Elaine Tivers - Prompt Jenny Loone

Elaine Tivers - Prompt

Elaine has been a member of East Lane Theatre Club since the 1960s

She foundA Doll’s Housevery interesting and it was interesting to listen to the director but she

found it very difficult to prompt this particular play. Prompting requires one to know each actor’s

performance and initially they were very erratic because they did not know their lines well

enough.. It’s not only for pauses – which are marked into her script but when one is used to a

person’s performance it is easier to recognise when they have forgotten a line. Also, they did not

always pause in the same place. Part of the problem was when performances were interrupted

by the director in order to bring out the best in certain of the lines. Some of the cast felt that they

needed more straight run-throughs, letting it flow, in order to get the lines and interaction right.

This happens because of the tight schedule for rehearsals but Elaine found Linda’s intellectual

and analytical approach to the play was very interesting.

Taking part in this play, as always at East Lane, was a good experience; Elaine enjoys being with

such a stimulating group of people. She has been a member since 1966 when Judith Meredith, a

fellow teacher and membership secretary at the time, introduced her. She later had a long gap

while bringing up her children and returned about five years ago to prompt inStanley. She loves

‘the club’ but once one gets involved, it can take over one’s whole life. ‘It’s all or nothing.’ The best

thing is being part of a team.

Jenny Loomes

Jenny is used to the East Lane audition process as she has been a member for many years and

been in a number of productions. . She had prepared meticulously for the occasion and felt that

an audition is an opportunity to show what can you for a good selection of parts. She pointed

out that it is different from an audition for the professional theatre where the director selects for

each part separately from a number of applicants. In an amateur company there is a limited

pool of members and the director must select on the basis not just of who is the best fit for each

part but how the total combination will work - how they look and sound together. Of course,

everyone has to show that they can read the part. Jenny felt that the amateur theatre gave one

the opportunity to tackle parts for which one would never be considered in the professional

theatre. She said that if you put yourself forward for a part, the director has to have confidence

that you can ‘do it’ but you also have to have confidence that the director can bring the role out

of you.

On this occasion Jenny was not selected. She knows that there are several members who could

play each role and she enjoyed the audition. Generally, she prefers rehearsals to the actual

performances because of the fun of working together to get the best out of a show and the

satisfaction of seeing the play develop. An audition means selections for some and non-

selections for others. Jenny is acutely aware that she is working amongst friends and tries to

avoid any possible embarrassment by quickly congratulating (sincerely) the successful players

as she is genuinely happy for them.