Spring Production 2010 "Quartet" - Director's Report

here are a few thoughts on the production------

As you all know, I was drafted in as director for the recent production of Quartet....It has been at least 10 years since my last work with the semi-circle....the reason for my hiatus concerns no one....I had already worked with three of the cast members and only one was new to me. I guess the fact that I am a voice teacher and performer was pure chance.....I understand the basic feelings of the characters....we had to work quickly, as time was against us....the cast got together very often on their own initiative, which helped me a lot. Most of the rehearsals were done at my apartment, which was only a little smaller than the stage of the theatre....As a director, I kept pushing for the memorization of the text, which was very heavy for all the actors...I gave occasional line readings and tried to pull new things from the talented cast members.....Since they were all supposed to be older folk, the movement was kept on the minimal side. This of course, makes the work harder on the actors, as everything must be attained by use of their voices (just like singing)....My crew did great jobs...Suzan, with her strong sense of organization....Angela, with her great finds at the Stadttheater...and Penny, with her rock solid prompting....and to everyone who helped build the set and set the scenes....great thanks from all of us. I shall not single out any one person from our cast, for they all worked together in a truly professional way....each person gave a strong performance....the audience responded with tremendous applause.....they really got it.....It seemed to appeal to all age brackets (but most of all to the older generation, who got all the references)....the final Quartet from Rigoletto was a huge success...My only regret is that the audiences were not as large as hoped for. Thanks to all the people of the Baseldytschi Bihni for their hard work...it was truly a pleasure for all of us to feel part of this great atmosphere....In short, it was a total delight to tread the boards again....

Richard Levitt