Phantasmagoria: Wickedest Tales of All will hit the Orlando International Fringe Festival with a vengeance. I sat in on a tech rehearsal in the Orange Venue (Margeson Theater) inside the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. I sat in the top row of the theater. The huge cast was rehearsing a waltz. With so many actors on stage, the challenge was to keep couples from bumping into each other. Once the dance was worked out, the actors were released to go back stage, and get into make up and finish their elaborate costuming. John DiDonna came up to the back row to say hi and offer me a chance to sketch the back stage chaos. However, I had to run in order to get to another show.
Stage hands started sweeping the stage and then someone discovered a quarter sized hole in the stage floor. It was fun to watch actors, stage hands, the tech and director all standing around the hole to figure out how to patch it up. should a performer’s heel get stuck it could be a tragic moment. The fight choreographer stuck his finger in and said, “This will seal it up, I’m sort of like the Dutch boy.” Someone else suggested that they should get an actor to stick their finger in and then rip it off leaving it behind in the hole. Corks were considered and of course Duct Tape fixes anything. I didn’t stick around to find out how the mysterious hole was eventually patched.
The driving premise behind the show is that any story that is old must be told until it is complete. Some stories are so horrific that the cast can find themselves in mortal danger. There was a drone perched on on of the boxes, so I am left wondering how it might come into play.