Lab rats

We're now well into our second week and since I last wrote we've discovered a lot more about the play, about the people we'll be performing to and, perhaps most importantly, the spaces in which we'll be working.

On Friday afternoon we went over to our first school venue - Islington Arts and Media School and spent three hours hanging out in a science lab there with Daniel, Mollie and Eliza - three of the young people who helped us make the play in the first place.  It was incredibly instructive being able to feel our way around the space and to run the play in a science class for the first time.

There are some photos of the rehearsal in the Darwin Project Photo Gallery.

This week is all about getting the play on its feet, ensuring that we really understand what's going on and doing all the things necessary before next week.  The designer, Charlie, is in a lot at the moment - designing and fitting costumes, researching obscure scientific terms for the 'slides' that appear towards the end of the play.

We're also putting together a range of resources for teachers to use after we've finished the show - thank God (or Darwin) for Ben and Dale, our science experts, who've been invaluable throughout and are now busily putting sheets of information together so that the play leaves a legacy for all the students who see it.