LAB! Theatre performed its first play of the semester, which ran from Saturday night to Monday night. On closing night, the cast received a standing ovation and loud cheers from the audience as the actors put their all into their final performance.
The show, “New Labour,” is a dark political comedy that details the lives of a group of young adults in a London call center. They explore themes of alcoholism, failure, toxic relationships, workplace harassment and grief.
Cole Forminio, a first-time director, pitched the play after a trip to the United Kingdom, where he encountered it. Forminio described the play as relatable for younger age groups as it explores work culture among various people and their personal struggles.
The crew rehearsed for six weeks with rehearsal for five days a week, four hours a day. Forminio started by blocking — which is when actors start learning where the characters will stand and interact with the set.
Some of the actors found that Forminio’s approach of inquiring about the performers’ thoughts helped them to connect with the characters.
"I think Cole did a really good job of letting us kind of explore this scene naturally, and then later being able to, like, fine-tune it, which kind of gave us a lot of freedom to really portray the characters in a way that felt authentic," said Hadley Hayes, the student that played Liz in the play.
For this role, actors learned to speak with a British accent. Lindsay Wheeler, who played Rob, an emotionally closed-off character, detailed the process of learning the accents. The cast decided that if it didn’t feel right they wouldn’t do it, but their accent work paid off.
The show itself took place in the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art in room 104, which is a classroom with raised ceilings. There were three rows of chairs spanning the width of the classroom, tall mobile stage lights at the back and at least one speaker on the floor. Wires were taped down to avoid accidents as guests entered with a programme.
Before the show, attendees bantered and friends expressed how excited they were to watch the play. Forminio sat in the front row near the middle as he awaited the start of the play. Around 7:40 p.m. the classroom lights dimmed as the stage lights shined on the quaint set. This set included a call center table, a desk and a couch. There was also a corner covered with cloth so that actors were able to exit the audience's view.
