Working on a period show brings additional inherent challenges to the rehearsal process, and this one was no exception. In addition to learning the blocking, the actors learned the language of fans, as it was an important part of communication and courtship of the era.

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Women wore corsets, and the wealthiest would wear dresses of great circumference to emphasize status. This meant coordinating with the costume shop to get items for actors to rehearse with long before technical rehearsals, calling the ladies early to lace them in each day, and making sure we had appropriate chairs (armless when needed) so the ladies could sit down.

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The characters in this play drink tea, and they eat bread, muffins, and cucumber sandwiches. It was necessary to get an accurate quantity of consumable food, to discover how best to prep and set it for the scenes, and allow the actors to figure out when to speak and when to eat. This meant coordinating with props to have food in rehearsal two weeks early so we could track and practice.

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