually until we were under way that we realised just what a challenge it was Attention to detail is vital especially in the uniforms and body language there needs to be a definite distinction between the marines and the navy lawyers However these challenges only made the production more enjoyable It is extremely hard work but immensely rewarding if you are prepared to go the extra mile as it were and we received many shyunsolicited - favourable comments

ALL SCRIPTS SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

THE PLAY PRODUCED AND THE MUSICAL PRODUCED

CA DSTAl OM

TEL 020-7837-5655 FAX 020middot7833middot0609

17