Rent rehearsals going well…

Today we have an update from Waverley Care volunteer Cerin from the rehearsals of Rent:

Hi again,

So we are less than a month from production and everything is moving on fast. I watched a full run of the show a week ago and it is all falling into place and really something quite remarkable.

The plot is a love story, but also it’s about friends and relationships and how they are altered by circumstances and events. It is incredibly moving to watch. When one of the characters dies in the piece his boyfriend sings a most beautiful song and I just wept buckets watching this moment in rehearsal. You cannot fail to be moved by the emotion of the words, music and performance. However the piece does have humour and joy in it too but it takes you on an emotional journey, so bring the tissues when you come and see the show.

I like the show very much now – it has taken time for it to grow on me, and has presented some design challenges, which I think we have solved. There is a great deal for the production team to manage during the performance with lots of moving stage pieces and fast action requiring swift changes. But we have a great team and they are doing a terrific job.

What is powerful is the reality of the show and the realism of the characters being portrayed. Shakespeare said that theatre, “should hold a mirror up to nature” and it certainly does that. As I sit watching I am painfully aware of how close to home the issues in RENT are.

So many of us know and love people living with HIV and the power of seeing those characters in this piece portraying people living lives affected by HIV, is a reminder of the present reality.

I am very proud indeed that Edinburgh Music Theatre is supporting Waverley Care with this production, and the importance of the work that Waverley Care does in reducing isolation and tackling the ignorance that leads to stigma and discrimination, is priceless.
Hope to see you at the show- 5th – 9th April. Churchill Theatre, Morningside.

Here are some rehearsal photos to tempt you, and I will write another update soon.

See you,
Cerin