CHESS Director Nita Bennett discusses her production for Mossley AO&DS at the George Lawton Hall

CHESS, because of its musical and technical demands, is likely to be something of a rarity on the ilmilteur stage. When I was invited by Mossley to direct this exciting show, I had no hesitation in accepting, despite the fact that it would be my thirteenth for the company! After dozens of musicals and plays over the years, the unique demands of CHESS were to mark a totaLly different "Ide of direction for me - I looked to'rward to the challenge im mensely, not only for myself but (or the company.

CHOOSING THE CAST

'\uditions were held in November after newsletters and local adw rtising. I have to say the turn­

ut was excellent and standards -ery h.igh. For the leading roles I

II \\' I would need s trong singers ut, as it WilS my intention to turn

-...·m of the numbers into dialogue \ ~ th the permission of the writers

and my MD) in order to make the mplex chess-oriented plot easier

ro-' iollow, strong acting ability was j , essential. When casting I had

look for certain characteristics r e ch role; e_g. the American,

I'redd v Trumper, had not only to , I Y acting and singing ilbility

also had to be a strong dancer, . - dj The Arbiter. The auditions

'v -d I would be working with t! L1f the most talented players

und me.

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

being a chess player('), this the first ques tion I asked If on receiving the script, but

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nng studied the story - and with help from my friends' - I

it far easier to understand I first im,'gined. Keeping it

ef ilnd to the point, it revolves two chess players - a

R --ian, Anatolv, and an merican, Frederick - opponents in to World Chess Championships in ler no, Italy They become ptments not only in chess, but in

'\' ,nd in their poli tical stances. \natol" leaves his wife Svetlana

behind-when he falls in love with f rence, Frederick's second and

,er. and when he beats Frederick become the new World

':hampion, he defec ts from his

twt:en his love for Florence and - untn ', and finally has to choose

Florence

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GETTING STARTED

Singing rehearsals began in ea rly December under the watchful eye of our multi-talented (and multi­awarded) MD, Paul Firth. Most of the company rehearsed twice a week from this date. It was essentia l, owing to the fact that the musicill is virtually "sung-through" (apart from the sections turned into dialogue) that the cast was totally familiar with the score by the time floor rehearsals began early in 1999. Dancing rehearsals began in January, our choreographer Lynn Bennett (no relation!) being fortunate enough to cast six versatile dancers with the ability to perform with ease the diffe rent classical and modern choreography required for the four big dance routines, which range from the raunchy semi-acrobatic "One Night in Bangkok" to the "Chess Ballet", performed on pointe.

I tend to direct visually and from feelings wi thin. I ask a character to read through a particular piece of dialogue, and direct from there. I am clear on how I visualise the playing of the role, but this approach allows the actor a certain freedom in their portrayal of the character. I work my players and team hard , and although we have fun and enjoy rehearsals, we know we have a job to do. I am not afraid to push my ideas forward, and it is rewarding to see them com to life. For example, in CHESS the opening "Merano" number (the townspeople formally welcoming visitors to th.e Championships) is a straight choral ensemble (and the show itself is quite serious). I do like to feel emotion and warmth coming over the footlights, and I decided to lighten the opening ,md introduce subtle comedy touches in the chorus folk-dance movements (some mor(' adept than others, some jockeying for position, etc), albeit still re taining the choral structure. The 14 repetitive verses I cut to four'

"Commie Newspapers" was changed to dialogue (giving the acting players a chance to act). The Press Conference beca me dialogue, making the plot slicker and morc' accessible. The "Mow1tain Duet" between Plorence and Molokov also became dialogue. "Der Kleine Franz" is written in German - I cu t it, feeling that many would not

AU6UST 8

und erstand it! The number fo r Anatoly and the Press I also changed to dialogue, making the lead-up to the "Anthem" which closes Act I much more powerful. In Act II "One More Opponent" became dialogue, thus making this scene more comprehensible, and "The Interview" was cut in parts and also became dialogue. The optional "Someone Else's Story" was added to the end of the show for Florence, which then linked into the "Epilogue", with both she AND Anatoly ending the show as they individually reflect upon their story.

COSTUMES

These were provided mostly by the company, bearing in mind the mid­80s in which the show is set. Only the opening "Merano" folk­costumes were hired. 1 decided to go with the colour theme of dark for the Russians and bright colours for the Americans. The make-up was designed to suit the nationality of the charac ters. The Arbiter would be the one character whose make-up would reflect the game of chess in that his face was painted in four black and white squares, reflecting the look of a chess-board; his costume followed this black and white theme.

STAGING

The unique and imaginative set was designed by John Buckley, and constructed by himself and his dedicated team of workers. The company is noted for its sets, which are regularly hired by other societies around the country, before being stripped due to lack of storage space. CHESS is a show with many scenes, so J decided to play "in the thrust" and make a giant chess-board the centrepiece of the thrust stage built out in front of the main stage (the audience sea ted in tiers on three sides of the thrust). On the main stage itself, DR and DL, two 10' revolves formed the background for the chess "arena" and when revolved revealed the various hotel settings in Italy and Bangkok. Centre of the main stage formed the backdrop for o ther ' cenes by using flags for the embassy, and set pieces on trucks tor the Bangkok hotel foyer and BangkOk set, plus lanterns (the

rchestra being US).

The thrust itself was built at two evels, a large step between linking ,,'i th the level of the stage proper. :he chess ga mes were played on . e stage level thrust, setting the c ~ckground to the dance routines n the lower thrust, which was 'esigned as a full chess-board 15' "'!ua re, giving a total area of 27' x

Q' , including peripheral and -amps. The ramps and s teps

lowed easy access to and from the

UJ6UST

arena, ensemble entrances often being made through the audience from the floor of the arena. The chess- board itself was designed to incorporate sequenced lighting beneath each square. Fortunately our sponsors, Plastics Direct, provided the heavy-duty clear and black plastic for the illuminated thrust o r the design would not have been cost-effective.

Two 52" television screens mounted on either side of the proscenium relayed video foota ge, TV news bulletins, and "live" video of TV news bulletins, interviews, and the settings for the embassy, airport, Budapest, etc., using rear projection units.

LIGHTING

Before we could even begin to ligh t this show we needed to install extra lighting bars to LOpe with playing "in the thrust". Wiring of four new bars commenced about two weeks before we opened, and was completed two days before. Lighting the show provided the ideal opportunity for the technicians to tes t our new Strand GSX lighting console to the full. The main arem chess-board was lit from benea th with 32 x 500W floods, aII these being controlled individually by our lighting board, to be used in a series of "chase" sequences as the human chess pieces echoed the ga me on the upper thrust level. Saturday and Sunday before we

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We used 4 x 1.2kw follow spots to create a close rela tionsh i p with each character and the audience. We needed 16 packs in all to give us a total of 96 dimmers available ­this was just enough to cope with the number of lights we required . As most of the show would be staged on the chess-board thrust, there was no scenery to light, so it was decided to use subtle colour changes to alter our "se ts". With a combination of deep amber and li ght st raw this was achieved. Coupled with profiles and fresnels, this was the backbone of our rig. To give colour to the dramatic Bangkok scene, 10 par cans with assorted colours were used. This show had no limits for our lighting team and allowed them to be as imaginative as the budget would let them!

SOUND __ .

The sound rig was quite complicated. All principals had a radio mic, fixed mics were strategically placed round the thrust, the off-stage backing group had separate mics, and on top of all this individual members of the orchestra were mic-ed, plus monitor system for 1'.1D and cast.

As the open.ing became. imminent, we managed to rehearse on the full set only twice before the show - the

opened on the Monday. The large George Lawton Hall is hired for each production, and everything, even our own £70K Lottery-funded seating, has to be installed for each production. Everything went very smoothly, and it was, indeed, a rather "electrical" experience when the company first came in contact with the chess-board! Prefaced by fits of nerves, lots of gargling backstage, the odd bit of yodelling, and much exci ted antiCipation, the overture began and the "game" was ready to be played.. My cast had given me 101% and they played that game beautifully. I have loved directing this tea m - and 13 is definitely not my unlucky number! Everybody had pulled together ­and they pulled it off' Some doubters have said this show couldn't be done by amateurs. Mossley proved them wrong ­CHECKMATE!'

Postscript: - Our apologies for the

misunderstanding which led to our claim that Mossley presented the Northern amateur premiere of CHESS (see June issue), and our congratulations to those other companies who have taken up the challenge of this complex show. As we go to press, we learn that Mossley has scored a bulls-eye with their remarkable production which, out of some 150 reviewed by the GMDF pane l of three adjudicators throughout the 1998/ 9 season, has been awarded Best Overall Musical Production, Best Presentation, and for Nita Bennett Best Director. John Buckley, the company's Stage Director, joint Designer / Scenic Artist and Production Secretary, received the prestigious Laurence Roberts Trophy 1999 for Personal Achievement in Amateur Theatre for his work with Mossley. Their only problem now is - follow that'

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