Okay, I’ve got a funny story to tell you about Colin and this tree…
So, in case you’ve not seen the play, this scene takes place at the beginning of the 2nd act. So, the stage lights come up to Chris Keller sawing down the remains of his brother Larry’s memorial tree that blew down in a storm.
The prop tree you see here is reassembled after each performance with a well-hidden dowel that attached the two parts that Colin actually does have to saw through. The tree is at very far stage right, which means that Colin, who is right handed, has to use the saw left handed (otherwise he would have his back to the crowd and they couldn’t see what he was doing!).
Now the watching audience has been made aware in the 1st act that Chris has some lingering health issues from serving in WWII, so when Colin is cutting this tree, he makes it look like it’s a good deal of work for his character, with awkward cut strokes and laboured breathing. Still, Chris normally cuts through the tree trunk in about ten seconds and then drags the remains of the tree offstage as his mother comes out of the house carrying a tray of grape juice and glasses.
But one night during the last week of the run (I think it was the evening showing on Wednesday, 5th June, but don’t quote me on that), things did not go as planned.
So, as the 2nd act begins, we hear the sounds of Chris cutting the tree and then the stage lights come on. We see Colin, huffing and puffing while he’s sawing up and down.
Ten seconds go by. Fifteen.
I don’t know if the saw blade was just that dull or if the dowel holding the tree together is made of sterner stuff than normal, but it doesn’t want to give. Colin repositions the saw and keeps cutting.
Twenty seconds. Twenty five seconds. Still cutting.
I can see Sally Field has actually stopped just inside the screen door holding the drink tray, waiting for her cue, because Colin still hasn’t been able to cut through the damned dowel holding the prop tree together!
And Colin is actually grimacing for real by now, because he knows he’s holding up the scene because of the damn tree malfunction.
Now, we all know that Colin is a consummate professional, but he was just DONE with that nonsense. With an exasperated look of “Oh, eff this!”, on the next downstroke of the saw, he leaned all his weight on his right hand and–with a mighty shove–literally broke the tree in two with his bare hands. It wasn’t even subtle. We could actually hear the wood cracking when he snapped it in half. (And after how long he’d been trying to cut it, no one blamed him)
And that, children, is the story of that time when Colin Morgan broke a tree in half onstage barehanded because it dared to misbehave.
baratheonpilled
titsay
