All Aboard - We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea

‘We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea' Blog: Week 1

‘Everything on the river was new to them.' That's the second line in Arthur Ransome's gripping adventure story, and I can safely say I understood the sense of wonder and apprehension the children must've felt as I prepared to embark on my own new journey. With this being my first professional job outside of training, I was understandably a little nervous as I arrived at Eastern Angles on Monday for the first day of rehearsals. What were my fellow cast mates going to be like? What were the production team going to be like? These were the sort of apprehensive questions that were buzzing round my head as I made my way to the theatre.

But the answer to them was very simple, and very in keeping with the feel of the play - smashing! I arrived to a table piled high with a glorious picnic lunch provided by the production team, who all took the time to say hello and introduce themselves to me as I unpacked my bag. My fellow actors were all charming and friendly, and the first hour flew by as we got to know one another. By the time we started the first read-through, I felt completely relaxed and at ease with everybody.

The read-through took place with the whole production team present, and it was exciting to hear all the characters come to life as we made our way through the play. As we are all doubled up with two characters, it was great to get to play around and listen to the different voices coming through. After the read-through, we had a brief talk about the logistics of the show from the production team before they disappeared and left us, our director and our assistant director to begin working through the script.

The work-through took us from Tuesday until Wednesday, with our scripts becoming increasingly filled with notes and discussion points as we analysed everything we could about the play. What our director was keen to explore, and which I myself hadn't considered whilst reading the script, was the true reality of the piece. While the play is of course a very period 1930's adventure book (coming from the same golden hued mould as Enid Blyton), we soon started to realise how much danger the four children in the play were actually in. Despite being the seventh book in the series, the children's adventure in ‘We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea' seems to be the first time they experience the outside world and how dangerous it is. The work-through helped us to lay the foundations of our characters, and it was thrilling to see both myself and my cast-mates throw ourselves into creating the children as real, emotional and human characters rather than steering them towards the stereotypical ‘Famous Five' outline.

And so it was on Thursday we launched ourselves head first into blocking out the play. Although you might think it was a long and arduous process to get the play up on its feet, it felt surprisingly easy. We were very lucky to have use of the proper set from the moment we started, a large wooden circle with three distinct playing areas representing the cockpit, bow and cabin of the Goblin boat. We moved very quickly through the text so that by the time we called it a day, we had already made it halfway through the first section of Act One.

Friday was an exciting day as, after spending the morning blocking through more of Act One, we went on a short excursion outside of the rehearsal room to see the actual locations that feature within the play. We first drove to Pin Mill, the little village where the children stay and where they first meet Jim, the sailor who offers to take them out in his boat. The village was so peaceful, and the air was heavy with the scent of the river and the sound of the water lapping against the boats.  It was startling how close the children's holiday home (Alma Cottage) was to the shoreline and helped us re-evaluate the images we had had in our minds eye. After Pin Mill, we drove to the Shotley peninsula where the river Orwell (which the children sailed down) and the Stour meet into Harwich Harbour (where the Goblin moors and the children began their voyage out to sea). The sheer size of the harbour, and seeing examples of obstacles the children encounter such as buoys, once again helped to cement the extent of the danger all four children were facing. Once we had seen enough we returned back to base and managed to continue blocking about half of Act One, until it was time to call it a week.

As you can see, so far working on ‘We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea' has been a tremendously exciting process so far. Getting to know my fellow actors and the production team has been an absolutely joy, and the rehearsal process has expanded my knowledge of the nautical world far beyond what it was before. It hasn't been without its challenges, particularly navigating around the small stage and learning how to play a new musical instrument. But I'm excited to see what the next week will bring, and look forward to developing the piece even further.