First session: Read through

The focus of the first rehearsal was to perform a read through familiarising ourselves with the play, the cast, who was playing what roles.
We performed  with a standing/walking read through, with actors entering the space to read as necessary for each scene and then we discussed what had happened after each few scene to help our understanding. 

I found it useful because I got a clearer understanding of the story as I was able to visualise the characters and see who was playing them. this also meant that I could see who my character needed to form relationships with. I did however find it rather long winded, although understood it was necessary  to aid everyone's understanding. The summaries helped me to consolidate what happened in the scenes and helped us all understand the scenes in the same way, making for a more unified cast.

As we stood as we spoke, the constant changing helped us to keep engaged and I found myself being able to visualise the story, bringing it to life, and start thinking about how I could portray my character. 
I found myself understanding the text better which also meant that relationships between characters could be developed. For instance I found how Olivia's character, the Prince of Dauphin, and my own character have a slight tense bond, although they are father and son.