In Rehearsal

In Rehearsal

Drawing of hands lifting a script from a pile

The rehearsal schedule is prepared and sent to the actors together with their scripts. This notifies them of their calls for rehearsal during the week in which the production is to take place. Many of the actors will have appeared regularly in Ward 10 over a long period. Among these are Charles Tingwell (Mr. Dawson), Jill Browne (Nurse Carole Young) and Desmond Carrington (Mr. Chris Anderson). Others will be among the hundreds of actors who have appeared in the programme for shorter periods.

There are no costumes during these days in the rehearsal rooms. There is no make-up. There are no cameras, no microphone booms, no arc lights. A few working props such as beds and chairs are used, but in the main the positions of the sets and props are marked by adhesive coloured tapes laid on the floor of the rehearsal room by the floor manager or his assistant. From these stark beginnings the skills of the director, actors and technicians will within a week have created another chapter in the history of the Oxbridge Hospital. 

“I feel sure you will be interested to learn that as a result of the various scenes of Emergency—Ward 10 dealing with Blood Transfusion, the attendance at many of our blood collecting sessions has been much greater than we have experienced for some time and in view of the many comments made to us by many of our donors, I feel sure that this response is due, principally, to the excellent way in which the need for blood donors is conveyed in your programme.” 

Regional Organiser, National Blood Transfusion Service, Manchester.
1962 / THIS IS TRANSDIFFUSION